Walking Cliche
by SwiftDragonfly
Summary: The oldest cliché in Fanfiction history: A girl from the real world is transported to Earthland, home to Fairy Tail and other magical wonders. Confused, lost, and trying frantically to find a way home, an unlikely character takes an interest in her. Bickslowxoc, Bickslow x oc.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** The oldest cliché in Fanfiction history: A girl from the real world is transported to Earthland, home to Fairy Tail and other magical wonders. Confused, lost, and trying frantically to find a way home, an unlikely character takes an interest in her. Bickslowxoc

I make two major changes in this story regarding the characters in the anime/manga:

1\. Bickslow has dark green eyes in this story (and most of my stories) instead of dark red.

2\. The dynamic of the Thunder Legion is a little different than in the show. Instead of simply being 'bodyguards' that Fried put together, Laxus is the main leader and put the team together.

Having not read the manga and the fact that information on these characters is pretty limited, (at least at the time that I wrote this) 90% of the things about the Thunder Legion are made up in my stories, especially with Bickslow. There's pretty much no detail on Bickslow's 'babies' other than they're wandering souls in the manga/show, and there's not even a proper definition for what constitutes as a wandering soul. So... I took some artistic liberties and had to come up with my own definitions/explanations. That's one of the reasons that this story eventually jump started into a 9 book series- I had to come up with so many of my own definitions and explanations, that I was barely working in the Fairy Tale universe anymore.

Any who! I hope you enjoy my story! I'll be updating this story every other week- and there are 61 chapter to this. There's no concrete ending, but most chapters are story lines in of themselves, so it's not very cliff-hangery.

Enjoy!

 **Walking Cliché 1**

 _Chapter 1_

"Fuck it's cold." A tired voice grumbled. The owner of the voice turned over, only to curse again, feeling something sharp poke and scratch at her arm. As her eyes peered open, she blinked a few times, adjusting to the lack of light.

It smelled like trees and dirt.

Something cold dripped on her skin, and as she listened closer, she heard the soft patter of rain.

One side of her body was soaked, and at this realization she sat up, looking around her frantically with wide eyes. Her eyes were still adjusting, but as she looked up, she could see clouds between the tree branches. Face met with more raindrops, she blinked against the water, panic rising within her.

She pushed herself to her feet, looking down and trying to wipe the mud and dirt off, brushing blindly at the debris. _How drunk did I get last night!?_ She thought to herself, trying to remember what happened the night before. She'd only had a glass of wine with her roommate, watched some Netflix, and then gone to bed. Nothing crazy or out of the ordinary.

Thankfully she'd fallen asleep fully clothed in jeans and a long-sleeve gray shirt, otherwise she'd be much colder. After working for 12 hours straight, she was exhausted, and didn't know how she'd managed to stay awake during her _Walking Dead_ binge with Suzie.

"Hello? Is anyone here? Suzie?" She spoke into the darkness, and as her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, she could make out the trees around her.

The only sound to answer was the patter of rain drops falling.

"Hello?" She spoke again. "Anyone?" Her voice got quieter, feeling the weight of her situation dawn on her. "Help?" She squeaked, holding her arms and rubbing them up and down, flinching away from the cold water clinging to her side.

"Okay, I took a class on this. First aid. Wait, no, I'm not injured. Wilderness survival- damn, I wish I'd taken that course." She talked to herself, trying to verbally work through what she should do. "Okay, gather facts first. I'm in the middle of the woods, soaking wet, no idea where I am or how I got here, no supplies, and it's dark. I should try and find shelter."

As she took a step forward, she closed her eyes and paused, her heart sinking with her bare foot. Mud squished between her toes, and she took a deep breath, pushing passed the gross factor and the fact and gathering up all her courage to keep moving forward.

A sucking sound was produced as she trudged through the mud. Grass, dirt, twigs- she felt crawling sometimes and had to hold back a scream- and more often than not, tripping over tree roots.

"Worst. Prank. Ever." She groaned, continuing on and trying to think of a plausible reason that someone would kidnap her and dump her in the woods. Sure, she had a few weird friends that _might_ kidnap her in her sleep, but they wouldn't just leave her out here. Maybe have her wake up in their house or car, maybe a penis drawn on her face, but nothing like this.

All she could see were trees in every direction, and the rain was beginning to get heavier.

She kept walking for what seemed like hours, trying to keep going in one direction. Since it was raining, she couldn't see the stars to navigate, and hoped and prayed that she wasn't going in circles.

By the time the rain stopped and the sun started to rise, her feet had gone numb. Soaked to the bone, shivering, tired, hungry- she cursed, remembering she skipped dinner last night- a wry smile tugged at her lips when she finally happened across a large building. On the outside was a large sign reading 'Hakobe Library'.

Seeing no other buildings around, and just wanting to get out of the outdoors, she hurried to the giant doors. Making sure to wipe her feet on the mat, and frowning when she realized just how dirty she was, she pushed the giant wooden door open and stumbled inside.

It looked amazing.

She'd never seen a library so massive. The outside had looked pretty worn down and decrepid, but the outside was borderline magical with out clean and beautiful the wooden carvings were.

There were at least ten floors of books lining the walls, several giant ladders strewn across it, and even more free standing bookshelves on the main floor to the side of the giant room. Long desks lined the main floor, and to her astonishment, it was completely empty.

No one was there.

Feeling like she should have checked the hours before entering- maybe the librarian left the door unlocked by accident- she looked around frantically for any desk or sign with hours on it.

Although she was unable to locate a desk, she did discover that the wall next to the doorway was covered with maps.

Despite her utter confusion, she couldn't help but feel satisfied at getting indoors. It wasn't particularly warm, but she was out of the elements, and that was enough. Her blue eyes perused the wall of maps, unable to make sense of them, and stared at them for what felt like forever. Assuming she was just exhausted, and that's why they didn't make sense, she continued staring at the labels of places.

A star was next to "Mt. Hakobe", along with a 'you are here' arrow pointing to it, and then a picture of a large mountain. "That sounds familiar…" She muttered. "Fiore", "Captial Crocus", "Hargeon", "Magnolia"-

"Fairy Tail wizard guild!" Was on a small arrow pointing to it.

The woman blinked, finally able to recognize it. "This is a map from an anime." She muttered, and looked around at the other maps. "I wonder if this is a library for anime, or something weird like that? I should really move out of Portland."

Her gaze moved across the various maps, and although she didn't recognize some of them, most of them looked to stay consistent with the original Fairy Tail map.

"They wouldn't dedicate an entire library to one anime..."

Feeling the cold begin to grip her again, she started moving, walking along the wall and making her way to the bookshelves creating a wall. All of the books were magic oriented, or stayed with the Fairy Tail theme. "History of Fiore", "Fire magic: the Basics", etc.

She stopped and looked around again, confirming that no one else was in the building. Deciding to read the "History of Fiore"- because why not?- she grabbed the book and sat down. With her back against the other books, she started reading, surprised by how extensive the author was with it. Eventually she fell asleep, her eyelids drifting to a close and book falling to the ground next to her.

1.

After reading several books, most of which were history or magic oriented, and waiting in the library for a full day, she made the conscious decision that she had to leave. She really didn't want to, because the library was an excellent safe haven, but she had no idea when the next person would visit. For all she knew it was a holiday, wherever the hell she was, and they wouldn't be here for weeks. Or the area could have been closed down, or any other numerous explanations.

There was no phone, no library desk to speak of, but there were a lot of strange balls that were labeled as 'lacrima'.

Her stomach rumbled painfully, and she was starving.

For how many maps there were, she couldn't find any of the town. All she knew was that this was apparently next to a mountain, but she had no idea where the other houses or buildings were.

Reluctantly, she left the sanctity of the library after taking another cursory look at the map, and went outside.

It was actually sunny outside, to her relief. She jogged to a nearby path and looked around, her eyes widening considerably when she saw the mountain in question. It was covered in snow, and just behind the library she could see ice and snow turning to grass.

No wonder it was so cold.

Sighing, she looked up and down the path, deciding to go left, since it appeared to be going south east. Despite the similarity to the anime she watched, she hoped that the map was accurate and some goofball had simply changed the names on it. She'd been unable to find any map with names that looked real, so it was the only one she could go on.

Her clothes were relatively clean, since the library had had a bathroom for her to use. She couldn't clean them very thoroughly, but she could at least get most of the mud off, which helped immensely to make her more presentable.

Yet another sigh escaped her lips as she walked, flinching and making faces as her feet made contact with small rocks.

A twig snapped nearby, causing her body to tense and look towards the source, her eyes widening at the sight.

Huge eyes were staring at her.

Huge.

It looked at her with an expression she couldn't quite place, but it sent a chill down her spine.

The creature looked to be about 15 feet tall, with white fur and black chest, hands, and face. It almost resembled a gorilla, but as what sounded like a laugh rumbled from its giant chest, one word came to mind:

Run.

Her adrenaline spiked as she broke out into a run, and she suddenly wished that she had taken track back in high school like her parents wanted. The memory of kids picking on her in elementary school rang in her ears, taunting her for being the slowest person in her class.

That hadn't changed. She was still slow. She hated running, but right now, she pumped as much energy as she could into her legs, silently wishing for a miracle that would save her from whatever animal she was running from.

She didn't need to look behind her to know that whatever the hell that creature was, it was chasing her. It was heavy and large enough that it caused the ground to shake beneath her feet.

Hearing it getting closer, and even its hot breath on her neck, she took an abrupt turn into the forest, narrowly dodging the arms that tried to wrap around her. As she booked it into the harsh terrain, the creature yelled an 'OW', and a loud thud followed.

She didn't look back.

It felt like everything moved in slow motion for her, like she was in a dream. Her heart was pounding, wind whipped across her paled face, feet pushed and pounded into the earth with as much force as she could muster.

Run.

 _Run_.

The word kept repeating in her head as she tried not to fall, too afraid to look behind her.

She kept running until she fell, stumbling painfully down a hill filled with branches, debris, and rocks, and eventually into a babbling brook. Quickly rolling to her knees and getting out of the water, she looked up the hill, her eyes searching for the monster that had been chasing her.

It was hard to breath.

Her chest moved up and down, trying to catch up and get oxygen into her system, but her gasps got louder as she tried to regain her breath. Throat swelling, pinky fingers numb, she fumbled to her pocket, only to find that she didn't have it.

Inhaler.

It wasn't there.

 _Calm down._ The voice spoke urgently in her head, and she closed her eyes, trying to get her breathing back to normal. _Breathe. It's okay. You're okay. You'll be okay if you calm the fuck down._

The numbness was spreading through her fingers, and she looked down at them, watching them curl helplessly.

 _Calm down._

 _It'll be okay._

 _Breathe._

Falling to her side, eyes wide, all she could do was try to breathe.

But then darkness took over.

2.

She woke up.

So that was a good sign.

As her eyes opened, she was met with the image of a snake slithering in front of her face, causing her to gasp and sit upright, scooting away from it. Her back was met with a boulder, which startled her, but she couldn't help feeling relieved at haven woken up.

 _Give me all the snakes if it means not dying_. She thought dryly, and started looking around, trying to calm down and make sense of her surroundings.

The stars above her were magnificent, and she couldn't help but stare in awe. They'd never looked so beautiful, wonderful… magical.

"Maybe this is a different world." She whispered, and watched in amazement as small fireflies started flying around her, illuminating the strange and beautiful flowers around her.

Everything felt alive around her, calm, serene… with a heavy sigh, she leaned back, truly relaxing for the first time in what felt like years.

1.

It had taken her a week to finally make it to Magnolia, and by that time, her shirt had been torn and shredded so much that she had to tear the sleeves off. Mysterious berries filled her mostly empty belly. She hoped she could get away with it looking stylish rather than homeless, which would have worked easily in Portland. In the land of Fairy Tail, she had no idea if it would work or not.

Despite her initial doubts of whether she'd actually been transported to this world, the monster, strange plantlife, and eventually just stepping into the city convinced her. The magic was too real, Fairy Tail was spoken about as a legitimate thing, and it just felt different.

Either she was in a coma or she'd been transported to another world.

In either situation, she was stuck. If she was in a coma she didn't think she could have an asthma attack or feel pain, so she was inclined to believe that she was still alive and kicking, but the question was still there.

Fairy Tail was the only place she knew was safe. Everything had so far lined up with the anime she had watched for the past year, so hopefully the wizard guild was just as accepting and open-minded as she remembered.

Stepping into the Guild Hall was extremely strange and eerie.

It was so _real_.

The wizards fighting and bickering, the smell of alcohol, laughing and cheering filling the air. Her eyes locked with the Guild Master, a small old man across the room, who was quietly nursing his drink. In the show he had accepted people regardless of their magical ability, so she desperately hoped that that was the case now.

She strolled right up to him, acting confident as ever, and asked him if she could join the guild.

He looked up, briefly looked her up and down, muttered a 'sure', and nodded quietly.

Not wanting to change his mind by questioning his decision, she thanked him and walked over to the bar where the beautiful Mirajane was pouring drinks. She looked even more beautiful than in the anime, and she suddenly understood why the other characters fell head-over-heel for her.

"I just joined the guild. Where do I get the symbol thingy?" She asked awkwardly when the woman looked at her, and she nodded, smiling sweetly to her.

"Give me a minute and I'll get it set up for you. Do you know what color and where you want it?" Mira asked, and she blinked, pausing. "Take your time. We don't like changing the placement of our emblems, so be sure where you want it when you get it. Why don't you take a seat over there while I finish getting drinks to people?"

"Alright." The new guild member nodded, and walked over to the table she had pointed to. Her blue eyes wandered around the guild, recognizing most of the wizards instantly, while others it took her a minute to put a name to. Some of them she had absolutely no idea, and guessed that they simply weren't given names in the anime.

"New to the guild, sweet cheeks?" A voice spoke near her, causing her to look up, finding a wizard that she didn't recognize standing there. One of the first episodes flashed through her head, remembering that Lucy had been hit on relentlessly when she first joined.

"Just joined." She confirmed, nodding.

"What's your name?"

"Claire." She answered, and he smiled.

"Claire. That's a nice name." He said with a glint in his eye she recognized all too well. He looked almost twice her age, and although was fit and not terrible looking, definitely not her style. "Where you from?"

"From a galaxy far, far away." She said, and was happy when Mirajane approached her, that same carefree smile on her face.

"Have you decided?"

"Yeah. Purple, upper right arm." She said, and the woman nodded, taking a seat next to her. When Claire didn't return her gaze to the older man, he took the hint and walked away, not bothering to pursue it.

The white-haired mage reached her hands up to the woman's arm, and her hands glowed as she cast a spell.

"Is there a guidebook or anything I need to read for joining the guild?" She asked the younger woman.

"Nope. Have you been in a wizard's guild before?"

"Honestly, I don't know magic yet. I was hoping I could find a teacher here."

"If you ask around, I'm sure that there are some wizards willing to teach you. For your first few missions you should probably pair up with someone, so you get an idea of how we do things. If you're too nervous, I can pair you up with someone." She explained, and Claire let out a sigh of relief.

"That would be awesome, thank you. I may not know magic yet, but I'm a hard worker."

"I'm sure you'll be a great fit here." She said, and put her hands down. "All done. You're officially a wizard of Fairy Tail. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Everyone here is pretty friendly."

"I'd like to start work as quickly as possible." Claire spoke, and Mira nodded in understanding, then looking around her. Her eyes locked with a brunette in a bikini top guzzling a huge barrel of booze.

"Kana!" She yelled, and the sound of her name, the alcoholic set her drink down to look up at them. "Are you busy?"

"Nope. Whatcha need?"

"What was your name?" Mira whispered to the woman.

"Claire."

"This is Claire, and she's new to the guild. Would you be willing to go on a job with her?" She asked, and the brunette smirked, looking to the short haired woman.

"Sure thing, chess girl!" She stated, referring to the woman's hair. Claire had gotten a buzz cut a few weeks ago and checkerboard squares died into her hair, and even though she'd gotten strange looks at her previous job, she blended right in with the wizard guild.

2.

Her first job was simple- some yard work for an old woman across town. The pay wasn't great, but it was enough to buy Claire her first full meal in days, along with some extra cash for future meals.

It was hardly enough money to get her a place to stay for the night, but she wasn't too worried about it. After the job with Kana, and finally eating, she'd made herself comfortable in the Fairy Tail library.

She may not have been the best student, but she did learn how to research during her years in college. Given her very strange situation, her best bet was to gather as much information as possible before indulging her situation to others. Books were piled around her on the table she sat at, and skimmed most of them, looking for relevant information.

On her way back to the guild she'd stopped by a small store and bought a notebook and pen to take notes. After only an hour she'd filled several pages, both with notes from the book and from memory. She made countless lists on what she needed to do and in what order, but she was so scattered all she could do was reorganize the information without really absorbing or learning it.

"Whatchya readin'?" The voice caused her to jump, having been so engrossed in her notes that she didn't hear him approach. When she looked up at him, she froze, recognizing the strange wizard standing only a few feet away.

Bickslow.

To be honest, she never really had a strong opinion of him in the anime, but he did control souls, which was on the creepy side. In person he was much more intimidating, his tall form and padded outfit adding to his bulk, and skulls on his shoulder pads. His 'babies' were nowhere in sight.

His tongue was sticking out, as per his character, the Fairy Tail emblem gleaming at her covered in saliva.

"Uh…" She muttered, and looked back to her book, turning back to the title. "Fire magic."

"You're a fire mage?" He asked, grinning.

"No, but I was thinking about learning it."

"Are you new here? I don't remember seeing you around." He asked, stepping over to lean against a nearby bookshelf, hands comfortably resting in his pants pockets.

"I just joined today."

"Wow, so you're really a newbie."

"How long have you been here?"

"A few years… I guess 5 years, now?" He said, pondering it quietly. "Man, time flies."

"How do you like it here?" She asked, a bit unnerved by his presence, but starting to get used to it. Having grown up in Portland, Oregon, home of the weirdest individuals imaginable, it was easy to get used to his strange clothes. His magic, on the other hand…

"It's alright. Things are going to change a lot really soon, though." He said, still letting his tongue hang out.

"How so?" She asked, watching him chuckle and shake his head. He didn't need to tell her, she already knew- 'The Battle of Fairy Tail'. At least that gave her an idea of where she was in the timeline.

"Laxus, the Guild Master's grandson, is going to be making some changes soon."

"Is the Guild Master planning to retire?"

"Yeah. Old geezer is getting on in his years." He replied, and during the pause in conversation, she guessed that he was looking her up and down. Given her days traveling and work earlier that day, she felt a bit self-conscious, but reminded herself that she was working with what she had. "So, have you always been in Magnolia?"

"Just moved here."

"Where are you staying?"

"No offense, but I don't know you very well…." She spoke, causing the man to nod in understanding.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll become friends soon enough. Mind if I ask what's with the hair?"

"I thought it would look cool." She said with a smirk, remembering what he looked like under his visor and hood. Tattooed face, glowing green eyes, and blue hair in a quasi-Mohawk shape.

"It does." He agreed, and then pushed himself from the bookshelf. "Anyway, I should get going. I'm looking for my friend, Fried, but it doesn't look like he's here. See you around?"

"Maybe you will." She said with a smile, and watched him walk away, his flying dolls oddly absent. Even though the guy gave off a creepy vibe, it was still the longest conversation she'd had with someone over the past week. The smile on her face was genuine, and for the first time since she'd arrived, she felt like she'd made a real connection with someone.

It didn't matter that he was creepy, or that his motives for talking to her were slightly questionable.

After what she'd been through, and how far away from home she was, the attention was nice. Whatever the reason, he'd talked to her like she was a person- not because he had to, but he just felt like talking to her. Mirajane had been nice, but she handed her off to the local drunk as fast as she could, too busy with other things.

A sniffle caused her to shake her head of her thoughts, clearing the tears in her eyes that had formed, and went back to her notes.

3.

A few days later, she found herself enjoying a very delicious mojito on the second floor of the Guild Hall. After working her ass off for the past few days, she'd managed to make enough money for a new outfit, a little make up, backpack, and granola bars. She made full use of the showers, so she was clean, and she was pleasantly surprised at how different she looked.

Her skin looked smoother, limbs thinner from being overworked and lack of food, not to mention sleep deprivation causing small bags under her eyes, but she looked strangely healthier. Growing up she was used to having pale skin and teased for looking like a vampire for it, but here, it looked tanner. Make up easily covered the bags under her eyes, and her new clothes accentuated her features, unlike her previous outfit.

Men were talking to her a little more frequently now, and other wizards much more friendly. Whether it was the change in her physical appearance or simply getting used to being around them, she wasn't sure, but she liked the familiarity. Since Lucy and other female wizards got so much attention from the males, she was a little surprised at her lack thereof, but wouldn't dare complain about it.

Just like the anime, practically every male was teeming with muscle. Men and women alike wore little to no clothing, in Gray's case none, and she couldn't deny enjoying the view.

She could have been transported to worse animes, that was for sure. Every once in a while they reminded her of home, some random comment she overheard or just the silly vibe she got, but she pushed the feelings back.

Mojitoooo~

Sipping away at her drink, she went back to her notes. Attempting to keep others from reading her notes and realizing that she knew way too much for being a new wizard, she'd attempted to mix English and what little broken Japanese hiragana she knew. She'd figured out about when she was in terms of the timeline, but she was finding it difficult to recall _all_ of the events afterwards.

She'd been sitting there for some twenty minutes trying to create a list of dangerous things that would happen in the future, and how to avoid them.

On one of her many 'things to do' lists, was to research how to get back home. She'd done a little research on her own, but only the basics, and had hoped to ask Lucy for help when she returned with Natsu and the others. They were fighting Jellal and that whole fiasco at the moment, which Claire had no idea when they'd be back. The anime was hardly clear on how much time was passing between episodes and story arcs.

Bickslow and his team had been absent, which was hardly a surprise. They wouldn't be social with the guild for a while….

Thinking back to the seith mage, she couldn't help but feel butterflies in her stomach. Out of all the wizards, for whatever reason, he was the only one that she actually saw herself hanging out with. She'd gotten plenty of offers to go out on dates, which actually made her quite flustered at times, but he was the only one on her mind. The other guys gave her a sleazy vibe as well, like she was simply a pet to talk into bed with them, and although she recalled Bickslow being a little perverted in the anime, he didn't act that way in person. He'd had a simple, civilized conversation with her.

She sighed.

She'd gotten side tracked again.

4.

When the Battle of Fairy Tail was taking place, she made sure that she was well hidden in a corner of the library, curled up with a book. The only wizards that frequented the library were Levy and Fried, and the occasional other wizard, but for the most part it remained empty.

She knew that eventually someone would catch her sleeping in the library, but she'd been sleeping at such odd hours, she hoped she could get away with it a bit longer.

Working every day, now able to do solo missions, she'd accumulated quite a bit of wealth. In the next few days she would talk to Erza about Fairy Hills, the women's dorm. After sleeping in the woods, libraries, and even a nearby park once or twice, she was looking forward to a bed.

Pay was much better than her previous employment.

Clients were a hit and miss in terms of pleasantness, but she didn't mind. If she didn't like one, the job was usually just a few hours, and then she'd be gone, looking for another paycheck.

Explosions had started around the city.

Claire sighed, hoping that she wouldn't be roped into it.

5.

"What's up, Checkers?" The voice caused her to jump, waking up abruptly. A large book was open in her lap, and she was in her usual corner of the library, cuddled up with a blanket around her shoulders.

Her blue eyes met his visor, and for a second she just stared at him, trying to blink the sleepiness from her eyes.

"Sorry if I scared you. I thought you were reading, not sleeping." He said, smiling at her. Like before, he leaned against a nearby bookshelf, hands in his pockets. "I'm surprised that you're here so late."

"I must have dozed off reading."

"You look pretty comfortable. Blankie, book… all you need is some hot chocolate and a cute guy to cuddle up with." He said, sticking his tongue out at the end.

The woman smiled, chuckling as she looked up at him, rubbing her eyes. "Are you offering?"

"Maybe. I'm known to be quite the cuddle monster." Bickslow said, still smiling with his signature grin.

"Are you looking for your friend again?" She asked curiously, changing the conversation as a small silence fell between them.

"Nah, I just felt like walking around and being social. After yesterday, my friends and I have been trying to be a bit more friendly to our fellow guild mates." He explained, awkwardly scratching the back of his head as he shifted his weight.

"How's that going for you?"

"It's weird… I didn't see you during the battle, so I'm guessing that you avoided it, but it got pretty bad. Everyone is still mad at us, and Laxus got kicked out of the guild." He explained, looking away from her. "I've never been a very social person, so it's been kind of weird talking to so many people."

"I can relate." She said, causing him to look at her again.

"Miss bookworm isn't social? I'm utterly surprised."

"I'm not usually a bookworm. I actually work… used to work at a café. It required socializing, which forced me to be around people much more often."

"Why'd you quit?" He asked, not expecting to see how watery her eyes got at the question. She took a deep breath and turned, trying to regain her composure. "Sorry, I didn't mean to push your buttons. Not that you don't have other very cute buttons I'd love to push, if you know what I mean."

The absurd comment caused her to laugh. She'd smiled, chuckled, even giggled once or twice the past two weeks- but this was the first time she'd actually laughed. After everything that had happened, it felt nice to fill the silence that had surrounded her with that sound.

"You have a nice laugh." He commented as she started to calm down, her eyes watery from the laughter. Finding that he was enjoying the conversation, and she didn't seem to have anywhere to be, he sat down on the ground near her. Still leaning against the bookshelf, his legs were now bent in front of him, only a few inches from her own.

"Thanks." She replied, wiping away the tears on the side of her eyes, and then closing the book on her lap and setting it to the side.

"So how are you liking Fairy Tail so far?"

"It's weird." She admitted, and he snickered. "But the pay is good, and the people are friendly enough."

"Are you going to stay?" He asked curiously. "Most people tend to bail after the first few days."

Looking at him, she was able to see a glint of his eyes with the lighting, and for a moment she wanted to tell him everything that had happened to her. How she had no idea what she was doing, that she feared she'd never see her family again, that she was scared as hell. "Yeah, I'm going to stick around for a while."

"Good. We need more level headed wizards in the guild."

"Why do you wear that visor?" She asked curiously, even though she already knew the answer.

"I can see souls. This visor makes me unable to use figure eyes, part of my soul possession magic, on them."

"So if you took the visor off, would that make you 'soul possess' anyone you made eye contact with?" She asked, honestly unable to remember if he would or wouldn't.

"Most people are surprised when I tell them I can see souls." He commented, probably looking at her suspiciously under his visor. "You already knew about my magic, didn't you?"

"I know a lot of things." She said with a shrug. "I know that you use souls that possess dolls, and that when you make direct eye contact, you can control someone's soul. I don't know the full details of your magic."

"Who told you about me?"

"A little birdie told me." She said, watching as he bit his lower lip, probably lost in concentration. "You never answered my question."

A small silence fell between them as he sat there staring at her, and he finally shrugged. "I can look people in the eye without soul possessing them. It's a spell that needs to be cast."

"So why do you wear the visor?"

"It makes people more comfortable." He said with a shrug. "It's also more epic during a battle. Freaks people out when I suddenly announce that I'm about to possess their soul." He laughed as he spoke, and she couldn't help but smile, remembering his fight with Lucy. "Do you want to see what I look like?"

"Sure, if you're comfortable with it. And promise not to steal my soul." Claire spoke, still feeling a bit dazed and comfortable from her earlier nap. Her blue blanket, covered in penguins, was still wrapped around her shoulders.

Slowly, Bickslow took off his visor, revealing his face to her.

It was a lot less climatic than she thought it would be. She thought that seeing his face would actually freak her out a bit, even a little, but it didn't. Living in Portland, she'd gotten used to seeing tattoos and died hair, so it was actually comforting to see the rest of his face for once.

"You look nice." She commented after a moment, entertained when he gave her a baffled expression.

"'Nice'?! I've made children cry with this ugly mug of mine."

"Was that because you threatened to steal their soul, or just because you looked at them?" She asked, and he started to argue, but then stopped.

"That still wasn't the reaction I was expecting."

"Maybe I'm too tired to be scared." She said with a smile, giggling at his overly animated scoff and turn.

"We'll have to do this again, but in the daytime, when you're well rested. Then you'll be scared out of your mind."

"Sleep has not been my friend since I came here."

"Well yeah, when you take naps on the floor in the library, it's going to suck." He laughed, and shifted his position a bit.

"I'm hopefully getting a place at Fairy Hills soon. I'm talking to Erza about it tomorrow."

"Nice, I heard it's hella nice there. I wish there was a boys dormitory I could stay at. Where are you staying now?"

"I'm couch surfing at the moment."

"Do you have a place to surf tonight?"

"Yeah." She lied. Like before, she had the unbearable urge to spill her secrets to him, but held back. He was the only thing close she seemed to have to a friend, and bombarding him with her problems would hardly help her situation.

"Where are you staying?"

"Why are you so insistent on knowing where I'm sleeping, Bickslow?"

"So you know my magic and my name, huh?" He asked, smirking at her. Her cheeks heated up at being caught, but she brushed it off.

"My name is Claire." She offered. "And you didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine, either." He countered. "But I'll answer it nonetheless: I think you're lying. Fried said that he's caught you in here almost every day since you joined, and half the time you're sleeping."

She looked away from him, sighing. She was never a good liar, and she thought that she'd done a decent job of not being conspicuous, but evidently not.

"If it makes you feel any better, Fried and I are the only ones that know, to my knowledge. You're pretty hidden back here in your little corner, so I doubt anyone has noticed." As he spoke, he watched her carefully, noting her suddenly tense disposition. "It's pretty common for people to come here with nowhere to go. You'd be surprised at how many wizards show up here homeless, with no money, friends, even families killed. People are pretty open to sharing their couches with newcomers in that situation."

"I've never been fond of taking charity." She spoke, still not making eye contact with him. "As soon as I could, I moved out, got a job, and went to school. I never relied on my parents." The woman left out the fact that she actually did couch surf for a while between apartments, but she'd only stayed with people she'd known for years.

"There's no shame in asking for help once in a while. Hell, you can sleep on my couch tonight, if you want. I promise no funny business." He said in all seriousness, putting his hands up. "I can also ask Evergreen tomorrow if she'd be willing to let you stay at her place. Since she's living at Fairy Hills, it could be a good transition for you."

"Why do you care?" She asked curiously, finally bringing her gaze back to his dark green eyes. "I've barely been here for a week."

"For one, since I'm trying to be extra friendly to my fellow comrades, it would be a good start for me." As he spoke, he held up his hand, holding up a finger for every number. "Second, I know what it's like to be homeless; my parents kicked me out when I was 15, so I know how much it sucks. Third, the idea of a cute girl sleeping on the floor somewhere makes me sad."

"How old are you?" She suddenly asked.

"22. You?"

"Same." She said, and after a moment of looking at him, his eyebrows raised in his silent question, she caved. "Fine. Since you offered, I'd like to stay at your place."

"Awesome."

6.

Bickslow woke up at some 8 AM, exiting his room with his hair in every which direction. He hated being up this early, but it was a habit formed by his team of early birds, all of whom teased him relentlessly for being a night owl.

The light breathing of his female companion reminded him of last night, and how he had a guest in his apartment. Glancing over at her, he couldn't help but smile, thinking the girl looked cute in her sleep. She was always so tense at the Guild Hall, even when he'd caught her sleeping in the library, but now she looked utterly relaxed. Blanket half falling off of her, limbs contorted to fit on the small couch, cute button nose twitching slightly- utterly adorable.

As he stared for a little while longer, hoping that he wouldn't get caught in the process, he noticed that her shirt was hitched a bit to reveal some skin. She had some major bruises underneath, and looking a bit closer at her, realized that they covered her arms, too. _Guess she's had a rough week._ He thought glumly, quietly wondering if she got those from working or from a fight.

Since she only had a couple outfits, and neither were pajamas, he'd offered her a pair of his the previous night. He'd be lying if he said he didn't get a little satisfaction from having her wear his clothes- it was a weird thing about him. He loved seeing girls in his clothes, even if they weren't sleeping with him.

Looking down at himself, he wondered if he should wear a bit more clothing to make her more comfortable. He had no idea how she was in terms of nudity, and when it came to girls, it was a hit or miss on whether they were okay with it.

Literally.

Erza came over once, and when he answered the door simply wearing sweatpants, she punched him in the face. Granted she was still pretty young and awkward at the time, but whenever he saw her, he couldn't help but think of that day.

Being on the receiving end of Erza's wrath was never good. Even at 14 years old, she could punch the lights out of a guy twice her size. In his case, give him a major bloody nose and a trip to Porlyusica.

Shaking his head at the memory, he continued to his original path, hoping his guest wouldn't mind him not wearing a shirt. Since he wore so much armor and clothing at work, he reveled in little clothing at home. Plus, it was _his_ home, after all.

He got busy making them breakfast, trying to be as quiet as possible. His souls hummed around him as he maneuvered through the kitchen, sometimes helping him get supplies or plates, and all the while trying to stay quiet.

When he was at a place where he could walk away from the kitchen for a moment, he peered over at her, checking if he had woken her. Finding her absent from the couch and the bathroom door closed, he frowned, cursing at himself for waking her.

"Alright guys, you're gonna need to be on your best behavior." Bickslow told his souls, all of whom nodded and cheered.

"Of course, of course!"

"Best behavior."

"She hasn't met you guys yet, so I don't want to freak her out."

"We'll be nice,"

"Oh so nice!" They echoed, and the man eyed them suspiciously, particularly Puppu, who was snickering in the back of the group.

"Morning." A soft voice spoke behind him, and he turned in his spot, smiling at the half awake woman.

"Morning. Breakfast is almost ready. Do you want tea with your breakfast?"

"Do you happen to have coffee?" She asked, and he faltered for a moment, trying to figure out if he knew what she was talking about. It sounded a little familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint where he'd heard it.

"… is that a drink?"

"Sorry, don't worry about it. Do you have any tea with caffeine in it?"

"I do have that. Several actually. Do you have a preference?"

"Not really." She said with a shrug, and sat down at his small dining table, her gaze moving to the window next to it. Judging by her anti-social behavior, he guessed that she wasn't a morning person either, and went back to finishing breakfast.

"So how'd you sleep?"

"Best sleep I've had since I got here." She spoke, watching the dark clouds in the sky assemble and rumble.

"How long have you been on your own?"

"About two weeks."

He looked over at her, wondering if she was sad or just waking up.

"I'm not a morning person. Sorry if I come off as rude." She mumbled before he could ask her, and he chuckled before going back to the eggs he was cooking.

"I'm not either. My team is a bunch of early birds, so it's become habit to wake up this early."

"Thunder Legion, right? Or is it Thunder God Tribe…" She muttered the last part, and he looked over at her, surprised that she knew that. Thinking that she'd simply been asking about him at the guild, and feeling a bit of pride over it, he smirked looking away.

"We go by Thunder Legion. We used to call ourselves the 'Thunder God Tribe', but so many people pointed out how pompous it made us sound, we changed it. Personally I liked the original name better, but both of them are good."

"Do you know much about other worlds?" She suddenly asked, turning to look at him. Since he was waiting for the food to cook, he turned and leaned against the counter, facing her.

"Not really. My expertise is in this one." He said with a shrug, and watched as her eyes now locked on his moving dolls, still lacking that surprise and fear he was looking for. He'd been ready to defend his souls, explain them in depth, or whatever else required to calm her down. But she simply looked at them, muttered a 'huh', and looked back to him. "These are my souls."

"Cute." She muttered, flashing a fake smile at him.

"Cute, we are cute!" A few of them echoed as they zoomed forward and danced around her.

"Mind if I ask whose souls they are?" She asked him, watching the dolls dance animatedly around her.

"They're wandering souls. I didn't take them out of a living person, if that's what you're wondering. They were dead when I found them." He said, and watched her relax a little, smiling. "I take souls that can't move on, that are stuck in this realm, and put them in dolls. They're my babies."

"We're cute!" The babies echoed again.

"Yes you are." She agreed, and after a few more minutes of dancing around her, they returned to the kitchen to help serve breakfast and put away supplies.

"I hope you like bacon and eggs. And toast." He said, looking over at her.

"Love it." She said, her gaze back to the window, watching as rain started falling. As he set down the plate in front of her, and Peppe brought her her tea, she reluctantly tore her eyes from the grayness and thanked him. "Thanks for breakfast and letting me crash here last night."

"No biggie, and you can stay here until you get your own place. I spend most of my time training, so I don't spend too much time here anyway."

"You're a lot nicer than I thought you'd be." She commented, and reached over to the mug of warm liquid, bringing the edge to her lips. She made a weird face, causing him to smile.

"Not a fan?"

"I'll get used to it. There has to be a coffee equivalent somewhere." She stated, taking another sip of the warm liquid and trying to hold back her disgusted face.

"What is coffee?"

"My hometown makes the best coffee you can imagine. It's a caffeinated drink made from coffee beans, and I've been getting headaches from not having it."

"Headaches?"

"I'm addicted to it, so when I don't have caffeine in the morning, I get bad headaches." She explained.

"Where are you from again?"

"I'm from a galaxy far, far away." She said, chuckling to herself.

"Since you won't tell me, I'll just refer to your 'hometown' as Coffee Land." He said, sticking his tongue out at her. A smile graced her lips, setting her mug down and looking up at him.

"That's a pretty accurate name, actually. Another one is 'Pot Land'."

He snickered. "'Pot Land'? Seriously?"

"You guys have pot but not coffee?"

"I'm not a habitual user of it, but yeah. I've even got a little bit from a friend that stayed here a while back."

"Is it illegal here?"

"Nah. It was for a while, but it didn't pan out."

"This world is full of surprises." She said, and finally took a bite of the food. She really wished she was a better liar as she tried to enjoy the food, holding back her natural reaction to it.

"I'm not the best cook. Sorry." He said, noticing her attempt to swallow it. Honestly he thought he was pretty decent and never had complaints before, but there was a first for everything.

"It's not your cooking, I just haven't adjusted to the food here. Thank you for cooking breakfast, it was really sweet of you."

"You don't have to eat it if you don't want to."

"I need all the calories I can get, and I'm not one to turn down free food." She said, and he shrugged, shoveling the food on his plate into his mouth.

"Mind if I ask you something?" He asked halfway through his meal, pausing to look back up at her. Despite her obvious dislike of the food, she was eating nonetheless, and had actually eaten more than he had at that point. Since she still had food in her mouth, she nodded to him. "I hope this doesn't sound creepy, but I noticed you had some bruises when you were sleeping. Were you in a fight, or are those just from work?"

"Some of them are from work. Before getting to Fairy Tail I had to walk from Mount Hakobe, and the trip wasn't pleasant. I got chased by a monster at some point and fell down a hill, which is where I got most of my bruises."

"Must have been a big monster." He commented, and she shrugged.

"Probably not by your standards."

"Considering the amount of magic you give off, I'm surprised that a simple monster would give you problems." He said, going back to his food and missing the surprised look on her face.

"What about magic?" She asked, causing him to look back up again, trying to gulp down his food to answer.

"I can sense your magic. I'm surprised that you don't hide it better, since you've probably been intimidating the other guild members. Have you not noticed the nervous looks people have been giving you?" He asked, surprised by her confused expression, thinking that she already knew how much power she was giving off. Having been used to Laxus's power he was hardly phased by it, and even liked it, but he understood the apprehension of his fellow guild members. He'd figured that she was playing the 'lone wolf' card and was actually a powerful wizard from another land, (kinda like Mystogan) but the more he learned about her, the more it seemed like she was just lost.

"I just thought it was because I was new." Claire admitted, and took another bite of her eggs.

"What kind of magic do you use?" He asked, suddenly extremely curious about it. There was no way she could just be born with that much magic, and even if she did, someone would have told her about it. Sure, it wasn't quite on the level of Laxus or the other S-Class wizards, and it was closer to his level if not slightly more powerful.

"I haven't learned any yet, actually. I've been so focused on getting food and supplies I haven't gotten around to it."

"Bull shit. If you don't want to tell me that's fine, but you don't have to lie about it." He snapped, and finished off his plate, standing to return it to the sink.

"Sorry." She muttered softly, and finished off the last of her breakfast, still sipping away at her tea. "I didn't mean to make you upset."

"Don't worry about it. Like I said, not a morning person." He said, and walked over to pick up her plate, not bothering to look at her.

"Bixy hates mornings."

"Yeah, mornings suck." His souls spoke from the kitchen.

"Mind if I use your shower?"

"Go for it." He said, and heard her walk away, followed by the soft click of the bathroom door closing. "I'm such a great host." He muttered sarcastically, and thought about doing the dishes, but then shrugged and figured he'd do them later.

7.

As Claire showered, she couldn't help but let her mind race and wander, contemplating what Bickslow had said. It made no sense that she would have significant magic power, hell any magic, nonetheless a lot of it. Considering the major players at Fairy Tail, it's saying a lot that they would be intimidated by her.

Then it clicked.

 _Edolas._

There were people transported from Edolas, and even from this world to Edolas, without a clear reason why. Whenever someone disappeared from one world, it would sometimes take their counterpart from another world and bring them here.

"Has Edolas even happened yet…?" She asked herself, trying to recall if it had. If it had, Bickslow probably would have mentioned it when she asked about other worlds. Granted, he didn't bring up the celestial world either, but that world is so strange and mysterious, she didn't blame him. "Celestial spirits." She muttered, a smile tugging at her lips.

Maybe sleep really was what she needed.

There were plenty of people in Fairy Tail from other worlds: she just had to track them down.

Making a mental list of the people from other worlds, she tried to think of the best ones to talk to, and which were actually available for her to reach. Mystogan, Porlyusica, Happy, Lucy's celestial spirits….

Lucy was actually working so often with Natsu and the others that Claire rarely saw her, so her celestial spirits were out of the question for now. Mystogan would be a pain to get a hold of, since he was so closed off to the guild. Happy didn't even know he was an Exceed yet, and Carla knew, but she hadn't joined the guild yet.

That left Porlyusica, the resident healer that hated humans.

Mystogan would be the ideal person to talk to, given his extensive research and knowledge pertaining to Edolas and the barrier between their worlds. Assuming the pink-haired woman gave her even a moment of her time, there was a good chance she'd just hit her with a broom until she left, leaving her back where she started.

But it was something.

After finishing her shower, she turned the water off, a renewed sense of hope pulling her along. She awkwardly had to search the small bathroom for a clean towel, which she found plenty of under the sink, and wrapped herself up in it.

 _I might be able to see my family again._

She thought with a smile, grinning at herself in the mirror. A small part of her didn't want to leave this world, feeling so happy and healthy in this magical place, but she was home sick. She'd started feeling culture shock the past couple of days, hating the strange food and just wanting a piece of home- but this new plan may just be able to get her there.

As she left the bathroom, still smiling, she looked up to see that Bickslow had been scolding one of his souls. At the sound of her leaving the bathroom he'd stopped, but she couldn't help but giggle at some of his choice words.

"Why are you so smiley?" He asked, letting his tongue hang from his mouth.

"I just realized some things while I was taking a shower. Do you happen to know where… Porlyusica lives?" She asked, making a face as she said the woman's name, hoping she was pronouncing it right.

"Yeah, but she hates visitors. Why, are you injured?" He asked, and she thought back to her asthma, realizing that it would be the perfect excuse to see her.

"I have a lung disease that needs to be checked up on every once in a while. I heard she was a healer for the guild, so I was hoping she could look at me."

"How severe is it?"

"Lethal without the right medication, which I don't have anymore." She explained, and as she spoke, realized that it was actually as serious as she was telling him. It had been stupid of her not to replace her inhaler sooner, especially since her attacks were triggered by exercise and stress, both of which she'd been getting plenty of. Pollen too, but since this was a different world, she hadn't had much reaction yet.

"Since the Battle of Fairy Tail the other day, she's been around the Guild Hall taking care of Makarov. She's probably there now."

"Awesome." She said with a grin, 'hee hee'ing to herself as she walked back over to the couch, setting her bag on the ground and pulling out her notes.

"The key to get in is under the door mat, if you decide to head out while I'm taking a shower."

"Thanks, you're awesome." She spoke, not looking at him but instead writing something down quickly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Walking Cliché 2**

 _Everything Doesn't Suck… Just Most of it_

It was pretty easy to locate the healer, much to Claire's relief. She was sitting in a room with the sleeping Guild Master reading a book, but as soon as the checker woman entered, she looked up and glared.

She paused, having expected a harsh welcome but not that harsh. If looks could kill, she'd be dead and buried right then.

"The Guild Master needs rest. He'll talk to people tomorrow."

"I-I came to see you, actually." Claire stuttered, staying in the doorway as she spoke and trying to hold her own against the offensive glare.

"About what?"

"Uh, two things." She said, and slipped inside the room, closing the door behind her and glancing at Makarov, who was sound asleep.

"Well be quick, human."

"I know you're from Edolas." Claire spoke, deciding to look at a vase on the window sill instead of the cold eyes that bore into her.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Look, I'm not from Edolas, but I am from another world, and I was hoping you could help me get back home. If you can't help me get home, any information would be useful." She said, still not looking directly at the woman, but she heard her close her book and set it to the side. She stood, and then roughly pulled the woman outside, closing the door behind them and facing her in the empty hallway.

"How did you get here?"

"I woke up at the base of Mount Hakobe two weeks ago, in the middle of the woods." Like before, Claire locked her eyes with a vase in another window sill, noticing that its design matched the blue one in the room.

"Where are you from?"

"Earth. Not Earth _land_ , just Earth. We don't have magic, not even a little like Edolas does." Claire spoke, and she almost added that it was actually debated whether it existed on her world, but she decided not to complicate things.

"I can't help you."

"Can't or won't?" The blue-eyed woman spoke, and dared to look at her in the eye now, surprised that it was less angry than before. Sympathy was in her eyes, and although Claire had never been a fan of it before, hoped she could exploit it as much as possible. This woman was her best hope for getting home.

"Can't. I've encountered a few situations where I could return to Edolas, but I've never even heard of your world. I have no idea how you got here, nor how to get you back."

Claire took a deep breath, letting the information sink in.

"You should be aware that time moves differently in some worlds, and it's entirely possible that if you do return home, it won't be when you left. In the Celestial World, for example, time fluctuates consistently. Sometimes an hour in their world is a week here, or even longer."

"You're saying that even if I figure out a way to get back, everyone I know could be dead?"

"It's a possibility." Her voice was soft, contrasting greatly with her usual angry disposition. Claire's gaze moved to the window again, trying to hold back her emotions in order to comprehend the situation as clearly as possible.

"Do you know anyone that can help me?"

"Mystogan might, but he's difficult to get a hold of."

"Do you know how I can reach him?"

"No. He stops by the guild on occasion, but he's so protective of his identity, he puts the entire guild to sleep when he arrives."

"Would making a job request for him work?" She asked, looking back to the pink-haired woman.

"Maybe. There's no telling when he'd get it, so you may need to wait a while." Porlyusica spoke, and the shorter woman nodded, clenching her jaw. "I do sense something familiar about your magic, though. I suspect you were brought here for a similar reason I was."

Her blue eyes locked with her red ones, hungry for whatever knowledge she could tell her.

"My counterpart in this world was a sky dragon named Grandini. I suspect that you are the human counterpart to a dragon as well, though I have no idea which one. The only dragon I've ever met was the sky dragon."

"Someone mentioned that I have strong magic. I guess that's why."

"What was the second thing?" The older woman asked, her tone going harsh again. Claire looked up at her confused, trying to comprehend what she was asking. "You said you had two things to talk to me about."

"Oh. Do you know anything about asthma?"

"The breathing disorder?"

"Yeah."

"It's strangely uncommon in this world, extremely rare actually, but I treated it regularly in Edolas. I'm guessing that the magic here heals most breathing illnesses, since I rarely see it."

"I had an asthma attack the other day, so it obviously hasn't cured me. It has been easier to breathe here without the pollen I'm allergic to, but it's still triggered by exercise and stress."

"I'll see if I can find something for you, but it might take time. Since you decided to be a wizard here, you're going to be exposed to a lot of both, so try to avoid it when you can."

"Okay."

"Good luck." She said simply, and walked back into the room she'd previously occupied, closing the door behind her.

Claire stood there for a while, trying to keep her breathing calm. Pushing aside her fear and worries, knowing that she couldn't handle it right then, she turned and walked down the hall. Next she'd talk to Erza about an apartment, then Mira about a job request/message for Mystogan.

1.

The rest of the day went by in a daze. She vaguely registered her conversations with the women, her drink at the bar, and then walk to Bickslow's apartment. Claire had been laying on the couch staring at the ceiling with a blank expression for over an hour before the seith mage arrived.

"Oh hey, what's up?" He asked, his babies flying into the room happily and bobbing around her head excitedly.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"How's it going?" They questioned, and although she looked over at him and up at the floating dolls, it took her a while to actually respond.

"I've had better days." She said with a sigh.

"Not that I'm complaining, but did you talk to Erza about the apartment thing?" He asked, and took a seat on a nearby chair, taking his hood and visor off in the process.

"Yeah. It'll be another week until I move in."

"But you got the place? Like, they accepted you and everything?"

"Yeah."

"That's awesome." He said, but as he watched her, noticed that she didn't really seem happy about it. She seemed lost in her thoughts, completely shut down on the outside and responding almost robotically. "You don't sound too happy about it."

"I may never see my friends or family again." She said softly, and he paused, not entirely expecting that response. Tiredly, he looked over to the clock on the wall, noticing that it was close to 9 in the afternoon.

"Have you eaten today?"

"Not since this morning." She commented.

"Well no wonder you're all mopey. Come on, I know a cool little place down the street. My treat."

"I'm not hungry."

"Come on, I'm letting you stay here for free. Least you can do is join me for a non-romantic free meal." He said with a grin, jumping back to his feet and pulling his visor back over his face. Truth was that he'd already eaten, but with his appetite, he could cram some more food in his stomach for her sake. "Come oooon," He whined, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet, snickering at the embarrassed expression her face. "Play with meeee," He whined again, acting overly playful and childish as he pulled her away, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Fine, I guess." She replied, cheeks red as she watched the man finally straighten his posture and lead them out the door, holding her hand in his. It felt oddly comforting to have the contact, and she secretly hoped that he wouldn't let go.

Bickslow held her hand on the way there, surprised that she didn't pull away. The gesture wasn't exactly a romantic one, and he'd simply grabbed her hand in a friendly manner, but he couldn't help but wonder if she interpreted it differently. Once they had reached the street he'd intended to let go, but was surprised when she interlaced their fingers together instead. Enjoying the feel of her small hand in his, he went with it, hoping to warm up the cold appendage.

Once they reached the small restaurant he unlocked their hands, since it was a frequent place for Fairy Tail wizards to eat. He'd been in Fairy Tail long enough to know how the rumor mill worked- once they started they were almost impossible to kill, and he'd been guilty of helping spread some of those rumors. Having a meal with another wizard was pretty common, but someone seeing them holding hands could morph into something it wasn't very fast.

They took a seat in the corner of the small building, having menus handed to them by the waitress. Soon they were also given water, and Bickslow chatted with the woman a little before she went away, since he was a regular and knew most of the staff.

Claire was hunched over as she looked at the plastic, chewing the inside of her lip. She looked utterly dejected, looking over the menu sadly; like someone had killed her puppy and then put it on the menu, sautéed and ready to serve.

"Their soup is pretty good." He commented after a while, watching the indecision on her face and wondering if she was going to cry. "Their vegetable soup is what I usually get."

"I guess I'll get that." She spoke softly, still looking through the list and pictures of foods.

"So, do you have a boyfriend?" He asked, waggling his tongue at her.

"No. I was close to hooking up with my roommate Suzie, though."

"Oh, so you're into women?"

"I'm bi."

"Ooh, sexy."

A smile cracked along her face, and he internally cheered at finally being able to make her smile. When the waitress came back, Bickslow ordered for them and passed along the menus to her, laughing loudly at an inside joke she made. As she walked away he returned his attention to the woman across from him, noticing that her gaze had moved to the window next to them, looking again at the dark clouds in the sky.

"So how long have you known Suzie?"

"About half a year. We had a couple classes together in college, and we got along well enough, so we got a place together."

Their conversation continued like that, Bickslow asking her questions to keep her talking, and occasionally cracking a joke to try and cheer her up. After they got food into her system she cheered up a bit, but he was still a bit worried about her.

It was pretty rare that the seith mage went out of his way for someone like this. Usually he just hit on or teased girls until they either slapped him or caved and slept with him, but with Claire, he felt oddly compelled to stay and help her out. Not just to get laid, although he wasn't entirely opposed to the idea, but to help out a fellow wizard in need.

As she talked, he actually wondered if he liked being around her simply because she wasn't violent. Near all the women (and men for that matter) in the Fairy Tail guild had grown up with a messed up past in one respect or another, and as a result they communicated with fists. When they didn't understand something, they punched it. When Bickslow crossed a line or simply phrased something in a way they didn't like, he got punched in the face.

That was one of the reasons he wore his visor all the time.

He knew that he said pervy things sometimes, and maybe they weren't always appropriate, but he never said those things out of malice. To tease them, sure, but not actually hurt their feelings. Some women, Kana for example, actually enjoyed his pervy comments and bantered back in fun conversation.

Claire would sometimes glare or give him a weird look when he crossed a line, but she never resorted to violence. More often than not his off handed pervy comment made her burst into laughter, or she'd play his game and respond in kind.

2.

She dreamed of fire that night.

It was a reoccurring dream she'd had since she was a kid. While most people dreamed of weird things, like talking flowers or squirrels, she always dreamed of fire.

It wasn't always the same dream, but no matter what the topic of her dream was, there was always fire. Sometimes she was the fire, sometimes she caused a fire, and sometimes she just watched the flames rise up and devoure everything within reaching distance.

'Pyro' was a nickname she'd sported as a kid, and after almost catching the house on fire several times, she'd given up playing with the element. She'd burned herself more times than she could count, and the repetitive parent-teacher meetings about the issue resulted counseling and therapy for much of her childhood.

They'd told her that it was simply a symbol of her emotional state. That she was actually unhappy and acting out. Some theorized child abuse, or even pyschopathy by one therapist.

It became such a hassle that she pretended like the dreams went away.

" _Claire, have you been having fire dreams again?"_

" _No sir, I dreamt about a unicorn sliding down a rainbow, like in a cartoon I watched the other day with butterflies everywhere…."_ And then she'd ramble with as much detail as she could imagine, watching the man nod in approval and write something down on his piece of paper. As long as she rambled about girly things, they seemed to deem her as 'normal' and 'fixed'.

She pretended that she didn't love the smell, the sight, the feel of it. Even when it burned her skin and she smelled her flesh burning, she loved the sensation. It felt like it was soothing something within her, like she was coddling a beast deep within her that raged in need without it. It was always gnawing at her, starving for those flames it was deprived of, threatening to devour her whole if she didn't satisfy it.

Claire woke up in the middle of the night, hungry for those flames. Longing to feel the red flame singe her skin, to feel close to that fire- to that warmth.

She felt unusually cold, and looked down to realize that the blanket had fallen off of her and lay on the floor. Her stomach and arms were exposed to the cold air.

Actually, her body had fallen off the couch, too.

Sighing, she lay there for a bit longer, too lazy to get up. She pulled the blanket back over her and delved back into her firey dreams, ignoring the part of her brain saying it was a bad idea.

3.

Bickslow frowned, looking down at the woman on the floor.

Hands on his hips, he couldn't decide whether to leave her be or pick her up and put her back on the couch. Another option was to put her on his bed, which would be more comfy, but might give her the wrong idea.

She looked cold, curled up against the side of the couch, on the floor, clinging tightly to her penguin blanket.

Remembering that he'd originally planned to work out in his living room anyway, since there was more space than in his room, he eventually shrugged and walked over to her. Gently picking her up, surprised at the shivers that wracked her body as he lifted her, he pulled her closer to his chest; she felt so small in his arms. Walking over to his bed in the other room, he carefully set her down and pulled the blankets over her, hoping that her shivers would cease as he left the room.

When she heard the soft click of his door close, she couldn't help but smile and snuggle further into the blankets, bringing it up just below her eyes. The smell of his cologne sent nice tingly sensations through her, and as she thought about the cute shirtless guy, she drifted back into a blissful sleep.

4.

She'd learned to ignore the insatiable hunger for years, but when she watched Natsu eat fire from across the Guild Hall, she couldn't help but envy him.

She knew that even normal fire mages couldn't eat or play with fire the way he could, but she wanted to so badly. It was irrational, stupid, and she knew it would be suicidal for her to attempt it. Nonetheless she eyed him from across the room, sipping at her drink as the boy started a fight with his friend.

He was loud and obnoxious enough that her stares went unnoticed by most. Even so, Bickslow eyed her from a few tables away, noticing the glint in her eye. Sighing, he took another drink and went back to chatting animatedly with his friends, hiding his disappointment.

When Kana came over and challenged all of them to a drinking contest, he took the opportunity to get hammered, even though he knew it was a terrible decision. Even though he wasn't _that_ disappointed by catching Claire look at another guy, it did cause an annoying nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't the first time a girl he liked was crushing on someone else, and he doubted that it would be the last. By the 5th shot he'd forgotten about what was bothering him, and after that, he wasn't really sure what was going on.

Claire wasn't sure how long she watched the fire breather, but once she reached the bottom of her glass, she knew it was too long. Going back to her notes, she went back to what she always did- make lists and plans.

The sound of a fight got her attention again, and she found herself on the edge of a bar fight. Having never seen or participated in person, she smiled and watched, entertained by it. The wizards of Fairy Tail were a rowdy bunch, and given their stressful jobs, she could understand why they'd need to let loose and punch the hell out of each other. Hell, that's how she got along with her siblings as a kid. After beating the shit out of her sister, and vice versa, we were the closest people in the world.

As she reminisced to her childhood, she didn't really notice the guy take a seat next to her, and didn't realize he was there until a hand was placed on her leg.

"What are you always doin' so alone?" He asked, and as she turned to look at him, was assaulted by the stench of alcohol on his breath. Claire racked her brain to try and figure out who he was, but figured that he was one of the background characters in the anime. She grabbed his hand to try and remove it, but he easily grabbed her wrist and held it down.

"Let go of me." She demanded, glaring into his dark eyes that were too close to comfort. As she stared at his smug face, she realized that she didn't recognize him from the anime, but she did recognize him from her first day at Fairy Tail. It was the older guy that hit on her on the first day. "I said let go!"

But he didn't listen, instead reaching up with his free hand to grab her chin, keeping her face still as he smothered her lips with his. With her free hand she tried to push him away, scratching and pushing at every sensitive part of him she could reach, but he was way too strong. The alcohol dulled the pain, so even though she was scratching his face, he couldn't feel it.

The grip on her hand and face was probably going to bruise, and the pressure on her lips was painful. When his slimy tongue pushed against her teeth she almost threw up.

But then the pressure went away.

The body on hers was thrown off of her and crashed into her table, effectively knocking it over with the rest of her belongings. She jumped to her feet, trying to get some distance between the groaning man on the floor, and bumped into another chair behind her.

It didn't take her long to realize that Bickslow was standing next to her, presumably looking down at the guy on the floor and shaking his hand, as if he'd hurt hit while punching him. Since there was no one else around, at least close enough to have landed the punch, she gave a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Bickslow." She thanked looking up at him, and he turned to her, swaying slightly. Just like the other guy his breath was layered with alcohol, and as he just stared at her for a moment, she wondered if he even knew what he did. "I think I'm going to get out of here before another creep gets handsy."

"You're thanking me?" He asked incredulously, and grabbed a nearby chair to lean on, looking like he was going to fall over any second.

"Well yeah, he was being creepy." She replied, and looked down at the man in question, noticing that he appeared to be out cold. When she looked back up and realized just how confused and intoxicated he was, she laughed. "Do you want to stay here and fight, or go home?"

"Uh…" He muttered, and scratched his head, looking around him for a moment. When he didn't find whatever he was searching for, his gaze landed back on her, staring at her for a moment. "Were you talking to me about something?"

"Let me grab my stuff and we'll head out." She said, and slipped passed him to grab her bag, notebook, and pen off the floor. Standing back up, she nodded her head towards the exit, to which the taller man nodded and started following her.

They had to step over and around a few unconscious wizards, along with dodge a punch that almost landed on Claires face, but they managed to escape unscathed. At some point she'd grabbed his hand to keep him from falling over, to which he responded with a bone crushing grip as he used the hand to keep himself upright.

The cool night breeze was a welcome one, and Claire couldn't help but think back to her first week in this crazy world. Fireflies and strange plants were absent, but the air was alive with magic and wonder, along with laughs and cries from within the Guild Hall.

"You're cute, Checkers." Bickslow giggled, and put an arm around her. She responded in kind by snaking her arm around the back of his waist, letting him lean against her for support. "You need to re-dye your hair, though. Your hair is growing out." He said, looking down and beginning to poke and prod at her hair. "Whatever you used is shit."

"Maybe you can help me with that? What did you use to dye your hair?"

"Magic. Duh." He said, stopped picking at her hair. "What do you see in that guy?"

"What guy?"

"Natsu. Duh." Bickslow said, squinting his eyes up at the starry night sky. Claire struggled to keep him up, making a mental note to start making use of the Fairy Tail weight room. Running, lifting weights, and defensive magic were on her new mental list of things she needed to do.

"I think his fire magic is really cool. Also, his pink hair is hilarious in person."

"I saw the way you were looking at him."

"I'm mad jealous of his fire magic. Who wouldn't be?" She asked, and he snorted, seeming to not believe her. "Are you jealous?"

"Pffft, no. Small fry ain't got nuthin' on me." He slurred, smirking and trying to gesture with his hands something she didn't understand. As he made the movement she cursed, trying to keep them both upright. "If you want to see real magic, you should watch _me_ in a fight. I'm fucking awesome."

"I'm sure you are."

"You're cute checkers hair." He said giggling. "Penguins."

"You're so random when you're drunk."

"To the penguin house!"

5.

The next few days were rather uneventful. Bickslow took a job with his team that had him out of town for the next few weeks, so for the next few days before her apartment at Fairy Hills was ready, she got to enjoy the seith mage's apartment to herself.

Between eating most of his food (it would have gone bad anyway, since he was traveling), she cleaned up his apartment best she could, hoping it would be enough to pay him back for letting her stay there.

Erza gave her another tour of Fairy Hills, and Claire was pleasantly surprised at how much she missed during the first tour. Given how much information she'd been trying to take in at the time, it wasn't surprising. Compared to her apartment back on Earth this place was like a spa resort. Communal baths, saunas, and the residents were extremely friendly.

After the tour was over, she got to see how her new apartment looked. The red head had spent the week fixing it up for her, and probably roped the other wizards into helping her, and it looked spotless when she got there. Furniture was supplied, along with a very small kitchen she could make small meals with. Downstairs was a bigger kitchen for everyone to use, and apparently it was normal for them to make food for each other and split the cost of the meal, making it easier on them financially.

The 'no men allowed' rule was a bit annoying, but as Erza was telling her that rule, she saw Kana wink in the background behind the red head. As the requip mage continued explaining the rules, a young man in his early twenties tip-toed out of the brunette's room, watching the s-class mage carefully.

Levy's book collection looked just as extensive, maybe even more so, than the libraries she'd been searching relentlessly. That night she visited the blue-haired mages apartment to ask her about it, and although the woman didn't know what she was talking about, lent her a few books that 'might' help, along with a few useful ones on fire magic.

In order to keep Claire's secret about being from another world, she claimed to be doing research for a book she was writing. It seemed to work well enough with the few people she questioned on the topic, and it allowed her to have word spread about her inquiries without suspicion.

Wendy arrived only a couple days after she moved in, much to her relief. The Battle of Fairy Tail was the only thing she'd been able to predict thus far, and it had started to make her nervous when the other things were taking so long to happen.

"So where do you come from?" Kana asked, looking over at the checker woman with a smile. They were the only ones in the communal bath at the moment.

"Up north." She said, being as vague as possible. Technically she did appear north of Magnolia, so she wasn't entirely lying.

"That's specific."

"I don't really like talking about my past." She said, and the brunette nodded in understanding. "So what's the deal on the no guys rule?"

The alcoholic smiled. " _Technically_ we're not supposed to let them in the building at all. As long as you're pretty quiet, or at least cast a silencing charm on your room, Erza doesn't really care. If she sees them she'll escort them out of the building, but otherwise she's not too strict. Why, is there a guy you want to sneak in?"

"Not in particular." She said with a shrug. "But it's nice to know that if I did, Erza wouldn't kill them."

Kana snickered, and took a swig from the bottle of wine next to her. "I don't recommend hooking up with people at our guild, if you were thinking about it. It can get messy pretty fast to sleep with people you're working with."

"How do you meet guys, then?"

"Fairy Tail isn't the only bar in town." She said, and Claire smiled.

"I suppose that's true. I haven't gotten the chance to really explore Magnolia yet, between working and researching."

"What the hell have you been researching, anyway? I heard you were asking Levy about other worlds?"

"I'm writing a book. I heard about a world with no magic, so I've been trying to find out more about it."

"That's specific."

"I'm hoping that Lucy might be able to help me out, but I haven't been able to get a moment with her."

"Why do you think she would know anything?"

"Well, she's a celestial wizard. She summons spirits from another world on a daily basis, so I figure if she doesn't know anything, her spirits might." She explained, and Kana nodded thoughtfully.

"Lucy's writing a book too. Maybe you two can bounce ideas off of each other."

"Good point." Claire said, and sighed as she sunk lower into the water, wincing as it touched a healing cut. "What magic do you use?"

"Card magic." She said simply. "You?"

"I've started learning fire magic, but I'm not that good at it."

"So all that magic you're giving off is just natural?" She asked, and by the tone in her voice, Claire guessed that she didn't believe her. Bickslow didn't either, and the checker woman silently wondered whether she should start lying to people so that they'd stop looking at her that way.

"I'm _all_ natural, baby." She said with a cocky smirk, causing the woman to burst into laughter.

6.

A few days later, she got the opportunity she'd been waiting for.

The Edolas event finally happened, and although no time passed for her, it did for some of her Fairy Tail friends. Upon the arrival of Lisanna a party broke out, and consequently another fight.

Lucy and some other wizards gathered on the second floor to avoid the violence, so Claire approached the laughing blond leaning against the railing. Drink in hand, good posture, and the best smile she could muster, she started talking to her. "Lucy, right?"

"Yeah! Uh…" She spoke, probably trying to remember the woman's name. "I'm sorry, I'm terrible with names."

"No worries, I'm Claire. Nice to meet you." She greeted, and leaned against the railing as well but stayed facing her. "Sorry if this sounds creepy, but I heard that you're a celestial wizard."

"It's pretty common knowledge, I don't think it's creepy." She said with a cute smile, and Claire couldn't help but feel comfortable around her.

"I'm writing a book taking place in another world, and I was hoping if you could answer a couple questions?"

"Of course! Anything for a fellow writer." She said excitedly, her brown eyes sparkling at the prospect of helping her. Her cheeks were pink as well, and Claire could smell the faint scent of a margarita on her breath.

"So there's this world I've heard about, and it's like Edolas, but they don't know about magic nor do they have any access to it. It's called Earth, but it might go by another name."

"And you're sure it's not Edolas?"

"Positive." She replied, and watched the blond ponder it for a moment, her finger touching her chin as her gaze met the ceiling.

"Aside from the occasional fictional story, I don't know of any confirmed real places like that. I can ask my spirits, though." She offered with a grin, and pulled out her keys.

"Anything I can help with?" The male voice spoke as he approached, and Lucy laughed, having just been reaching for his key.

"What are you doing here, Loke? I didn't summon you."

"I heard there was a party, so I came to celebrate." He said with a shrug, and then turned to Claire. Grabbing her hand and bringing it to his lips, he stared into her eyes with his glasses slipping a centimeter down his nose. "You look beautiful tonight."

Claire blushed at the sudden proximity and affection, laughing awkwardly at the handsome man holding her hand.

"Oi, we have a question for you, and it's not a romantic one." Lucy said, pushing him away from her.

"Anything to help you beautiful ladies." He said, placing a kiss on Claire's hand before letting go, pushing his glasses back up his nose. Lucy looked to her new friend, encouraging her to ask him, and Loke locked eyes with her again.

"There's a world I'm trying to find. It's a nonmagic world, and it's called 'Earth', but you may know it by a different name."

"Why are you trying to find it?"

"She's writing a book!" Lucy said happily, and giggled.

"No magic, huh? Is it Edolas?"

"No, it's definitely not Edolas." Claire said quickly. "It doesn't have any magic at all."

The red head pondered the question for a moment, and then turned to Lucy. "Have you asked Crux? He would probably know. There's a lot of worlds, but I haven't committed them to memory." He suggested, and the blond went back to her keys, looking for the silver object.

Hope swelled up in Claire's chest, despite the voice in her head telling her to stay calm. But as the spirit was summoned and Lucy relayed the information to him, she couldn't help let an excited giggle escape her.

"So what's your story about?" Loke asked as the Crux seemingly fell asleep, searching the database for the information. The small group ignored the chaos below, their warrior cries and sound of breaking tables fading into the background.

"It's about a group of travelers that explore different worlds. Actually, are you able to travel to other worlds aside from this one?" She asked.

"It depends on the world. I can easily go anywhere that Lucy is, if she summons me there. For example she was able to summon me in Edolas with no problem."

"What about worlds she isn't on?"

"Well, if it's just me traveling, I'm limited to what world is closest. There are ways to travel to other worlds, but there's huge risks involved. In most cases it's a one way trip, and considering how far apart most parallel worlds are, the options are limited." He explained, keeping up his charming smile as he talked.

"Would you be able to send someone else to that world?"

"Are you hoping to make a trip, or is it purely hypothetical?"

"Hypothetical, of course." She lied quickly, though judging by the look he was giving her, she could tell he was starting to suspect.

"It's possible, but like I said, it's a huge risk. You'd have to account for time dilations, planet alignment, not to mention make sure that the world isn't poison to you. If you screwed up just a little, you could end up suffocating in space." He explained, and even though she was a little deterred, the fact that she got to Earthland in the first place was evidence enough that it was possible.

The Crux woke up and began relaying information to them. "I found one world in my database that might be what you're looking for. It did have magic at one point in time, but not enough to support the population for thousands of years. The inhabitants have prospered significantly despite the lack of magic, and in fact are on the verge of overpopulating the planet."

"That sounds like it."

"It's referred to as 'Middle Earth'."

"Do you know how time moves there compared to here?" Claire asked.

"For every minute here, 2 years passes there." He said, and her heart sunk.

"So just an hour here is the equivalent of 120 years?" Loke asked, and the spirit nodded. "Would it be possible for someone in the celestial world or this world to travel it?"

"Yes, but I don't know why you'd want to go there." He answered.

"But it is possible?" Claire asked.

"Yes. It's just barely close enough and it would require an enormous amount of magic, but it's possible." He answered, and Claire thought for a moment. There was no way that she could go back right now, since her friends and family were well passed dead and she had no idea what would be waiting for her. In the anime there had been time travel, and inferred future time travel, so if she managed to go back before she got here…. "Approximately 4 weeks ago, this planet was the closest it'll ever be to it. As more time passes, the farther it goes away."

"Hypothetically," Claire spoke. "If I went back in time to just before that happened, and asked you guys to help me get to Middle Earth, would you help me?"

"If you had a good reason to go there, sure. If it was just for your book I might have to decline." Loke spoke. "What kind of characters are in your book?"

"A water dragonslayer and her friends traveling between worlds to find her dragon. In the story I'm planning to make multiple worlds accessible to them. Do you have any more information on Middle Earth?" She asked, turning back to the Crux. In anticipation for people asking about her book she'd prepared a generic background story to tell them, and every time she told people, added little bits of detail.

"I'm afraid that's it. Because the life span of the world is so short, very little is known about it."

"Thank you for the information." Claire said, and relayed the same to Loke.

"Any time. I'd love to read your book when you finish it." He said with a wink and leaning in close.

"Loke, leave her alone." Lucy spoke, interrupting.

The red head was easily distracted by another beautiful woman passing by, bidding the two adieu before running off. Lucy and Claire smiled at each other, laughing. "Thank you for helping, Lucy. You have no idea how much it meant to me."

"Hey, what are friends for?" She asked, and pulled her into a tight hug. The tired woman returned her hug, and upon noticing that the brawl had died down into hugs and laughing merrily again, the two made their way back downstairs.

"Thanks again, I'll se you later."

"You're leaving so soon?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired." She said, smiling at the cheerful woman. "Have a nice night."

"You, too."

"LUCY!" Natsu screamed as he tackled her, his small blue cat flying over them.

Claire was tempted to stay anyway, if anything just to watch them interact, but didn't feel like acting chipper. She slipped out of the Guild Hall without being noticed, finding comfort in the sight of the clear night sky. Even on a different world she could see the constellations of her planet, and it made her feel a little less lost.

"So how have you been coping?" She turned, finding that Loke was following her outside. The Lion spirit really was attractive in his suit and tie, and she suddenly wondered why Lucy turned him down all the time.

"What do you mean?"

"I recognized that look in your eye. I was exiled from the celestial world for 8 years, I know what it's like to be trapped here." He explained, and followed her to the side of the path, getting out of the way of drunken wizards stumbling in and out of the Guild Hall.

Claire sighed, averting her gaze and looking back up at the stars, trying to keep from crying.

"If there was no magic where you grew up, it must have been quite a shock to find it here."

"People don't believe me when I say I don't know magic." She said with a smile. "Bickslow actually got mad at me."

"You and Bickslow, huh?"

"He let me crash on his couch until I moved into Fairy Hills."

"I never pictured him as a good Samaritan."

"I didn't either, but he is. Perfect gentlemen." She commented, still smiling.

"How long have you been here?"

"I guess just over a month. It feels like forever."

"Do you know how you got here?"

"No. I went to bed and woke up in the woods by Mount Hakobe, with only the clothes on my back. Luckily I stumbled across a library and used the maps to get me to Magnolia, and when I got here, joined Fairy Tail to get work."

"You joined a good guild. There's a lot of good people here to help you."

"I've been trying to keep it under wraps until I find out how or why I was sent here. I'm a really bad liar, though." She said, and finally turned to look at him, finding that he'd been staring at the stars too. Noticing her glance, he turned look at her, giving her a kind smile.

"Does anyone else know?"

"Porlyusica."

"The healer?"

"Yeah." She said, stopping herself from giving away the old woman's secret. Realizing that she was getting lost in his mesmerizing, honey colored eyes, she looked back up at the sky. "There's a few methods of time travel in this world… but there's a good chance that I'm stuck here for good. But I have to keep trying."

"It's not so bad once you get used to it. I love this world, personally."

"I have friends and family back home. I have to keep searching for a way home, for their sake. Just getting the message to them that I'm alright would be enough."

"Even if you could go back in time, which is a really big if, there's no guarantee that you'd survive the trip a second time. Just because you survived one way, doesn't mean you'll survive the second time. Not to mention any mistake on our part sending you there could get you killed."

"So you think I should give up and let my friends and family think I'm dead?" She asked, unable to look at him.

"… I think you should be ready to face that possibility. If you've been here for over a month, they're technically already dead. I'm not trying to be mean, but I'd hate to see a beautiful woman waste her life searching for an escape that isn't there." He spoke, trying to keep his voice soft as he watched her struggle with the information. She appeared to be handling it well enough, but the more he stared at her blank face, could see the emotions swirling in her eyes.

Before he could say anything else, a trio of wizards walked passed them, one of them stopping when he realized who they were. "Checkers! I was hoping to find you. Oh hey Loke, sup?" Bickslow asked as he approached them, giving the man a fist bump.

"Just getting some fresh air. Did you guys just get here?"

"Yeah, we finished our mission early. Is there a party going on?"

"Yeah, Lisanna's back." He said, and the taller man stared at him for a moment, hoping that he would elaborate further. "Turned out that she wasn't actually dead, she was just transported to another world. A lot happened while you were gone."

"Lisanna, like, the little Strauss girl?" Bickslow asked after a second, and Loke nodded with a smile. "Shit, that's crazy, dude!"

"Yeah it is. Everyone's happy to have her back; you should go and say 'hi' to her."

"Totally. Little Lisanna back from the dead..." He said, turning to look at the doorway and spotting her inside. When he turned back to say something to Claire, he looked around confused at her absence, and then spotted her walking down the street hurriedly. "Where's she going?"

"She's had a long day." Loke commented, frowning at her sudden absence. "Are you two friends?"

"I think so." He replied, also frowning at her disappearance. "Did I say something weird?" The seith mage asked, trying to think if he'd said something offensive. It wouldn't be the first time he'd seen women run from him, but it was the first time he'd seen her escape so quickly.

"Nah, I think she's just tired. She's got a lot to deal with right now."

"Like what?"

"She swore me to secrecy, sorry."

"Well, I'm pretty sure she moved into her new place a few days ago… I thought things were looking up for her."

"She mentioned you let her stay at your place?" Loke commented with a smirk, and the taller man glanced back at him, feeling a blush creep along his cheeks.

"Hee hee, yeah. I found out she was homeless, so I let her stay with me until the Fairy Hills thing cleared through."

"That was awfully nice of you."

"I didn't have ulterior motives, if that's what you're thinking. Not that she isn't cute as a button. I love her hair."

"It is unique." The spirit chuckled. "So, are you going to ask her out?"

"I try not date people from the guild. You know how messy that gets."

"Yeah, but sometimes it's worth it. And I have a feeling she could use some company right now." He said, and the seith mage gave him an inquisitive look under his visor, curious by what he meant by that. Before he could question him further the spirit was already running inside, probably seeing a cute girl needing some company.

Bickslow contemplated for a moment whether to run after Claire and try to find her, or to go inside and drink with his friends. Seeing the little Strauss girl would be pretty cool, too.

He eventually shrugged and went inside.

7.

The next morning she went to Porlyusica to see if she had any luck finding an inhaler replacement. Thankfully she did, but it was expensive. It also worked exceptionally better than a one from her world; however, she could only use it 10 times before it ran out.

"Remember: only use it if you absolutely have to. Inject it on any part of your body and it'll allow you to breathe in almost any environment for 24 hours."

"Any environment?" Claire asked curiously, eyeing the small device. It looked oddly similar to an epipen and functioned almost exactly the same, and was small enough to fit in her pocket.

"Yes. You could technically breathe underwater with it, or even toxic fumes. That's why it's so hard to come by." She said, glaring at the girl who nodded hurriedly. After a moment, her gaze softened just slightly. "So, have you found out how you got here?"

"I found out that everyone I loved is dead, and the only way I can see them again is by time travel." Claire said, and the woman nodded blankly, as if she'd just told her the sky was blue.

"I'm going to give you something to help with anxiety. Take one a day." She said, turning to reach for a bottle on a shelf and handing it to her. "Why are you still here?"

Claire hurried out of the small hut, not wanting to encourage her wrath.

8.

Kana had convinced her to go 'boy shopping' with her, basically being her wingwoman for the evening. They had to stop by a store to find a cuter top for Claire, since she didn't have any appropriate clothes, and managed to find something for a decent price: a blue top with soft fabric and cool blue designs swirling on it. She wore a pair of black skinny jeans with it, and Kana wore a matching pair but with her usual bikini top.

They sat down at the bar and had a few drinks, all of which were paid for by men winking at them from across the room. Kana naturally got more drinks, but passed some of the extra ones to Claire to balance it out. The bar was busy but not packed, so they could talk comfortably with the sound of chatter and soft music in the background.

For what little time she spent with the woman, she enjoyed the company. They laughed loudly about random girl things for some twenty minutes before the brunette snagged a guy she liked, leaving Claire at the bar alone. In case it didn't work out, while the card mage was sitting across the room chatting the man up, Claire hung out and awkwardly chatted with the bartender.

She tried not to make eye contact with anyone after what happened at the bar fight the other week, not wanting a repeat of that incident. If a guy got handsy with her again she doubted that Bickslow would come to the rescue again, accidental or not.

Actually, the more she thought about it, maybe this wasn't the best idea.

"What are you doing here?" The voice accompanied a tap on her shoulder, and she turned to look up in surprise, a smile on her face.

"I'm Kana's wingman." She told the seith mage, looking up at his half-covered face in gratitude. "I got free drinks."

"Lucky you. You know that she just left, right?" He asked, and she turned to where she saw the woman last, finding that she'd disappeared. "I walked passed her on the way in."

"Damn, she moves fast."

"Depends on how she's feeling. Sometimes she'll be at the bar all night before she finds someone she's interested in." He said, and then smiled. "Is this seat taken?"

"Nope." She said with a matching grin, happy to have the company. He took a seat next to her and ordered a beer from the bartender, seeming to feel right at home. "How's your day been?"

"It's been alright. Pretty uneventful, just training and working out."

"Do you use the Fairy Tail weight room, by chance?"

"Sometimes, but I try to avoid it. Between Elfman yelling about what a 'real mean' he is and the other wizards breaking the equipment so often, it's not too great. I've heard it's pretty nice to go to at night, but I almost never get the chance. Why, you thinking of lifting weights?"

"Kinda." She said with a cheeky grin. "Since it looks like I'll be stuck here for a while, it makes sense that I adapt. I'm hoping to start a training routine pretty soon."

"Definitely a plus side of being a wizard- you get fit. Not great for long lasting relationships, but you know, great for short term." He said, letting his tongue hang out and sway from side to side, causing her to giggle. Bickslow thanked the bartender as he handed him his drink, immediately taking a sip of the cool liquid. "So, what kind of jobs have you been taking?"

"Anything that doesn't require magic, pretty much. It's hard work but it pays better than my last job."

"So you're taking shit jobs?" He asked, and she shrugged. "Have you tried teaming up with other people? You could probably get better work that way."

"When I first started I went on a couple with Kana, but I ended up doing most of the work since she was drunk off her ass. I've only asked a couple of people but they turned me down."

"Who'd you ask?"

"Elfman, Levy, and Max. I would ask Loke, but since he's doing the full time celestial spirit thing…"

"I'm surprised they'd turn you down, usually people at the guild are open to doing jobs with new members. Did they give you a reason?"

"Max said that my magic intimidated him, and that he only did jobs with wizards of his skill level. Levy said she _might_ do a job with me in the future and ran off, and then Elfman just ran off acting like his sister was calling him."

"Maybe if you were more open with your magic?" He suggested, and she glared before taking another sip of her drink. She was tempted to pull out her lighter and show him the stupid parlor trick she'd learned, which was the extent of her magic knowledge. "Most people at Fairy Tail have been working together since they were children. I wouldn't take the rejection personally, they're just…" He tried to comfort, but couldn't think of a good excuse for them. "Natsu and his team don't care about magic power. You could try and tag along with them."

"I thought about that, but they're also the most destructive team in the entire guild." She said, and he chuckled, nodding. "If I didn't get killed I'd have an asthma attack from the exercise and the anxiety of almost getting killed."

"Did you ever talk to Porlyusica about that?"

"Yeah, and she gave me some meds for it, but the replacement for my inhaler is crazy expensive. Not to mention rare, so I have to avoid triggers as much as possible."

"Triggers?"

"Things that set it off. Namely stress and extensive exercise, along with smoke, though I've only had two… no, three attacks since I've been here. The fact I'm not dead may prove that my attacks aren't lethal, which is a plus."

"Huh… that sucks." Bickslow commented, not sure what else to say about it. They both took a sip from their drinks, Claire already reaching the tipsy stage and grinning like an idiot.

"What kind of jobs do you take?"

"The non-shitty ones." He said with a smirk. "Killing monsters, taking down dark guilds… stuff like that."

"When did you start doing jobs like that?"

"A few months after I joined, and a few weeks after I teamed up with the Thunder Legion."

"How long had you been using magic at that point?"

"Since I was about 13, so… 4 years, I think. Like you I started out with shit jobs and worked my way up. Most people didn't like working with me either, given my type of magic."

"That's comforting." She said, and he gave her an inquisitive look, before remembering that he was still wearing his visor.

"What is?"

"That I'm not the only one that weirds people out." She said, and he shrugged. If he was honest, he'd tell her that they might be the only two people in Fairy Tail that people were truly uncomfortable around. Between Erza and some of the more colorful characters of Fairy Tail, they were all pretty accepting of strange mages, so long as they had a good heart. It was pretty rare for them to give the cold shoulder to new mages. "So… why are you okay with being around me?" She asked, feeling her heart beat painfully in her chest. It had been a question she'd wanted to ask for a while, but was afraid of the answer. "Since apparently my magic scares the shit out of others."

"Being with Laxus so often, I'm used to powerful magic. Doesn't really bother me."

"So how strong do you think I am? Based on my magic."

Bickslow eyed her for a second, looking her up and down, and pondered it for a moment. "In terms of magic power, I'd say you're comparable to Gajeel or Natsu. Probably a bit stronger since I haven't felt your magic during a fight. Magic levels change when you're using it and depending on what you're using it for."

"Gajeel and Natsu? Seriously?" She asked with a grin, and giggled. "What about compared to you?"

"You may have more power, but I would probably beat you in a fight."

"Seriously?" She asked again, staring at him amused and delighted eyes.

"Don't get cocky. You're hardly on the same level as Laxus or the other s-class wizards."

"I may have been completely screwed over, but at least I'm not starting from complete scratch." She said to herself, snickering as she went back to her drink. Bickslow watched her curiously, wondering what she meant by that, but figured by the pink on her cheeks and empty glasses that it was probably the alcohol talking.

"Do you have any family?" He asked, changing topics.

"3 brothers and 2 sisters. I was the middle child."

"Are you close to any of them?"

"My sister, Carol, who was a year older than me. We used to beat the shit out of each other when we were kids, but we were also two peas in a pod."

"Does she also have the famous checkerboard hair?" He asked, and she shook her head, but now looked sad.

"What about you?"

"Two older sisters, both of them recovering drug addicts. I was never close to either of them."

"Sorry."

"It's alright." He said with a shrug.

An awkward silence followed, and was broken by her giggles.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing." She smiled, looking away and continuing to giggle.

"Well now you have to tell me."

"It's embarrassing."

"Come on, tell me. I promise not to laugh." He said with a smile, glad to see that cute grin of hers. That little button nose of hers was adorable, and those scrumptious pink lips pulled into a grin made him want to want to smile with her each time. Whenever he saw her sad or stressed, which was most of the time, he couldn't help but feel proud whenever he could change it into a laugh or smile.

"It's nothing."

"But you're still laughing." He pointed out, watching her fit of giggles morph into full laughter, and even a few tears fell from the sides of her eyes. While she continued into her hysterical nonsensical laughter, he took another swig from his bottle, patiently waiting for her to be able to talk again. "I can't wait for you to tell me about it."

"It's… it's… it's not even… that… funny…!" She said between laughs, holding her stomach in pain.

Wondering if it was something about himself making her laugh so much, he looked down at his outfit and felt his face to make sure that there was nothing on it. He'd changed out of his striped fighting outfit to his light purple and blue one, which he wore to social events. It was far less intimidating than the other one, and he'd even had a few girls refer to him as a 'knight in shining armor' when he wore it.

"I'm sorry. It's… it's not even funny." She said as the laughs and giggles started fading out.

"Is it something I said?"

"No." She said, smiling, and took another sip from her drink. Slurping down the last of it, he watched her as the finally giggles died down.

"Come on, tell me. I'm still self-conscious about you randomly walking away yesterday. If you don't tell me, I'll feel insecure and sad." He added a pout to it, tilting his head slightly to add to the effect. She wasn't convinced, judging by her suspicious stare, but after a moment the smile cracked along her face again.

"I was just thinking that you're cute without the visor."

The pout disappeared, and he looked at her for a moment, trying to decide whether he should feel insulted or complimented. "How is that funny?"

"I may be a social piranha for the first time in my life, but at least a cute guy is nice enough to talk to me."

"To making people uncomfortable." He said as he raised his glass to her, and she picked up her empty one, clinking it with his. "So it really bothers you that your magic makes people nervous? Cuz most people would kill for that kind of power. Literally. Myself included. Laxus's dad was so obsessed that he shoved a piece of lacrima in him and scarred his face."

"My entire family, friends, and loved ones are dead, I have no way to get home, and I've literally been struggling to survive since I got to this stupid place. The people at Fairy Tail have been nice enough, but yeah, it sucks to have people be terrified of me for something I have absolutely no control over…. I shouldn't have said any of that." She grumbled the last part, placing her elbow on the counter and pushing her forehead into her palm.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sorry about your family. I had no idea." He said, reaching out and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Loke wasn't kidding when he said you were dealing with a lot. I'm sorry for bringing it up."

She let out a heavy sigh, briefly closing her eyes and rubbing her cheek. "Thanks."

"Why don't you show me your new place? It's at Fairy Hills, right?"

The familiar smile fluttered to her face, and he pulled out his wallet to pay for his beer.

"Maybe we can pick up ice cream on our way there. I've been craving sugar like crazy since I got back. Fried only makes healthy food."

"Guys aren't allowed." She said, looking up at him with slightly bloodshot eyes. The tears managed to not fall, but he feared that they might if he didn't act fast.

He smirked. "Never stopped any of the other guys from sneaking in after hours. I promise to be quiet." Bickslow said, already standing and grabbing her hand, pulling her out of her seat. Since Kana rarely paid for her drinks when she was 'guy shopping', he guessed that her female friends got the same treatment. Guys at that bar in particular were especially generous as well, and he hadn't missed the jealous looks he'd been given when he sat down next to her.

"How often do guys sneak in, anyway?" Claire asked as they walked to the exit, and when they reached outside, a cool breeze nipped at their exposed skin. He guided her to the left, towards the convenience store kind of on the way to her apartment.

"To my knowledge, it's just Kana that sneaks guys in. I've heard a few rumors of guys getting in for more innocent reasons, but it's not as common."

"I saw a guy leaving her apartment while Erza was giving me a tour."

"Did she kill him?"

"Nah. According to Kana, Erza will usually just escort guys off the premises when she catches them." She explained, and leaned into his arm. Their hands stayed locked as they walked.

"That's a relief. I don't plan to get caught, but Erza scares the hell out of me."

She giggled. "I don't blame you."

9.

It felt nice to take his hood and visor off.

His dark green eyes looked around the small apartment, nodding his head in approval. It was pretty basic in terms of decoration, but it had furniture and all the necessities. Hell, it looked better than his place. He hadn't even seen a quarter of the building and knew it was probably amazing.

"I wish I was a girl." He stated, and the woman snickered as she walked over to the fridge to put the ice cream away. While her back was turned he took the moment to admire her nice legs, his gaze moving back to her face when she turned to look at him.

"So… what do you want to do?" She asked, moving to stand next to the couch and lean against it, her hands clumsily hooking into her pants pockets.

"I'd love to see the rest of this building, but I also don't want to tempt fate and get caught. Do you have cable?" He asked, referring to the TV on the side of the room.

"Yeah, and I checked out a few movies from the video store, too. I feel like I'm in the 90s." She said, and he stood there for a minute waiting for her to explain, but she just smiled and shook her head. "Never mind. Do you like cheesy horror films?"

"Like them? I love them. They're to die for." He said with a cheesy grin, and she laughed, walking over to a small pile of DVDs she had. "Well, here's what I have."

He walked over and glanced at the titles. "Have you watched them yet?"

"Nope. Haven't had the chance."

"Let's watch the octopus one." He voted, and as she got the movie ready, he jumped onto the couch and stretched, making himself comfortable. After she got the movie set up, she turned down the lights and sat down on the couch, remote in her hand.

"Was it true?" She asked, turning to him with a grin.

"What?"

"The second time we met, you said that you were a cuddle monster." Claire said, and it took a second for him to remember the conversation.

Making a fake roaring sound, he pounced on her, toppling her to the side in the process. She laughed and giggled, so he took it as a sign she was okay with the action. Sprawled out on the couch, he maneuvered so that he was behind her, and shifted so that she could stretch her legs comfortably as well. The couch was the perfect size for cuddles.

Still trying to get comfortable, he managed to get one of his arms under her neck while the other wrapped around her waist, his hands resting on top of each other to avoid accidentally groping something he shouldn't. Her back was flush against him, and he silently thanked the heavens he'd decided against wearing his armor.

Some of the screen was blocked by her hair, but he didn't mind. He'd managed to get a second pillow when they'd been shifting positions, so he could see most of what was happening.

One of the girls screamed in the movie as the giant, radioactive octopus started attacking her. "Om nom nom," Bickslow playfully 'chomped' on her neck, gently grazing his teeth against her skin, causing her to squirm and chuckle in his arms. When his lips accidentally touched her skin, he noticed that it was unusually cold. Venturing one of his hands across her exposed arm, he realized that she was freezing. "Do you have a blanket nearby?"

"On the back of the couch." She said, and he blindly reached behind them and grabbed the fabric, pulling it over their bodies. Making sure that she was covered and rubbing her arm a bit longer to warm it up, he also made sure to keep himself in check. They were just friends watching a movie together. Overstepping boundaries would be bad.

Her laugh brought him out of his thoughts, looking up at the screen to see the cheesiest monster he'd ever seen. "I fight monsters on a weekly basis that are scarier than that."

"Guess they should have hired a wizard to help them make the movie."

"You'd think they would be smart enough to do that." He chuckled, and closed his eyes, enjoying the now warm woman in his arms.

10.

Bickslow ignored the pit in his stomach the next morning. He was too comfy, content, and happy to deal with the problem at hand. Still waking up, he felt like he was in a wonderful fuzzy cloud of happiness.

At some point in the night they'd moved to Claire's room to sleep, so when he woke up that morning, he found himself cuddling up to the woman in her bed. He couldn't remember the transition, but apparently he'd taken his shirt off in the transport. Luckily he kept his pants on, otherwise this could be a much worse.

As it was, the checker woman was still asleep, he was resting his head just above her breast, his arm was around her, and his leg was strewn across hers. Her arm was under his head and wrapped around his back, her hand resting on the side of his rib cage while the other was on the arm across her abdomen. Bickslow couldn't recall a time when he'd reversed positions like this, since usually after a night of passion the girl would usually snuggle up to him, but he was perfectly content with this. If the blankets weren't covering up so much, he'd have a pretty nice view of her breasts.

Then there was the other problem.

The 'guy problem'.

It wasn't that he'd planned for anything to happen that morning, but it was pretty common for him to wake up with a woody. His dreams were usually on the pleasant side, and taking care of it or leaving it alone usually had the same result. Easy come, easy go.

Making sure that it wasn't touching her, and being _very_ aware of it, he decided to shift so that he could look at her face.

She looked more relaxed and calm than he'd ever seen her. Eyes fluttered closed, cute little freckles strewn across her nose and cheeks, cute pink lips parted just slightly as she breathed in and out… it took all of his will power to not kiss her right then.

Not wanting to disturb her and still rather comfy, he shifted his gaze to around the room. The curtains were parted slightly to let some light in, which cascaded rays of sunshine into the small space and illuminated it. This room was slightly smaller than his own, and he couldn't help but smirk a little at that, and as the living room wasn't very decorated yet. No pictures, artwork, or anything personal. Just the bare basics. White walls and dark wood furniture.

The body beneath him heaved a heavy, content sigh, and shifted slightly. He returned his gaze to her face, a little too happy by the gentle caresses of her hands on his arm and side.

Her blue eyes blinked open, peering down at him beneath her long lashes.

"Morning." She said groggily, noticing that he was awake. Her eyes fluttered closed again as she shifted, tightening her grip slightly to bring him closer. Blue eyes opening yet again, a smile drifted to her face, her gaze moving to his hair.

"Good morning." He said, not missing the sudden smile. Given his hair color and cut, he wasn't surprised that it caused her some amusement. Hell, when he'd first dyed and cut his hair like that, he'd woken up on numerous occasions and screamed when he saw himself in the mirror. To add to his undoubtedly strange looks, he stuck his tongue out at her, showing off his Fairy Tail emblem. "Whatcha smiling about?"

"You. I love your hair."

"Is that sarcasm?"

"No." She said, and trailed her hand up his side with her fingertips, letting her hand touch his hair. Not expecting the playful response, he merely smirked, letting her play with his hair. It was kind of difficult for him to look up at her from his angle, but given what he'd been using as a pillow, he didn't want to jinx it and move from his spot, only to be denied access later. Content with her gesture and realizing that it could entertain her for quite a while, he shifted so that he was no longer looking at her but snuggled closer to her. Her teasing tugs and pulls at his locks turned into petting, which felt rather relaxing. "We slept a lot."

"What time is it?" He asked, honestly not wanting to know. Judging by the lighting it was probably too late to escape the building unnoticed by the other tenants, and he didn't want the knowledge confirmed.

"11 AM." She replied, and he groaned, nuzzling her upper chest. _But these are so comfy…._

"Please say that you're lying. I don't want Erzy to catch and kill me." He whined, strongly disliking the mental image of the requip mage tearing him apart. She'd almost torn his tongue out on multiple occasions and he really didn't want to give her a reason to try it again.

"'Erzy'?" She asked, chuckling.

"Nickname." He mumbled.

"Do you have any plans for the day?"

"Not really. In two days I'm going on a job with my team, so I was planning to workout today or tomorrow."

"Well, if you're up for it, we've still got that ice cream from last night and more movies to watch. You could hang out for the day and leave tonight."

"More cuddles?" He asked, looking back up at her with a slight pout. He hoped that it would get the cute factor he was going for, and judging by the blush spreading along her cheeks, he guessed that it was working.

"Uh, sure. No complaints here." She said with an awkward smile, and he returned his head to its original spot.

"How'd you sleep last night?"

"Better than I have in months." She replied, and he was glad that she couldn't see his cocky smirk.

"Any interesting dreams?" He asked; pushing his luck as far as it would go. He sure as hell did, and at the memory, had to remind himself to keep a cool head. When they got up he'd have to bolt to the bathroom and take a very cold shower.

"I always have the same dreams. Ever since I was a kid." She said, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Really? What are they about?" He couldn't imagine having the same dream over and over again, and just the thought made him wrinkle his nose in annoyance.

"Fire. Sometimes I am the fire, sometimes I set the fire, sometimes I'm just watching it. But my dreams are always centered around those burning flames. I grew up with people thinking I was crazy for it, so I had to start lying to them and say they went away. They thought it was a symbol of my anguish and stress, but it's not like that. It's not bad it's just… _there_." Claire spoke, and at the mention of people thinking she was 'crazy', he heard a small tremor in her voice. Towards the end of her ramble he placed a small kiss on her skin.

"I don't think it's crazy. I think it's really cool." As soon as his lips had touched her skin he felt her tense, and he wondered if he should apologize for it, but then felt her own lips on the top of his head.

"Thanks."

"No problem, Checkers."

"How'd you sleep?" She asked curiously, still petting his hair.

"Wonderfully fantastically. I've never fallen asleep with a girl without sex, so it was a nice change of pace."

"How often does that happen?"

"Sex?" He asked, really hoping that she wasn't a virgin. That would change everything and make this situation so much more awkward.

"Yeah."

"Not too often. Most girls don't dig the tattoo and hair, and the ones that do are pretty weird. You're the only girl to call me cute without the visor." He spoke, keeping his voice level. He wasn't opposed to talking about his sex life, and was actually quite open about it (in fact too open, according to most), but he also wanted to stay vague until he knew her sexual experience.

"When did I call you cute? Not that it's not true, but I don't remember telling you that."

"Last night. You laughed and giggled for ten minutes about it." He reminded her, smiling at the memory.

"Oh the wonders of alcohol."

"Have you had sex?"

"Yeah, my first time was when I was 16. Half a year of dating the guy, and after having sex twice, he dumps me for another girl. I've gotten laid a couple of times after that, but they weren't the greatest experiences."

"So you've never had good sex?" He asked, moving in her arms to prop his head on his arm, creating a little bit of distance between them. His leg and arm still stayed on her, his hand resting on her exposed hip. The covers fell slightly to reveal his bare chest, and as his eyes locked with hers, the blush returned to her cheeks.

"Not really, no."

"Is that a challenge?" He asked, smirking as the blush got darker, and her entire face heated up. _So much cute. I could just eat her up right now._

"N-not r-really." She stuttered, and he chuckled, watching her blue eyes shift awkwardly to the wall behind him. "S-so, uh, movies and i-ice cream?"

Not wanting to push her boundaries too much and get kicked out, not to mention ruin any future happenings, he moved to sit up. "Hell yeah. Mind if I take a shower first?"

"Sure."

He flashed her one more smile before moving out of the bed, making sure to point his glaring erection away from her and try to be inconspicuous about it. When he made it to the bathroom and closed the door, he let out a small sigh of relief, hoping she hadn't seen.

Back in the bedroom, Claire was still blushing at the abrupt turn in conversation. Not to mention the very nice view of his six pack, and beautiful muscles bulging beneath his pale skin. She tried to pretend she didn't notice the bulge in his pants, because she could barely register that smothering, sexy look he had given her.

Reaching her hands behind her head, she couldn't help but get lost in her thoughts.

 _Is that a challenge?_ The questioned repeated in her mind, stirring up a new flurry of emotions and causing an aching between her legs. After Bickslow was done with the shower, she decided that she would need a cold shower of her own. She couldn't help but imagine a naked Bickslow in her shower, and tried to push the thoughts away, closing her eyes and letting out a shaky breath.

"He's my only friend in this entire world. I can't fuck it up." _Literally._ She added in her head, her chest squeezing painfully at the prospect of him leaving her like the others. If she was back on Earth she wouldn't be having this mental debate; if a hot guy offered to have sex with him, especially one as hot as Bickslow, she'd jump on the offer without a second thought.

But she wasn't home.

She was stranded on an alien planet, as strange as it sounded, and he was the only person that didn't run at the sight of her. Without him she wouldn't even know about her apparently enormous storage of magic just beneath her fingertips, or that it was the reason she was having such difficulty getting along with people at the guild. Granted he didn't believe her when she said she didn't know how to use it, and that was annoying, but just knowing she had the potential to use it was extremely valuable. That combined with what Porlyusica told her about being the human counterpart to a dragon, gave her a much better idea of her situation.

He was a valuable resource. Not only for information but keeping her sanity.

Everyone she knew and loved was dead; but she's in a magical world with enormous magical energy that everyone is jealous of, and even a hot guy in her shower.

It felt like a bad fanfic.

She smiled.

If she was in a bad fanfic, she would punch the writer in the face if she ever got the chance. Given the choice of character to hook up with, Gray or Natsu would have been more practical. Even Lucy would be a good one, because she'd have access to her spirits for information, and she is extremely attractive. Natsu's entire team would be blunt about her magic and maybe even teach some to her, and it would be dangerous working with them, but if Lucy hadn't been killed yet that would mean there'd be hope for her.

But her inner coward really didn't want to reach out to them.

Hell, she was terrified of the wizards at Fairy Tail for the same reason they were scared of her, and the only reason she made friends with Bickslow was because he reached out to her. Loke made an effort as well, but he was bound to Lucy, and she was too caught up with Natsu and his team to spend much time with her. Erza didn't seem scared of her, but her guard was up whenever they interacted and it made Claire nervous that she would attack her if she felt provoked.

Ever since Bickslow told her that her magic was making people nervous, she'd become extremely aware of it, and even self-conscious about it. What she thought was just awkwardness around a stranger was really fear of her power, and she supposed it was good that people were afraid of her so that they wouldn't pick on her, but it was just a matter of time before someone called her out on it.

She could imagine all too clearly Natsu challenging her in the Guild Hall, like he did with all the major players in the guild, and then punching her face in. Knocking her out with just one hit would be pretty embarrassing.

On the other hand, it might prove to them that she's not as strong as they think, and be a bit friendlier to her.

"Whatchya thinkin' bout?" She jumped at the voice, not seeing the man standing there. He was smirking at her, towel around his neck and shirtless like before. Clad in just pants, she got another awesome view of his bare chest.

"Are you allergic to shirts?" She asked, and his smirk widened.

"Don't like the view?"

"Just thought you might be cold."

"Once we get cuddly again, which I'm assuming you're still okay with, I figured I wouldn't need one. If it makes you more comfortable I can wear one."

"It's fine. I think I'm going to take a shower though, if you're done with the bathroom."

"What were you thinking about before?" He asked as she sat up, sounding genuinely curious about her thoughts.

"A lot of stuff. Mostly that you're the only friend I have here, and I'm scared of scaring you off." She admitted, not initially planning to be so truthful. She hadn't planned to tell him about her dreams either, but somehow he tugged at her heartstrings in a way that made her sing her secrets.

Hearing the sincerity in her voice, he dropped the cocky smirk and looked at her with soft eyes, deciding to reciprocate her honesty. "I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable earlier. To be honest, even if we did have sex, I would still care about you. And even if we didn't do anything sexual, or even if you kicked me out right now, I would still care about you. The real reason I suggested I come over last night was because I wanted to cheer you up." He spoke, refraining from making a sexual joke in there. He wasn't good at the cheesy heart-to-heart stuff, and was notorious in his team for making the worst jokes at the absolute worst times.

She tried to hide the smile on her lips, looking down at her lap. Feeling a bit awkward he pulled away from the doorframe he'd been leaning against.

"While you shower, mind if I raid your fridge? I'm starving." He asked, and she nodded wordlessly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Walking Cliché 3**

 _Dragons_

Claire sighed, already missing Bickslow.

He left for a mission that day and wouldn't be back for another week. They both had lives and things to do, and she knew that their day together wouldn't happen again for some time, if it ever worked out to happen again at all, but she couldn't help but already miss it. It had been a break from her stressful day to day life and she felt significantly less wound up.

Bickslow probably had no idea how helpful and amazing he was. He made living here a little more tolerable, and if she was there for the long haul, the idea of him being there for her made it bearable. He made her feel like she wasn't alone, and gave her hope for happiness in this crazy world.

She sighed again, searching the job board for something she could do. The s-class trials were coming up in a few weeks, so the harder jobs had been taken, making the 'shit jobs' easier to find.

Perusing the fliers, she looked around, but then her eyes snapped back to a particular one.

 _No way._

She blinked a few times, staring at the job flier obscured by several others around it, able to see half of a woman's face.

 _No way._

 _I'm home sick and imagining things._

She picked up the other fliers and moved them so that she could pull out the half hidden flier, her heart almost stopping.

There was no mistaking it.

The tattoo on the side of the woman's face was an exact match of her sister Carol.

'Wanted: destruction of property, fleeing from authorities. $300 reward' was written on it. Tearing it from the wall she ran over to Mira, interrupting the conversation with her brother and holding it up to her.

"Mira, do you know where I can find her?" She asked, and feeling that her throat was tightening up, she easily reached into her pocket and used the magic inhaler on herself. Like hell she was going to pass out after finding out her sister was alive.

"Oh, that's an old flier. She was found a couple days ago."

"Do you know where she is?" Claire asked quickly, wishing that the woman would speak faster.

"Probably still at the police station, unless they've already processed her. Sometimes it takes a while to sort people through."

"Where's the police station?"

"Do you know where the elementary school is?"

"Yes."

"It's about two blocks north from there."

"Thanks, I owe you one." She said and ran out of the Guild Hall, getting curious stares as she sped past them.

1.

She couldn't believe her eyes.

She thought they were all dead.

But there she was.

Alive.

"Claire?" She whimpered, looking up from her seat in the jail cell. The brunette looked tired, unusually pale and thin, and her voice wavered in a way that tore Claire's heart in two.

"Carol, thank god you're here." She let out a huge sigh of relief and leaned against the metal bars, watching her sister just stare at her with wide brown eyes. Her lips looked extremely chapped, likely dehydrated, and long brown dreadlocks were pulled back in a loose ponytail. A few of the smaller ones framed her beautiful heart-shaped face, and Claire suddenly realized that she looked slightly different from last she saw her, much in the same way that she'd changed when she arrived. "I'm going to get you out of here. I wanted to see you in person before making the arrangements."

"Where the hell are we?"

"We're in another world. I don't know the details of how we got here, but we did. If you're here then there's a chance that others made it, too." She said with a smile, watching her sister with longing eyes. "I'm so glad that I'm not alone anymore."

"Something is calling to me, but I can't find him." The brunette spoke, and the words sent a chill down Claire's spine.

"Who?"

"Do you remember when we were little, and I used to tell you about my soul mate?" She asked. Confused, Claire nodded. "I think he's here somewhere. I can feel him calling out to me. I can also turn into water." She spoke, and held out her arm. Claire's eyes widened, watching as her limb turned from solid to liquid, and back again. "When I couldn't find him, I freaked, and apparently destroyed a bunch of stuff."

"Hey, don't worry about it. You can work with me at Fairy Tail, and we'll pay back the damage you caused. No big deal. The city here is used to wizards breaking buildings anyway."

"Has anyone else from… our planet, shown up?"

"No, you're the only one. But if you're here, there's a good chance that more people are here. I'm guessing that it'll be our siblings and parents, but I don't know for sure. Where did you wake up?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, still looking up at her with wide brown eyes.

"Well, I fell asleep in Portland and woke up at the base of Mount Hakobe. I was wondering where you woke up, because it might give us a better idea for where the others are."

"I don't know where I woke up… it was dark, and it was in the middle of a forest. I was so scared." She said, beginning to cry.

"So was I. Look, I'm going to get you out of here. Can you hang tight until I get this sorted out?" Claire asked softly, wishing she could go in there and comfort her. The brunette nodded through her sobs.

1.

She hated that her sister was sad, but she was so happy at the company that she couldn't help but smile. She got her food, let her borrow her clothes, and gave her a place to sleep.

The checker woman found herself sitting on the couch with her sleeping sister in her arms, just like when they were kids. A fire lacrima was in the fireplace, and the tv was still playing the cheesy and terrible vampire movie.

Things were finally looking up.

The soul mate comment still worried her, and it even scared her a little, but what mattered was that they were together. When they were kids Carol would say that she felt like she was two people, and the other person was in a far away land somewhere, madly in love. She was convinced that her soul mate was two people as well, and that she'd always find him one day. Claire always waved it off as weird and never put much thought into it, crediting her to a wild imagination.

Thinking back on it, Carol did have an affinity for water most of her life, and may have mentioned dreaming about it once or twice. Claire suddenly wondered if they'd been having the same dreams and urges all their lives but with different elements, and since water didn't scare people, hers just went unnoticed. Carol could consume her element, water, and be fine, but Claire couldn't eat fire without certain death.

And now she could turn _into_ water, just like Juvia.

As she spent more time with her sister, she felt something odd from her, and wondered if it was magic she was sensing. She'd started noticing strange vibes from people as of late, and sensed them strongest from the wizards she knew had lots of magic, so she hoped that she was getting better at sensing it.

Carol was giving it off like crazy. Her magic was almost smothering, and Claire couldn't help but wonder if her own was just as harsh. If it was, she'd definitely be more appreciative of Bickslow in the future, if that was even possible.

Lost in her thoughts yet again, she was pulled out of them when her sister sat up abruptly in her arms.

"You okay?" Claire asked, unable to see the woman's face. "Carol?"

"He's here." She whispered.

"Who's here?" She asked, and gave out a startled cry when the woman jumped to her feet and bolted for the door. "Hey! Who's here?!" Claire yelled as she scrambled after her, re-adding 'running' to her list of things to work on.

The woman was a freaking bullet.

"Wait up!" Claire yelled after her, running as fast as she could down the halls and stairs, following her out the front door and passed the confused stares of her fellow tenants. When they made it outside it was a full sprint, and her sister was well ahead of her, seeming to be running towards the sea.

She was really glad she had used her magic inhaler earlier that day, happy to not be doubled over gasping for breath. As it was she was breathing hard, pushing her legs as far as she could, watching her sister get farther and farther away, until she suddenly dropped.

"NO!" She screamed, having seen her sister fall off the cliff, panic and adrenaline coursing through her veins at full force. Her foot caught on something, twisting her ankle painfully as she stumbling forward, crashing into the grass. Tumbling forwards, she did an awkward summersault, landing painfully on her face.

Pushing herself back to her feet, she was about to run to the edge, when sheer power and massive energy forced her back, causing her to fall back on her butt. She was already only a few yards from the edge, and her eyes bulged at the creature that emerged from the water, fear rising in her throat.

It was night, but the full moon illuminated the ginormous creature enough. In the light she could see what looked like a smaller creature next to it, and their combined magical energy made her tremble in fear.

It was a dragon made purely from water, and it was staring down at her with glowing white orbs that matched the intensity of the moon.

"Give me back my sister!" Claire suddenly screamed, unmoving from her spot. The creature was bigger than a house -scratch that- five houses. Even the anime couldn't portray the sheer power of its presence.

"She is my mate." A low, loud voice rumbled, causing the ground beneath her to vibrate beneath her.

"Claire, don't worry. This is my soul mate." The voice of her sister was louder now as well, and the fire woman stared at the second smaller creature with wide eyes, wondering if it was her.

"Are you the reason why we're here?" She asked, locking her eyes with the massive orbs of the dragon.

"Carol is the human counterpart to the woman I loved for the past 700 years. When she died, I called out to all of the worlds to summon her. I had to summon you as well to get her here."

"Don't be mad at him, Claire."

"How the hell should I not be mad!? He transported us to an alien planet with no way home because he missed his dead girlfriend!" Claire yelled, and although she couldn't bring herself to stand, she sure as hell wasn't going to be quiet.

"I'm happy, Claire. Please be happy for me too. This might be the last time we see each other." Her words caused Claire's brain to shut down.

 _This might be the last time we see each other._

 _The last time_

"What the hell does that mean!? We need to get back to Earth! We have family and friends!"

"I'm sorry, but it was a one way trip." The dragon spoke, and with that, he pushed from the water floor and soared into the air, her sister right behind him.

"Carol!" Claire yelled, now able to push herself back to her feet. "Carol!" She screamed again, and tried to run after her, but a hand latched onto her arm and stopped her. "Let go of me. Carol! Sister!" She cried, watching her last hope fly into the sky and soar above the clouds, flying away from her.

"I'm sorry." The person grabbing her arm spoke, and despite Claire's attempts to pull away, it was way too strong.

"Let go of me!" Claire screamed again, turning and pushing at the person, not even caring that it was the infamous Erza Scarlet. "I have to save my sister!"

"Can you fly?"

"I'll swim until my arms fall off if I have to! She's getting away!" Tears were falling down her face as she looked at the red head, frantically trying to push her away. Erza grabbed her other wrist, keeping her from hitting her further.

"I'm sorry." She repeated.

2.

Once she'd calmed down, her and Erza settled under one of the big oak trees by the dormitories.

They were both sitting under the tree, leaning their backs against it, and looking out at the water. Silence had encompassed their interactions, and the other girls whispered back at the dormitories, but the red head glared at anyone that tried to approach them.

Claire's tears and sobs quieted down at some point, and she had no idea how much time passed. Her eyes stayed locked on the horizon, and they felt raw and painful to keep open. She felt empty inside, and pain. The beast inside her that craved fire had gone rampant when she'd lost it, and it felt like it had torn her apart from the inside. It matched how she felt, so she relished in it for the time being.

"I only found her this morning." She finally spoke, causing the red head to look over at her. "I found her face on a flier in the Guild Hall. She could have been rotting in that jail cell for weeks if I hadn't seen it."

"I'm sorry for not letting you run after her, but the cliff is extremely high. I didn't think you could survive the fall."

"That dragon took my sister. I might never see her again."

"Do you know what he wanted with her?" She asked, keeping her voice soft.

"My sister is the human counterpart to his soul mate. When his girlfriend died, he summoned us to this world, dragging me along with her. On the plus side, that means that more of my family might be here, but that also means that they're scared and confused."

"Are you saying that you're from another world? Are you from Edolas?" She asked, surprised.

"My world has less magic than Edolas does. Most people on my planet don't believe it exists at all." Claire explained, a wry smile on her face. "I finally started feeling hope for my future here. Like I wasn't alone." 

"You're not alone."

"Right."

"You've got friends at Fairy Tail. We're family at our guild."

"Family that's terrified of me." She scoffed. "According to Bickslow, my magic is on par to Natsu and Gajeel's, but I don't know how to fucking use it. Whenever I tell people I don't know magic, they think I'm lying. All I know is a stupid parlor trick I learned from a book I borrowed from Levy."

"You said that you come from a world with no magic?"

"Yeah." She replied, and there was a small silence, the mage silently pondering what she'd told her.

"You also said that more of your family might be here?"

"Yeah. I have no idea where they might be, though."

"What if I helped you find them?" Erza asked. If she wasn't so tired Claire might have looked at her or made the effort to look more excited.

"It's not certain that they are here. For all I know, they're on my home planet, dead like the rest of everyone I ever knew."

"Let's try and stay positive. I know some people that are good at locating people."

"I can barely cover rent, nonetheless pay someone to find them."

"I'll pay for it. Just give me a name and physical description, and I'll do everything I can to find them." She said, and Claire finally looked over at her, surprised by the determined expression in the woman's eyes. Her eyes were fierce, yet there was a hint of compassion swirling in those brown orbs of hers.

"You would do that?"

"I'll do anything to help my family. You're one of us, Claire, and we look out for our own." She said with a smile.

3.

They eventually went back inside, and Erza offered to let her stay in her room that night, but she said she'd be fine on her own.

It was pretty late when she made it back to her room, but she wasn't tired.

She felt empty.

Hollow.

Hungry.

When she was alone, she pulled out the lighter from her pocket. It was slightly different from the ones on Earth, but it functioned basically the same.

Flicking the flame on, she watched it for a moment, taking in the sight of the lone flame. It looked exactly like the fire on Earth, but she knew it was different.

It was magic.

Her hand drifted over it, at first quickly, but then slowed down, and eventually stopped. She let her palm simply levitate there over the flame, taking in the heat that transferred to her body.

Usually the smell of burning flesh would reach her nostrils after about 30 seconds, but the scent never reached her. After about two minutes of cooking her hand with the flame, feeling the monster within her stir slightly in appreciation for the food, she eventually turned her hand to look at it.

No burns. Not a scratch, scorch mark, or any visible damage.

In her time here, she'd seen a couple of people burn themselves with magic fire, so she knew it wasn't simply the difference between actual fire and magic fire.

Carol had turned into water.

Maybe Claire had an immunity to fire.

She took a gamble and brought the flame to her mouth, breathing in the sweet fire. Just like her dreams, it burned her throat slightly, but it was like eating regular food. Natsu's infamous phrase 'fire in my belly' came to mind, and she suddenly understood it. A small warmth radiated from her, and when she went to take another sip, realized that she'd accidently eaten all the fire lacrima in the small device.

Turning to the fire place, next to which was a basket full of unlit fire lacrima, she grinned.

4.

"OI! I've been wanting to talk to you!" Natsu yelled from across the room, pointing at her shortly after she'd entered the Guild Hall. The hall was packed with people since Makarov was planning to announce the S-Class trial participants, so when the loud pinkette yelled at her, she looked around her first to see if he was pointing at anyone else.

The dragonslayer ran towards her, pushing past people roughly and stopping just in front of her, a serious expression on his face. Having never had a conversation with him, she couldn't help but be a bit startled by his exuberant self bounding towards her.

"Do you know where Igneel is?"

"Uh, sorry, no clue." She said honestly. To her knowledge they hadn't revealed it in the anime, so she really wasn't holding anything back from him.

"I heard that you fought a water dragon the other day."

"I didn't fight him, he kidnapped my sister." She told him, already not liking the conversation. Learning her new fire magic had been a good way for her to cope with what happened, and a good way for her to let off some steam, but she was still incredibly sore about her sister disappearing. Erza promised to look into her other missing relatives but Claire was doubtful that anything would turn up.

"Do you know where he went?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be standing here."

He frowned. "Do you know anything about why all the dragons left? Or why that one didn't leave?"

"Sorry Natsu, I don't know anything about the stupid dragons, other than the water one is an asshole. If you do find him, kick his ass for me. Actually, if you find him, tell me where he is so that I can kick his ass." She said, letting her flames dance along her exposed arms threateningly. Sure her magic was hardly a match for Natsu's, but as she'd become more familiar with her fire, she'd found that letting it react with her emotions felt considerably better than keeping it on a leash all the time.

In the corner of her eye she saw people look up at them and back away, probably hoping to not get burned if they started a fight.

Natsu smirked at her, his white fangs glinting against the light.

"So you use fire magic, too?"

"Picked it up a few days ago. Have to say, it's pretty nice."

"Oi, quiet down! The Guild Master is talking!" Some wizards hushed nearby, and the two exchanged another glance before turning back to the Guild Master, both of them interested in Makarov's words.

Despite knowing who was going to be participating in the trials, she always had this small worry that she'd altered the time line. She liked knowing what was going to happen since it was her only advantage against her peers, and whenever something she remembered from the show was taking place, she always tried to be present for it.

For the first time, however, something didn't go as she remembered it.

"… the last s-class trial participant is Claire." He spoke, looking at her from the front of the room. She visibly stiffened, not expecting for the attention to turn to her, and smiled awkwardly. Already whispers were erupting around her, most of which were about her 'being new' (although similar complaints were being made about Juvia) and not deserving to be in the trails, regardless of her magic.

She had to agree.

What the hell was the Guild Master thinking? Had Erza told him about her?

After the announcement was over and he'd finished explaining the rules, along with saying that the ship would leave in 4 days, she hurried over to Erza to talk to her.

"Before you ask, I didn't tell him anything." She said. "I'm just as surprised as you are that you were chosen."

"I guess I shouldn't jinx him and ask, huh?" Claire asked with a nervous smile. She'd been so busy that she hadn't thought about what to do about the trials, but considering what was going to happen, she was glad it worked out the way it did.

"You'll be fine." Erza said with a wink, and then walked away to talk to someone else that was clamoring for her attention. The Guild Hall was buzzing with gossip and talk about the S-Class trials, and she found a few too many eyes on her for her liking.

"Hey, congrats." Bickslow said as he approached her, letting his tongue hang free as he grinned at her.

"Thanks."

"I see you're taking my advice." He commented, and she paused, trying to figure out what he was talking about. "About being more open with your magic."

She snorted, trying to hide her annoyance. "Right. How did your mission go?"

"It went pretty good. Fried did good enough to get his place in the trials." He said with a grin, silently wondering why she wasn't smiling at him. The last few times he'd approached her she smiled, and after their last evening together, he thought she'd be happy to see him. Then again they were at the Guild Hall, and people tended to act different here.

"Nice."

"I heard a rumor that you got your spot by fighting a dragon?" He asked, curious about what the real story was. Again, he didn't get the smile he wanted, and even got a frown from her.

"Are you going to be Fried's partner?" She asked, changing the topic.

"You bet your sweet ass I am." He said, and she smiled. Finally. "Do you know who you're going to partner with?"

"I was thinking of asking Wendy." She said, realizing who she was replacing from the original line up. The military spy, who was standing on the end of the Guild Hall watching them, originally teamed up with the little dragonslayer.

"Really?" He asked, surprised.

"She is a dragonslayer. She may be little, but she can throw a good punch when she wants to." Claire said with a smirk. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she actually was a good choice. She would be too shy to say no, and her skill level was probably on par with her own. Both of them held tremendous power but lacked the experience to use it properly.

"Good point. I look forward to fighting you guys."

"Same here."

"Do you want to grab dinner?" He asked, nodding his head to the exit.

"Actually, I was planning to train this evening."

"You have to eat at some point." He reasoned, smirking at her. "Unless you just hate my guts, which is cool. Whatever." Bickslow said with a shrug and turning away. For a brief moment he was actually scared that she might let him walk away, since she'd been so reluctant talk with him moments before.

She grabbed his arm, pulling him back with a playful annoyed look on her face. "What food do you feel like?"

He snickered. "Pizza?"

"Sounds good." She agreed, and like most of the other wizards, they left the Guild Hall now that the announcement was over. Many of the others mages were making plans for dinner as well, so their disappearance together went mostly unnoticed.

They ended up buying a pizza to go, and then taking it to his place.

"So come on, tell me about the dragon. Everyone is talking about it." He asked with a grin, and then taking a bite from the slice of pizza in his hand. His eyes locked with her face, sitting across from her at his table, watching her expression falter as she went to take bite of her pizza as well.

After swallowing her first bite she set the slice back on her plate, sighing. "I found my sister. It turns out that she was alive all this time."

"Really? That sounds great." He commented. "But you don't look happy."

"I was. Until a dragon claiming to be her soul mate kidnapped her." She said, and picked up her pizza again, wanting something to busy herself with.

"Wait, a dragon kidnapped her? And you fought the dragon?"

"I didn't do any fighting. I yelled at it and almost jumped off a cliff chasing after it, but Erza stopped me." She explained, suddenly finding her pizza fascinating to look at. "I finally found out I wasn't the only survivor, and then she got whisked away by a giant water dragon asshole. I don't know where they went, and they're probably not even on Earth Land anymore."

"I thought you said your family died?"

"I thought they did. Turns out they might be alive, scattered through the country. Maybe. If they were in the same boat I was, they could have easily died in the wilderness or a rogue monster killing them. Erza's using her sources to find them, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up."

"Hey, if you survived, I'm sure they did too. Try not to give up hope." He said, and she glanced up at him, glad that he'd talked her into dinner.

"Thanks, Bickslow."

"And if you need an extra stress reliever, my bed is always open for business." He teased, sticking his tongue out at her. She laughed, and as she did so, wondered how he could always do that. No matter how down she was feeling, he could come out of nowhere and make her laugh when no one else could.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what? Make scrumptious smexy faces?"

"No, make me laugh when I don't want to."

"I dunno. I just say stupid things and you giggle. Most other girls hit me when I say them."

"They hit you?" She asked curiously, looking at him in surprise.

He shrugged. "Well, think about the girls at Fairy Tail. Evergreen, Erza, even Mira has nearly killed me when she was having a bad day."

"I stay out of their way so much, I guess I forgot they can get violent."

"After being in Fairy Tail long enough, you'll start getting your own stories of their wrath. They can be cruel when they feel like it, and their victims aren't always guilty."

5.

"Hey Wendy, can I talk to you for a second?" Claire asked the next day, walking up to the young girl and her Exceed. Carla gave her an apprehensive look, but the blue-haired girl smiled politely and nodded.

"Sure!" She said, and followed the woman outside the guild hall. Once they got to a secluded section outside the guild hall, she turned to the girl, not surprised that Carla had followed as well.

"I was hoping you'd be my partner for the trials?"

"Why would you want Wendy?" Carla asked, crossing her arms. "She's just a girl."

"Carla, I'm a Fairy Tail wizard, not just a girl." Wendy spoke back, crossing her arms.

"To be honest, I highly doubt that I'll win. I only started using magic a week ago, so I was hoping to have a partner that could patch me up if I get hurt. Besides, I doubt anyone else in the guild would be willing to be my partner."

"If you only started using magic a week ago, why did the guild master choose you for the trials?" Carla asked with her own arms crossed, looking up at the woman suspiciously.

"There's a false rumor going around that I fought a dragon, I'm guessing that's why. Also I apparently have a lot of magic pent up in my body, but I don't have the experience using it, so when people sense my magic they assume I'm powerful." She explained, and although she wasn't convincing the cat, Wendy looked at her sympathetically. That little girl is probably the only wizard in the guild that believed her, aside from Erza and Loke.

"I'll do it."

"Wendy, you don't have to."

"No, I want to. I won't let you down!" Wendy said enthusiastically.

"Great." Claire said with a smile, and mentally debated for a second whether to bring up the other thing. "I… look, if you're going to be my partner, you should know something else about me."

"What do you mean?"

"I can see parts of the future. Not a lot, but enough to know when certain things happen."

"What?" Carla asked, looking up at her with wide eyes. "You have premonitions?"

"Yeah. They're not always right, but they usually are." She hated lying to her, but she needed a way to tell her her plan for the trials without her thinking she was cheating, and without telling her the complete truth. "I'm hoping that we can use it to avoid fighting, and I wanted to make you aware of it so that if I ask you to do something or avoid something, you won't accuse me of cheating."

"Well it kind of is…." Carla spoke.

"We're not using it to win. Besides, one of my visions showed that the trials won't be finishing this year. I don't know why, but for some reason they're not finishing like they should." She said with a shrug, hoping that it was vague enough that they wouldn't be too suspicious.

"Won't be finishing?" Wendy asked.

"Like I said, my visions aren't always right. I figure we at least try to avoid fighting the first round, and go from there. I'll let you know more on the morning of."

"Wait, have you seen anything… ominous, about the trials?" Carla asked.

"No. Why?"

The cat sighed. "No reason."

"Well, I look forward to working with you, Wendy. See you in three days?" Claire asked, and the girl nodded excitedly.

6.

Erza had recommended this training field for her to practice magic.

It was 7 AM, two days before the trials.

She'd jogged there, part of her training routine, and took a break in the middle of the dirt clearing. She took a drink from her waterbottle and set her backpack to her side, legs crossed as she took a breather and mentally planned out the rest of her day.

Since the S-Class trials were so close, Erza said that rent would be lenient, so she wouldn't have to work during the trials to pay for it. Without work she could spend the days training, both physically and magically. The amazing woman also helped her make some of her clothes fire proof, so she wouldn't have to practice her magic naked.

Definitely an amazing woman.

Unlike the others, she wasn't training to be an S-Class wizard, but instead be able to defend herself in the invasion that will take place. Shit is going to go down, and at the very least she didn't want to be a liability.

The moral dilemma of not telling anyone about it sometimes bugged her, but at the same time, it gave her a headache whenever she tried to think of a way to go about it. Not only did most people not believe her when it came to her magic, but Makarov could easily think she was lying or even if they did avoid this entire catastrophe, that would completely alter everything in the timeline.

And that gave her a major headache.

According to Bickslow, her magic was less intimidating now. Significantly stronger, which he was reluctant to admit, but more pleasant.

She guessed that feeding the 'beast' deep down inside with fire made it more content, and less threatening to others. Not only did it help other people feel more at ease, but it also made her feel significantly better, not having to reign it in all the time.

On the down side, that meant eating fire on a regular basis, which was difficult. She empathized with Natsu. She hadn't tried eating fire in public yet, but she dreaded when she'd have to.

Fire lacrima worked well, and that's what she was using for training, but it was hardly a long term solution. It was expensive, and if her backpack was bumped too hard, it would ignite the lacrima inside. Instant meal but it could hurt someone. Eventually she would have to start eating her fire in public and find other methods, which judging by Natsu's eating habits, will just be getting it where it's available. Lit torches, explosions, etc.

She was tempted to ask the resident fire dragonslayer for advice on the issue, but part of her was afraid that he'd try to fight her if she approached him. Okay, she was close to 100% he would. If someone hadn't interrupted last time he probably would have started a fight, and she didn't feel ready to face him yet.

She actually didn't want to face anyone in battle, but it was unavoidable.

Standing up, she grabbed her bag and walked to the edge of the clearing. Taking out one of the small fire lacrima, she set the bag at a base of a tree fairly hidden, and then walked back to the middle of the field. Setting off the lacrima with her own fire, she started sipping away at the flames, sucking it up like she would a smoothie.

She returned to her seat in the middle of the field, clad in baggy beige shorts and a black sports bra. An extra pair of clothes were hidden safely within her bag, should her current clothes get dirty or burned, despite the magic interlaced with the threads.

The more she consumed, the more she felt her magic grow tenfold, allowing flames to dance along her skin. Like in the Guild Hall she listened to the beast within her, her personal name for the wild magic residing within her, and let it do what it wanted. Once she got more in tune with her magic, like the books she'd been reading suggested, then she'd start learning actual spells.

So far the only 'spell' she could do was scaring people by catching on fire. She had the tiny little parlor trick as well, but all it did was let fire from a lighter fly around her skin like a yoyo or firefly.

She smiled at the warmth that filled her.

Nowadays whenever she didn't get her fill of fire, she started feeling cold and empty, or at least more sensitive to it. Whether that was the magic or her emotional response to losing her sister she didn't know, but fire seemed to ease it either way.

She was determined to become stronger for her family.

She wasn't just training for the trials, or the enemies that awaited her.

She was training so that if she found anymore of her family, she could protect them.

Dragon or not, she wouldn't lose anyone else. If Porlyusica was right then she was a dragon, too, stuck in a human body. It's why she had so much power and she had to figure out how to use it.

Apparently, or so she theorized, she'd had this power since she was a child. If she had enough magic to scare people at the guild when she didn't feed on fire, she had no idea how they were dealing with her when she fed. Although, Bickslow did mention that her magic was more pleasant….

Tired of the circles of thought, she sighed.

"I miss coffee." She mumbled as she continued eating the fire. "Alright, done complaining. Let's see what I can do." She said, finishing off the lacrima in her hand.

She attempted to 'throw' the fire in front of her, with limited success. The fire extended a few yards and dissipated, but it didn't look like it really did anything.

"Dragon roar?" She spoke, not thinking it would do anything.

But she was wrong.

Something inside her clicked, and she felt the fire inside her swell up in her belly, swirling and collecting there. Then it shot out of her mouth with such force that her head cocked back, sending it soaring into the sky.

It didn't feel like she used that much magic, but when the spell ended and she looked in front of her, her eyes widened in shock at the damage she caused. "Shit." She cursed, glad that she had decided to practice outside. Where there used to be trees was now a tunnel of smoke and tinder, going for as far as she could see.

She jumped when a few objects fell to the ground in front of her, and realized in horror that they were dead birds.

Smoking objects were falling to the ground along the path she'd accidentally created.

"Poor birds." She muttered. "Maybe the guild does have a good reason to be scared of me…"

She sighed.

"I wish someone would be willing to help."

7.

The day she'd been waiting for had arrived, and her stomach was in knots.

She'd only managed to learn three helpful spells: dragon roar, dragon wings, and fire claws. The last two she'd learned from just saying random words until something happened. Any spells that she tried to learn from books wouldn't work for her.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine. Did you have any more visions that will help?" Wendy asked as they walked towards the docks.

"I've only seen two things that will be helpful. 1. As soon as the guild master finishes explaining the rules for the first round, jump off the boat as fast as you can. Fried will create an enchantment trapping half of our guild members. 2. Make it there before Natsu and choose route 'E'."

"Why 'E'?"

"Assuming nothing else changes, we'll be fighting Guildarts."

"Guildarts!?" She screamed. "I thought you wanted to avoid fighting!?"

"Relax, I'm not going to make you fight. I just want to see how my magic compares to his, so you can hide in the corner if you want. He's not the kind of person to fight someone that doesn't want to. I don't want to risk fighting Erza or Mirajane, or any one else for that matter because you could get hurt in the process. It's our safest route. Trust me." Claire said, trying to give her a reassuring smile.

"You really think you can beat Guildarts?"

"Pfft, no. I'm going to get my ass kicked. I would feel bad if I went through the entire trial without giving it any effort though."

"Why don't you just forfeit, if you have no interest in winning?" Wendy asked.

"It'll be a good learning experience. And not just for me." She said, giving her a grin. The blue-haired girl smiled back.

When they made it to the ship, the other wizards were arriving as well, everyone carrying a backpack of supplies with them. The trip to the island would take another three days by ship, and she had the suspicion that it would be a very, very long journey.

Since it was winter most people were wearing coats, but had been warned to bring summer clothes.

After Wendy and Claire dropped their stuff off in their room, they went back to the top deck, where many of the wizards were chatting away.

"We're going to win this! Oh yeah!" Lucy cheered, high-fiving her partner.

"Wendy, will you please cast the Troia spell on me?" Natsu asked as he approached them, looking down at her with hopeful eyes.

"We're all enemies here, Natsu." Gray spoke after overhearing it. "You probably shouldn't go around asking people for help."

"Sorry Natsu." Wendy said apologetically, causing the pink-haired boy to turn and glare at the ice man.

"What'd you have to do that for, asshole!?"

"Oi, save the fighting for the trials." Bickslow spoke from nearby. "I don't feel like getting caught between either of your magics at the moment." He said, and then yawned.

"And _I_ would appreciate if you didn't destroy my ship when we're in the middle of the ocean!" Makarov yelled from nearby, causing everyone to turn and look up at him. "It looks like everyone is here, so let's cast off!" He announced, and with that, the ship started moving.

Natsu immediately ran to the edge, puking anything and everything in his stomach.

Claire watched, feeling bad for him but secretly being grateful that her own dragon magic didn't have the same effect on her. Dragon and dragonslayer magic must be quite different, she quietly surmised.

"I'm going to go take a nap. Let me know if anything happens while I'm gone." Bickslow told his teammate, who nodded and watched him walk away.

Claire was tempted to follow him so that they could hang out, but thought better of it. Gray was right about them being enemies, and even though she wasn't planning to win, everyone else did. He probably didn't want to talk to her on the trip anyway.

Which left Wendy for polite conversation.

"I think I'm going to take a nap, too." Wendy said, looking up at the quiet woman.

"Alright, pleasant dreams." Claire said with a smile, and watched the girl walk away, silently wondering if she should join her. The girl was her responsibility, and they were on a ship of 'enemies', but she really wasn't tired. Not to mention she doubted that anyone in Fairy Tail would stoop so low as to attack a little girl.

Sighing, and realizing that no one else seemed up for conversation (most of them leaving to their rooms below deck), she decided to go towards the front of the ship and look out at the horizon.

By day 2, they were in hotter climate.

Lucy and Kana were sporting their bikinis and lounging on the deck, Gray was lounging naked, and several others were clothed but in similar miserable states. The heat was brutal.

Claire absolutely loved it.

She lay on the deck, hands comfortably behind her head and adorned in black baggy shorts and a striped sports bra. Fire danced along her exposed skin that soaked up the sun rays, heating her up quite nicely.

It was a good chance for her to rest after her training, too. She'd worked her ass off the previous days and hardly took any breaks, so this was an awesome resting period.

Wendy didn't like the heat she was giving off, since she was basically a campfire in her current state, so she sat and hung out with Levy and a couple others on the other side of the deck.

"Did anyone bring marshmallows?" Bickslow joked nearby, snickering afterwards. He'd been watching her for some time, fascinated by the red, orange, and yellow that danced beautifully along her smooth skin. His visor hid his eyes, allowing him to stare without being noticed.

"It's too hot for s'mores." Lucy groaned nearby.

"Poppy cock. It's never too hot for s'mores." Bickslow stated, sounding insulted. "Especially for roasting them over a _hot_ chick." He added, sticking his tongue out. The pun was a corny, and he knew it was bad, but he was still proud of the punny statement.

He'd hoped that Claire would laugh, and she did crack a small smile, but it wasn't as much of a reaction as he wanted.

"Hate… everything… so… hungry…" Natsu groaned as he wandered around the ship, looking on the verge of puking. Everyone kept steering him towards another direction, hoping that he wouldn't launch his breakfast at him, and consequently he kept moving around in circles.

Bickslow watched the fire dragonslayer make his way towards Claire, having an idea of what was going to happen. She was an all you can eat buffet of fire right now, and although he knew it was mean to let it happen to his friend, he really wanted to see if she'd retaliate with some of her magic if he tried to take a bite out of her. She'd been particularly tight lipped about her magic, and the only thing he knew was that she liked playing with fire.

To some extent, as he'd been watching her fire magic, it reminded him remarkably of Laxus's magic. The flames danced along her skin the same way his lightning did on him, and he found it extremely attractive. The only person he'd ever considered going gay for was Laxus, so it was no surprise that he liked the little pyro.

"Ow! What the hell!?" Claire screamed, looking down at the dragonslayer munching on her leg.

"Foooood…" He groaned somehow, leg in his mouth.

"Get the hell off!" She yelled, and kicked him in the head with her sandaled foot, but the boy stayed put. "I'm not food!"

"Natsu eats fire, and you're giving off fire." Happy explained nearby, walking over to them tiredly. The little cat was sweating from the heat, and wasn't holding up too well.

"Then eat the fire, not my leg, idiot!" She said, bringing her foot back to kick him again, the appendage planting itself firmly on the side of his face. She would have kicked him harder, but every time she landed a kick, he pulled at her leg as well.

Bickslow frowned, noticing that he'd latched his teeth pretty deep in her leg and it was starting to bleed. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let him take a bite out of her. Natsu looked so out of it, he doubted he really knew what he was doing, and as he sensed Claire's magic building up he worried that she might destroy the ship.

"Natsu, she's not a popsicle." Lucy said lazily from her chair, too hot to move.

"Damn it, Natsu!" She yelled, trying to kick him again, and wincing as he sunk his teeth deeper.

"Natsu, knock it off." Bickslow said striding forward, and with one swift kick, sent the pink-haired boy tumbling several yards away. He'd always wanted to punt kick Natsu's stupid little head like that.

"Thanks for the help." Claire said, looking up at him. "Hey Wendy, could you help me out?" She said, turning to her teammate across the ship. Unfortunately, the little girl was asleep, her head resting tiredly on her folded arms.

"There's a first aid kit inside. I'll show you where it is."

"Thanks, that would be awesome." She said, and pushed herself to stand, flinching as she stood on the injured leg. "Lead the way." She told him with a grin, and he smiled back, turning to walk towards the door leading into the ship.

Loke and Fried eyed them with a smirk.

"Sorry for letting him get a chunk out of you. I thought he'd eat some of your magic, not actually take a chunk out of you." He apologized as they walked down the hallway, and then turned to one of the three bathrooms. He pulled out a first aid kit from behind the mirror, and motioned for her to come inside the small room. "Take a seat. Doctor Bickslow will take care of you."

Patting the small sink counter, a playful smirk tugged at his lips. "My mom always told me to be wary of guys that said that."

"But I'm a certified doctor."

"Where'd you get your degree?"

"Poppy cock school of medicine. And Doctor Bickslow says you shouldn't be on that leg." He said, and abruptly grabbed her waist, pulling her into the small space and hoisting her onto the counter. He used one of his souls to close the door, and then cast a silencing spell on the room.

"Hey! What's with the manhandling?" She asked, her cute face flustered as she looked up at him, unable to see his eyes. His hands remained on her hips, relishing the warm flesh in his grasp, and smirk never left his face. "And what was that spell you cast?"

She was acutely aware of the fact her knees were on either side of his waist, and it made the blush on her cheeks spread across her face.

"I cast a silencing spell so that we could _talk_ without being overheard."

"A-a silencing spell?" She asked, stuttering. The only other time she'd heard about people using the spell was when Kana used it for not-so-innocent reasons.

"Yeah. They're pretty useful, hm?" He asked, leaning in a little closer, getting his face only a couple inches from hers. "We could _talk_ about anything in here, and no one would have a clue. I could _talk_ you so hard you screamed for more _conversation_ , and no one would be the wiser."

"W-what's g-gotten into you?"

He snickered, looking down at her slightly parted lips. "Must be the heat making you delirious. Whatever do you mean?" Bickslow asked, and then pulled away slightly, removing his hands to open the side of the mirror again. He took out a cloth, and then soaked it with water, wringing it out so that it would be damp.

Taking a step back, the cloth in one hand while the other touched the thigh of her injured leg, causing a small 'eep' to escape her lips. Keeping a straight face his hand moved down her leg, causing it to extend, and started cleaning it with the damp rag. He hooked the hand that had traveled down her leg with her ankle to keep the limb still, being gentle as he cleaned up the blood.

It wasn't as bad as it had looked earlier, the blood just made it appear more severe. Natsu's fangs had punctured her skin but the rest of his teeth just bruised it. "I'll get it bandaged up, and then Wendy can heal it better later." He told her, glancing up at the face that started looking normal again.

"O-okay."

"You're an excellent patient. Maybe I'll give you a lollipop later." He said with a wink, and then mentally cursed when he realized he was still wearing his visor.

But she got the innuendo nonetheless, and her face turned back to the deep shade of red.

"You're awfully quiet. Cat got your tongue?" He asked, letting his tongue hang out and waggle at her, further entertained by her embarrassed expression. As her gaze turned to the corner of the room, he set the rag down on the sink and got the supplies out to bandage her leg. The bite had been bad enough that a bandaid wouldn't cover it, but a bandage was slightly overboard. Nonetheless he applied disinfectant and put a bandage on it, then wrapped it up.

Once he was done he looked back up at her, noticing that she was still looking away, seeming to be lost in thought. Her face had returned to normal, and he couldn't help but pout a little. _This trip has been so boring, and her reactions are so entertaining…_

She didn't seem to notice when he stepped closer to her, and he got his face all the way to her neck until she jumped tried to turn her head. She bumped into the visor, making a surprised 'ow!' sound, and he chuckled.

 _So much fun._

"Do you have to be so weird here of all places? We're going to be fighting each other tomorrow."

"Aren't you having fun with me? It's been so boring outside." He said, and stuck his tongue out, licking along the skin under her ear and creating a saliva trail along her skin. "You do taste good."

"Oh come on, do you have to be so flirty when we weren't on a ship full of wizards from our guild?"

"But I'm boooooored." He whined, pulling away and frowning, emphasizing his state of distress. "The most entertainment I've had was that stupid s'mores joke. Everyone is afraid to interact with each other because they're afraid of pissing each other off and destroying this ship, or because they think they're enemies. And Fried doesn't want to talk about anything except tactics, so we're stuck standing around with our arms crossed all day observing our competition."

"So you're playing with me because you're bored?" She asked, glaring at him.

"Pretty much." He admitted, and didn't realize what she'd meant until she was pushing him away and slipping off the counter, trying to leave. "Wait, wait, that's not what I meant."

"Seemed pretty clear to me." She said, but as she reached for the doorknob, he grabbed her wrist. Grabbing the other one for safe measure, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back flat against him.

"What I _mean_ is that I'm being extra annoying because I'm bored. My feelings for you are the same as they were before we got on this ship. I'm not being flirty to make you mad."

She was silent for a moment, but he figured it was a good sign when she started relaxing in his arms. "Sorry. Guess I'm just tense about the trials."

"You need to loosen up. If you get too stressed out, it'll trip you up."

"I guess you have a point. On the other hand, I should be careful about taking advice from enemies, hmm?" She asked, turning her head to peer up at him cutely.

Bickslow smirked, glad that she was going back to her usual self. "What about a guy that you've shared a bed with?"

"Even more reason to be suspicious."

He snickered, delving his face into her neck and breathing in her scent. "You switched body wash."

"Yeah. Felt like mixing it up." She said, giggling as his nose tickled her skin. "We should get back to the others. No doubt rumors are already starting."

"They're so distracted by the heat, I doubt they'll care."

"But I doubt you're the only one bored. If they're not going to talk to each other about the trials, what better to gossip about than seeing a guy and girl sneak off together?" She spoke, and he groaned, not wanting to leave. Sure it was hot as hell in the small space, she was still radiating heat like crazy, but he didn't mind. Even with the layers of clothes he could withstand extremely hot temperatures, because that's part of what being a powerful wizard entails: durability to the elements.

"Let them talk. It makes no difference to me." He lied, knowing that they would have to leave soon. It's not that he didn't like her, but he really didn't like his guild mates knowing about his personal life. "I doubt that rumors of us hooking up would boost your popularity, though."

"Hmm… now that I think about it, sleeping with a member of the Thunder Legion actually would boost my popularity. You guys are known for being strong. That's a good idea, Bickslow."

He turned her roughly and pushed her into the wall so that he could face her, causing a 'thump' sound as her back hit the white paint. Towering over her, he looked into her smiling face with his hands back on the voluptuous curves of her waist. "We are known for being strong." He agreed, caressing her soft skin ever so lightly.

"So it's agreed. We go out and tell everyone we had sex. Say it loud and say it proud."

"The kinkiest sex ever. Of all time."

"Ropes, bondage-"

"Candle wax, fire, electricity-"

"Chains, knives-" She spoke, but was cut off by the lips that crashed on hers. Maybe it was the smothering heat, their proximity, or sexual tension between them- or all of the above, but her lips suddenly became irresistible. There was a brief pause in confusion, but Claire didn't pull away. When it came to girls he was rarely subtle, and he knew that she was vulnerable and he shouldn't be doing this, but then her body moved against him and discouraged any thoughts of pulling away. The kiss morphed quickly into passionate tongue wrestling, and he found her tongue just as eager as his to come out and play.

While his hands wandered across her body, hers started exploring as well: one tugging at his visor and hood, while the other trailed along the edge of his body armor. Before she could get the visor off, he pulled away and roughly turned her again, forcing her front into the white wall.

He pulled her very lovely ass into his crotch, groaning into her shoulder as he gently bit down on it, careful not to leave any marks. "Well I'm definitely not bored now." He started a trail of kisses and licks along her neck and side of her face.

"Why'd you turn me like that?"

 _Goddamn she's so hot right now…._

"Because I thought it would make you less sexy, but I was wrong. We really shouldn't be doing this." He said, continuing to place a flurry of kisses along her skin, and then reaching her lips again. His mind was in a haze, and any conversation was difficult for him to keep up with. In the past, girls liked when he did that, so he hoped that he'd get the same result from her.

"Then- why- are you- still-" She tried to ask in the kiss, and couldn't finish the rest of her sentence as his tongue slipped into her mouth again, quickly exploring the slimy space. He knew that it probably wasn't too comfortable for her, but for that moment, he'd let himself lose himself in her.

The feel of her against him was overwhelming, and for some reason he just couldn't pull himself away. He couldn't recall a time that he'd truly lost control like this, but the urge was clear and more powerful than anything he had ever felt. It had taken his power and forced him to feel this way, wanting and feeling everything about her.

He had to have her.

 _Now_.

But then her mouth was suddenly scorching, and the pain brought him out of his frenzied state.

He jumped back, removing his hands and bumping into the counter, knocking over the first aid kit and breathing hard.

Claire turned, also breathing hard, and an amused smirk on her face. She looked down at herself and started fixing her clothing, since he'd pulled her sports bra up to reveal a lot more than she'd intended him to see, and her shorts were an inch or two lower than they should have been.

"Glad that fire thing worked. Hope I didn't burn you too bad, though."

"I'll be fine." He muttered, and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. "Sorry."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. I don't lose control like that." He spoke, his voice just above a whisper. As he tried to calm down his breathing, Claire watched him curiously, wishing that she could see his eyes.

"Thanks for bandaging my leg." She thanked after a moment, silently wondering if she should leave to let him recollect himself. When he'd pressed himself against her she'd felt something hard, and doubted it was a roll of quarters in his pocket.

"No problem." He breathed, still keeping his eyes closed.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"Not really." By the time he answered, his breathing had slowed considerably. "Thank you for stopping me."

"No problem. When I figured out how to use my magic, I practiced doing very short bursts of fire from my mouth, in case anyone tried to force themselves on me. I'm glad to know it works."

"And what if it hadn't?"

"To be honest, I like you enough that I would have gone with it; however, if you had kept me shoved against the wall like that, I probably would have used more powerful magic to get you off."

"Phrasiiing~" He sang with a grin.

"Whatever. How do you want to go about leaving? Together, one after another? I'm thinking about going back to my room for a nap, since the deck isn't safe."

"If Natsu went near you again I would punt kick that stupid little head of his. Again." He said, grinning at the memory. "As for leaving, I don't sense anyone around, so we can leave at the same time."

"You ready?" She asked, and he nodded, but then remembered the first aid kit on the floor and grabbed it, quickly returning the contents to it. Once he had put it back behind the mirror the pair left, going their separate ways.

Remembering Wendy's heightened sense of smell, Claire made a detour for the girls shower room, hoping to get the man's scent off of her.

As Bickslow made his way back to the deck, he was surprised how much cooler it was outside. The rest of the mages were still whining about the heat and how insufferable it was, and the seith mage couldn't help but smirk.

"Did you get lost?" Fried asked, acting coy.

"I helped bandage her leg. Took longer than I thought." He said with a shrug.

"Hey Bickslow, I found some marshmallows!" Kana said across the deck, holding up a bag of them.

"Yahoo!" He cheered, happy to have something to distract him.

"Where'd our campfire go?" She asked, and he suddenly frowned.

"Damn it!"

8.

Makarov was still explaining the rules, and Claire was eyeing the seith mage and his partner. She and Wendy were closer to the edge than anyone else, and were ready to book it when the guild master gave the go.

She'd never tried her flying magic with another person, so she hoped that she'd be able to support the weight.

"… Alright, you ready? Your trial starts right now!"

Bickslow and Fried moved faster than the others, and made it to the railing just after Wendy and her.

Having been prepared to jump, Wendy launched herself from the ship first, and Claire followed close behind, activating her dragon wings. Flying had thankfully not been as difficult as she thought it would be, and simply let her magic guide her through the motions. She dived and wrapped her arms around Wendy, snagging her midfall and pulling out of the dive at the last second.

Flying back into the air she saw their competing team leaving the ship as well, but didn't bother looking behind them at the shouting and pissed off wizards still on the ship. Bickslow and Fried bantered with them as they flew off, going at the same speed as the two women.

Claire frowned, hearing a couple of them infer that Bickslow helped her.

"How'd you two know I was going to cast the enchantment?" Fried asked, sticking close to his partner and keeping a good distance from them. Not just for proximity sake, but her fire wings were pretty intimidating. Her wings span was close to twenty feet, and as far as they could see, it was pure fire.

"She can see the future!" Wendy answered loudly.

"Oi! Ixnay of the futuray." Claire chastised, causing the girl to start apologizing profusely.

"You can see the future? Since when?" Bickslow asked over the wind.

"Since none of your business!"

"I knew you were hiding some magic from me. What other magic do you use?"

"So you already know which paths go where?" Fried asked.

"Nope." She replied; but then snickered, remembering who they were going to fight: Kana and Lucy. Probably the most pathetic fight in the entire show.

"What are you snickering about over there, Checkers?"

"Nothing." She said with a wide grin.

"I'm so sorry, Claire." Wendy apologized yet again.

"Don't worry about it. Just don't give away all our secrets, okay?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"You guys are going to cheat, huh?" Bickslow asked loudly, probably the last question he'd be able to ask before they reached the island.

"A little. Not that you're going to be one to talk after your first match." She said, still smiling and snickering.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Nothing." She said innocently, and even after the other two touched down to look at their choices for paths, Claire got as close to the 'E' route as she could before disbanning her wings. Making sure that her feet touched down first, so as to not hurt the girl in her arms, they walked into the tunnel.

Claire looked back at the other two, noticing that Bickslow was sticking his tongue out at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him too, and then turned back forward, continuing down the path.

"Are you sure you want to fight him?" Wendy asked.

"I'm all fired up." She said, snickering again. "Remember, I don't expect you to fight, regardless of who shows up. Even if it's two of our friends, I won't make you fight."

"I'm your partner, Claire. I'm going to fight with you, because I'm a Fairy Tail wizard!" She said enthusiastically. "If you fight, I fight!" She cheered, and Claire looked at her surprised, not expecting that from her.

After a moment she smiled, glad that she'd chosen her. "Alright. With my fire and your wind, we might be able to make some pretty cool combos."

"Today is not your lucky day." A voice spoke, and both of the girls looked up. As their eyes adjusted and fire bugs flew around, their opponent became visible. Black cloak, leather boots, red hair slicked back- Guildarts, quite possibly the strongest of the S-Class wizards.

"You're probably right, but it's been a good one so far. You could be nice and keep it that way by letting us win." Claire spoke with a grin, all the while carefully removing the purse from her shoulder, trying not to ignite the fire lacrima within it. If it didn't set off during flight she assumed it was pretty durable, but didn't feel like chancing it.

"Sorry. I'm pretty lenient, but I'm not that lenient. You're gonna have to prove yourself to make it to the next round." He spoke, and let his magic pulse from him.

Wendy shivered, causing Claire to look down at her. The girl seemed extremely nervous despite her earlier statement. "Wendy, I said you don't have to fight, and I meant it."

"No, I said I would. Besides, I've been using magic longer than you have." She said, and Claire couldn't help but laugh at how true it was.

"Thank god you exist."

"So am I fighting both of you, or just one of you?" Guildarts asked, looking between them. "I'm guessing you're the one the one trying to be an S-Class wizard?" He asked, looking at the older woman.

"Yes sir." She said, surprised at vocal she was being. A few months ago and she would have been cowering in fear.

"You're that new girl, right? The one with weird magic?"

"Yep." She said with a grin, and then let her own magic pulse, giving him an idea of her strength.

"Impressive. Maybe you should sit this one out, Wendy. I have a feeling that this girl can handle herself." He said, but not even a second afterwards the girl was casting a spell, and Claire felt a strange change in her magic.

"Holy shit," Claire cursed, feeling her magic swell uncontrollably fast and fall to one knee, trying to reign it in. She heard a scream to her side, and when she looked over, saw that Wendy had flown back a few feet. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, quickly sitting back up. "I cast a spell to enhance your magic."

"Thanks, but give me some warning next time. I have a hard enough time controlling it as it is." Claire told her, feeling that her wings had returned and that her entire body was bursting with fire.

"What kind of magic is that?" Guildarts asked, watching their interactions curiously. Claire looked back to him and pushed herself back to her feet, surprised at the sudden strength she acquired. She mentally cursed, forgetting that Wendy had that kind of power.

"Fire magic." She replied. _Dragon Roar._ Just as she'd practiced, thinking the spell hard enough worked just as well as saying it outloud, and she hoped that it would help keep her dragon identity somewhat secret for a while longer.

The flames burst from her mouth with a veracity twice the power as before, and as soon as it toned down just slightly, she started running to the side. With the attack still going she kept it pointing at him but moving, so that when it finally stopped, she was on the other side of him.

She kicked off from the ground and launched at him with her fire claws ready, not surprised when the wizard appeared unscathed. The monster within seemed to take over as she sent a barrage of punches and kicks at him, crying out when he grabbed her fist and sent her flying into the air.

She landed on the ceiling and using her wings to latch onto the cave surface, she looked down at him. The ground around him was significantly scorched, but there wasn't a mark on him.

"Not bad. You've got plenty of magic, but your hand to hand combat isn't great. You remind me of Mystogan, strangely enough."

"Tch, I guess he and I do have a lot in common." She commented. _Stuck on an alien planet and whatnot…_ "Any feedback so far?"

"Just that you should mix it up a little."

"Hey Wendy, you got any other neat spells to use on me?" Claire called out to the small dragonslayer.

"I don't think I have anything that would help, but your bag is on fire!" She said, pointing to the lit backpack on the ground. 

"Aw man, that was my lunch." The checker woman frowned, and then let go of the ceiling, falling into flight and trying to think of another tactic.

She didn't have any other spells, but she still had a shit ton of extra magic from Wendy's spell, and she'd even been holding back considerably. She landed off to the side, staring at Guildarts and mentally debating whether she should relinquish that control. He would be the best test dummy to try out her newfound power and find out just how powerful she was.

But she didn't want to lose that control, because she didn't know what would happen.

 _I can't let what happened to Carol happen again._

 _Not again._

"How are you fairing against my magic so far?" Claire asked him.

"It's powerful, but nothing compared to me."

"Good." She replied, and after another quick look at Wendy to make sure she was far enough away, she let go.

When she woke up, she was outside. Her eyes blinked open, her gaze first meeting the light blue sky, and then the figure next to her.

"You're awake!" Wendy exclaimed, looking down at her with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"What happened?"

"Guildarts beat you. He used his cube magic and turned you into a bunch of little yous, and then hit you with another attack." She explained, and she sat up, then realizing that they were on a ship. There was a blanket under her and they were on the deck. "Oh yeah, he wanted me to tell him when you woke up. I'll be right back." She said and stood up, running off.

"Glad to see you're awake, miss fortune teller." The all too familiar voice spoke nearby, and she turned, not surprised to see him there. He was sitting against the railing, legs propped up and looking relaxed. He'd changed out of his striped outfit, and now wore his purple one.

"How'd your match go?" She asked with a smile. "Who'd you fight?"

"Cana and Lucy." He said, sticking his tongue out at her. "If you could tell the future, why the hell did you choose to fight Guildarts of all people?"

"I didn't know which one was the non-fighting route, so I chose the one I was most certain Wendy would be safe." She said with a shrug. "I also figured Guildarts would be a good guinea pig for my magic."

"A guinea pig, huh?" Guildarts asked as he approached her, and she had to shift in her spot to look at her. She grinned guiltily at him.

"Sorry."

"It's alright. I'm glad you didn't use those attacks on anyone else from the guild. You're a dragonslayer, aren't you?" He asked, and she chuckled. "It didn't feel exactly like dragonslayer magic, but it was definitely dragon in origin. I hope you don't mind me knocking you out so quick. Your magic was pretty destructive."

"But not S-Class destructive?"

"Your power, yes. Your tactics, no." He explained, and she smiled.

"That's more than I expected."

"You've only been using magic for a few weeks, right?" Wendy asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah right." Bickslow snorted. Claire's chest tightened uncomfortably at his dismissive comment, but she tried to ignore it.

"Yeah, I've only learned three spells, all of which I used in the fight."

"Is that including your psychic powers?" He asked, talking over whatever Wendy was going to say.

"If you're going to be an asshole, can you do it somewhere else?" She snapped, causing him to blink in surprise. Wendy and Guildarts also watched, surprised by her outburst. "I'd say it doesn't bother me that no one believes me about my magic, but it does. Wendy is the only person that has been willing to hear me out about it and I don't appreciate you talking over her."

"And it bothers _me_ when you pretend you don't know any magic, when you clearly do. No one just randomly wakes up in the morning with that much raw power."

"Why the hell would that bother you? Other than my sheer power, what evidence do you have that I actually know how to use my magic? Until the other day, had you ever seen me cast any spells?" She asked, and he paused, trying to remember a specific time.

"Just because you're secretive doesn't mean that you don't use magic. Mystogan was an S-Ranked wizard and I never saw him use magic."

"Come on Wendy, let's leave them to their lover's quarrel." Guildarts said, causing the couple to glare at him.

"We're not lovers." They said in unison, and they smiled awkwardly, but left nonetheless.

"Now look what you did."

"What I did? You're the one lying all the time. I'm sick of it. If anyone's an asshole, you are."

"What the hell is your problem?"

"Me? You're the one that woke up as Queen Bitch and snapped at me when I started talking."

"Yeah, because you were talking over Wendy."

"Well you didn't have to bite my head off about it. You could have kindly said 'Hey Bickslow, I appreciate your comment, but you spoke over Wendy.' Not snap at me and call me an asshole."

"Well I did just wake up after getting my ass kicked by an S-Class wizard with my magic depleted and sore as hell. You're surprised that I'm a little cranky?"

"It sounds like an excuse to me."

"Why does it bother you that you think I'm lying about my magic?" She suddenly asked, and surprisingly, Bickslow paused for a second. Both of them had started raising their voices, and Claire had suddenly dropped hers down back to normal tone, causing him to let out a shaky breath at the realization.

"Second time I've lost control in the last day." He grumbled, looking away from her.

"Same here, actually. I'm sorry for snapping at you. Guess I'm still tense from the trial, even though I blew it." She said with a smile, hoping that it would make him feel better.

"I guess I am too, actually. Fried threw the match, so I had to dumb down my fighting so much it was painful. I had to pretend to be knocked out by a 'Lucy kick'." He said with a shudder. "He got to be fondled by a bunch of sexy girls in bikinis, and he doesn't even like girls, while I pretended to be immobilized by pink… cotton candy… stuff. It was the most pathetic fight I've ever been in."

"Cotton candy and bikini babes?" She asked, and he nodded.

"I don't know how Kana has been chosen for the S-Class trials 4 times. Although I do know why she hasn't passed."

"Don't be too harsh on her. I'll bet she'd be a lot stronger without all the drinking."

"Maybe."

"Still, sorry your fight sucked."

"Thanks. Sorry you lost, too."

Claire glanced around them, checking to make sure they were the only ones on the deck. She was surprised that they had taken the entire ship, and wondered how they were planning to pick up the others when the trials were done, but decided to save the conversation for another time.

"I'm not trying to start another fight again, but I am curious. Why does it bug you when I talk about my magic? Most people roll their eyes, but you seem to actually get upset by it." She asked, and watched as he crossed his arms and looked away. After almost a minute of waiting for a response, he finally spoke.

"There's two reasons. 1. I worked my ass off to get where I am, so it's insulting when someone with equal or more powerful magic claims they didn't work for it. 2. I'm really picky who I become friends with, so it bugs me when someone I consider a friend lies to me." He explained, finally looking over at her. He started out sounding annoyed and rather harsh, but as he looked into her sad eyes, his voice couldn't help but soften.

"Those are good reasons." She said softly, moving her gaze to his shoulder. It was one of those moments where she wanted to spill her secrets to him, but as the waves crashed against the hull of the ship, she took a deep breath and reminded herself where she was. "I did just wake up one morning with this much power, _but,"_ She emphasized the word, hoping that he wouldn't shut her out. "It came at a great price. A price that I didn't want to pay, and I never made the choice. I was forced into it by that stupid dragon…" She breathed, stopping herself from saying anything else.

"A deal with the devil sort of thing?"

"Not really." She told him.

"There's a lot of dangerous magic out there that exchanges life force for power… you didn't do that kind of thing, did you?"

"No, nothing like that. I can tell you more when we're alone, but I'd rather not when there's other people close by."

"I can appreciate that." He said with a nod, and looked around, checking if anyone had emerged on the deck. They were still alone, but he wouldn't be surprised if anyone was listening by the door. He could easily see Guildarts or Fried being curious enough to eavesdrop. "Thanks for being honest, Checkers."

"You too, Bixy."

"'Bixy'?"

"Do you not like it? I'm not very good at coming up with nicknames."

"I'll let it slide."

"There's a red flare on the island!" Fried yelled from inside, and both wizards looked towards the door leading inside the ship.


	4. Chapter 4

**Walking Cliché 4**

 _Tenrou Island_

"An enemy attack?" Bickslow asked as he stood, and the pair ran to the back of the ship to look at the island, seeing the red flare back on Tenrou Island, along with a flying ship heading towards it. "Oi, we better turn this ship around!"

Claire's chest tightened as she looked at the island, knowing that there was going to be fighting soon. _I guess I should go get my fire lacrima… my strength isn't fully back._

"I'll be right back." She said, and jogged back inside the ship, heading for her room.

1.

As they flew back to the island, which was actually pretty far compared to last time they had flown, they saw explosions going off across the island.

"How did we not hear about this sooner?!" Fried spoke, carrying Guildarts as his wings held them in the air.

"Who the hell would attack our sacred grounds?" Bickslow added.

"I hope our friends are okay." Wendy spoke from Claire's arms, looking worriedly at the island.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Guildarts spoke, and the other men nodded, watching as yet another explosion erupted. They could all sense the enormous energy coming from the island, and it wasn't just from their guild. Rain was falling on the island, and the sky was darkening. "As soon as we get to the island drop me off, and you guys head for base camp. Most of our people are probably there."

"Understood." Bickslow and Fried spoke.

"Oi, you ready for this?" Bickslow asked, turning to the women flying above them. Claire had been unusually quiet ever since she ran back to her room to get the fire lacrima, and he'd been a little startled to watch her guzzle an entire fire lacrima down in 5 seconds flat, but he was also worried about fighting fight side-by-side with her on the field. Fried he could fight with, Guildarts could stand on his own, Wendy he figured would be busy healing anyone wounded or providing backup, but Claire was a total wild card. If there was trouble he had no idea how she'd react.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Claire, Wendy- just stick close to these two and you'll be fine. We don't know what the situation is yet, so try not to attack anyone unless it's self-defense." Guildarts told them.

"Sounds like a plan." Claire spoke, and Wendy nodded. The fire woman tried to recall the events on the show, but nothing helpful came to mind, and she had no idea if they were entering the battlefield at the same time as in the anime or not. For all she knew she'd screwed it up and their opponents had switched.

"You can see the future, right? Have you seen anything that can help us?" Bickslow asked her.

"Nothing helpful, except be ready to fight. And it's not going to be an easy win."

"You can see the future?" Guildarts asked.

"Something like that."

"Do you know who's attacking?"

"I think it's a dark guild, but I don't know the name of it." She said honestly, and he continued asking her a few more questions, but she didn't give him any more answers. Once they got to the island Fried dropped him off close to a large magic source, the fight with Kana and the others, while the four mages made their way back to base camp.

It was different than what she was expecting, causing a lump to form in her throat.

"Fried, Bickslow, Claire, Wendy! I thought you guys left the island!?" Lisanna yelled to them, smiling at their arrival. She seemed to be the only one left standing and appeared to be pretty beat up.

 _Where did all these chains come from?_ Claire wondered, taking in the scene.

Wounded were lined up under the tent unconscious, but instead of just the poetry guy attacking, there were two others there as well. One of them was a tree creature, looking remarkably like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy, while the other person looked oddly similar to Iron man, but instead of red and gold it was all black.

"We're fighting Groot and Ironman?" She couldn't help but snicker, looking at them.

"Is that who I think it is…?" The tree guy asked, turning to the person at his side.

"Be careful of the metal one! He uses iron magic like Gajeel, but uses blades and more lethal magic." Lisanna told them as the small group approached. Wendy ran over to her and started to heal her, but the woman shook her head and pointed to the others.

"What about the other two?" Fried asked, keeping his eyes on the other two wizards.

"I don't know about them. The white-haired guy just got here and I haven't seen the tree guy do anything yet." Lisanna told them.

"Hey Psycho, got a light?" The iron suit clad wizard yelled, and Claire's eyes widened, but then a smile tugged at her lips.

"Kelsey? What are you doing here?!"

"I haven't heard that name in a while."

"You two know each other?" Lisanna asked, surprised by the happy nature of her friend. Claire ignored her and ran forward, Bickslow trying to stop her but failing.

"I was beginning to give up on finding you guys!"

"Look out!" Lisanna screamed, but it was too late.

Pain coursed through Claire's right shoulder, and a startled scream erupted from her throat. Her eyes locked with the iron creature, whose arm was extended with a chain attached to it, leading to her shoulder that currently had a metal rod sticking out of it.

"If you two dispatch the fair ladies, I'll take out the others." The white-haired mage told them, and the tree man nodded.

"What the hell!? I'm your sister!" Claire yelled at them. "Why are you fighting!?"

"Family ties mean nothing after 30 years on this rock." The iron mage spoke, and Claire yelled out in pain as the anchor in her shoulder pulled her entire body forward. She grabbed the chain to keep it from pulling too much on the injury, but as she was dragged on the ground, it still hurt like hell.

"Claire!" Bickslow yelled, but then was side tracked when a giant monster was summoned near them.

"I'll help her! You two take care of that guy!" Wendy yelled as she ran after Claire, and although he wanted to argue, turned back to Fried.

"Let's make this quick."

The green-haired mage nodded, unsheathing his sword.

"Sky dragon roar!" Wendy roared at her opponents, but as the attack tunneled towards them, the tree man rooted himself to the ground and grabbed his partner, keeping them in place. The momentary pause in the chain being pulled allowed Claire to focus her fire magic on the chain in her hands, effectively melting it. When the dragonslayer attack subsided and the iron person tried to pull on the chain again, he cursed loudly.

"Nothing can break my iron!"

"Sorry sister, guess you can't take the heat." Claire said with a smirk, and tried to stand, but then fell back when she realized that a tree root had wrapped itself around her waist. She heard Wendy making her way towards her, but yelled for her to stay back.

"Maybe you're the one, maybe you're the one, the paranoid psycho yeah~!" The iron woman sang and ran forward, launching herself in the air.

Claire started burning the roots that were holding her down and tried to escape, but then cried out in pain as yet another metal rod hit her other shoulder, this one more effectively pinning her down. It was about three feet long, and instead of smooth, it was spiraled and textured. "You think I'm the psycho one!?" She gritted, looking up as more iron rods descended on her. The only one she dodged was one aimed for her head, but two others stabbed into the already injured shoulder and her hip. _This is bad._ Claire thought, watching the woman fall towards her with wide eyes. She had another rod in her hand, using it as a spear, and she was sure she wouldn't be able to dodge it.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion for that second.

 _This is how it ends? I'm reunited with my sister only to have her kill me?_

"Sky dragon roar!" Wendy roared from the sidelines, and although her magic didn't do anything to the ironwoman, it did snap Claire from her daze.

"FIRE DRAGON ROOOOAR!" She roared up at her, causing a drowned out scream from the woman as she was flung backwards in the air. Once the spell had subsided she looked around for her, trying to see where she went.

A few yards away a frantic woman was pulling off her iron armor, cursing all the while.

"Are you alright, sis?" The tree man spoke as he approached her, and Claire's heart sunk. _Is that Cory?_

"No one has ever melted my armor!" She said frantically, and glared over at the injured woman, her eyes wide and pupils turned to slits. Her magic was increasing tenfold.

"We've got to get you out of this!" Wendy said, and Claire looked over to see that the little sky dragonslayer had run over to her, and was now pulling at the metal rods protruding from her. She cried out in pain as she wiggled the rod, the textured metal increasing the pain.

Claire turned her head to look back over at their opponents, her eyes widening when she noticed the very large and scary looking weapons her sister was now sporting.

"Kelsey, please don't do this. I know this place is scary, but it's not all bad! You don't have to do this!"

"How long have you been here, sister? Judging by the fact you look the same as last time I saw you, it can't be that long." She answered, and as Wendy worked on trying to remove the rods, Claire tried to keep the opponents distracted. She also heard Fried and Bickslow fighting in the background, so buying time was her best option.

"Two months." She gritted out. "Are you Corey?"

"Carl." The tree man spoke.

"You said that you guys have been here for 30 years? How is that possible?"

"Hell if we know. We gave up looking for answers a long time ago." Kelsey said, a smirk on her face, probably imagining different ways of killing her. "Ever since you were 5, I've wanted to kill you for burning my special edition Malibu Barbie."

"You just can't let that go!" Claire said between clenched teeth, glaring up at them. "40 years and you won't shut up about that!"

"What do you think, brother? Decapitation? Gut her like a fish?"

"Come on bro, you can't want to kill me too? I'm your little sister!"

"You burned a lot of my stuff growing up, too." He said.

"Seriously?!"

"Claire, it won't budge! I can't get it out!" Wendy cried from her side, tears falling down her face.

Suddenly a rumbling sound echoed through the island, and ground shook beneath them. Claire clenched her jaw even tighter as the ground shook, also shaking the metal rods.

"Why do I suddenly feel so weak?" Wendy asked, suddenly looking drained.

"Looks like Azuma completed his mission." Kelsey spoke, and Claire looked back at her, hearing both Bickslow and Fried scream in the distance. She quickly reached up, wincing, and grabbed the rod in her hip, just above the skin and started melting it, all the while keeping her eyes on her siblings.

"Wendy, get back to the others. My fire magic will protect me."

"But how can you fight?"

"I'll manage, but if you're here I'll be too worried about you getting hurt to defend myself." She said, and looked back to Wendy, looking her in the eye. "Trust me." She said, and started letting some of her fire dance along her skin, burning the healer's hand.

"You better be okay!" She said before running off.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kelsey asked, but before she could throw one of her weapons at her, Claire used her dragon roar on the two. Although it didn't take them out, it did distract them from the small dragonslayer, and that was good enough for her. The pain lessened significantly, and she looked down to see that she was glowing. _She cast a spell to make the pain bearable. Thank god for Wendy._

The iron in her hand broke off, and she moved to her left shoulder.

But then she felt something sharp on her neck.

Looking up, she met blood red eyes amid a black face, iron scales gleaming at her.

"I'm going to enjoy watching you bleed out, psycho."

"How do you not see the hypocrisy?" Claire asked, and then grabbed the two rods, one in each hand. Using them to her advantage, she launched her feet at the brunette's face, effectively pushing her back a few feet. As she toppled over in surprise, Claire slowly moved her lower body back to the ground, careful to about the rod still sticking out of the ground. Her eyes temporary drifted to Wendy in the distance, and she noticed that she was unconscious like the others.

Bickslow and Fried were still standing, but they looked significantly weakened.

"You should be weakened like the others. How are you even able to move?!" Kelsey asked, and Claire smirked.

"Cuz I'm fucking awesome, and if you keep messing with me, I'm going to melt you down like I did to your armor." Claire said with a haughty smirk, hoping to bluff her way out of the situation. Even though the woman appeared unaffected, she could see her hand tremble in the corner of her eye. "I've only been here for a couple of months, but I'm a quick learner, and I've had the advantage of having the strongest wizard guild teach me how to fight. I don't care if you are my sister, I'll melt you down and feed you to Gajeel for lunch."

"You've only been here for two months and you've mastered powerful magic?" She asked, her eyes wide and scooting back.

"I've been dreaming of fire for as long as I remember. You're surprised that I picked up on it so quick?" Claire asked. "And I got plenty of practice with it as a kid."

"What should we do, sis?" The tree man asked, appearing next to her. "That last attack hurt me pretty bad, and she destroyed your armor. If she lands another hit-"

"Shut up. Let's get off this stupid island. It's not worth our lives." Kelsey said, turning to her brother with a frown.

"Wait, have you guys met anyone else from our world since you got here?" Claire asked quickly, knowing she was tempting fate by keeping them there.

"We were with mom when we were brought here. She died shortly after we arrived." Carl said. "Otherwise, no." And with that, he hugged Kelsey, and they descended into the ground.

Claire sighed in relief.

 _I'm getting better at this whole bluffing thing…_ She thought to herself, and made her hands slide down the metal, getting as close to her skin as possible. She burned the metal until it broke, keeping an ear out for the other fight taking place.

A massive wall of flames erupted from the center of the island, and Claire turned her head to watch it curiously. Soon enough it disappeared, followed by a rapid increase in magic for all the parties.

"Alright, back in business!" She heard the seith mage yell, and a smile tugged at her lips. Gritting her teeth again she lifted her upper body, once again thankful to Wendy for casting that spell.

As she stood she looked over to see that everyone else had been caught in a strange tower, effectively immobilizing them.

Smirking, she couldn't help but feel a little giddy at being able to help her friends. "Dragon roar!" She yelled, aiming for the spell caster. Since he didn't expect the attack from that side he yelled out in surprise, all the while his magic relinquishing control over her friends.

Once all the spells subsided, the white-haired mage fell defeated.

"Hell yeah!" Bickslow cheered, grinning over at her.

"At least I was good for something today." She mumbled with a grin and walking over to the group. "Wendy, you're a life saver. Thanks for the pain relieving spell."

"I'm glad it helped! I was afraid it wouldn't work, since I was so weakened. Where did the other two go?" She asked, suddenly noticing that she didn't see the strange fighters anywhere on the ground.

"Shit, are they still around here? I thought you two were taking care of them?" Bickslow asked, turning and looking around them.

"I bluffed and said I'd torch them, so they ran off." She said and shrugged, then wincing. The pain was slowly beginning to come back to her, and she looked down at her right shoulder, realizing that the initial anchor was still in there. "Your pain relieving spell is wearing off."

"I would recast it, but I used up the last of my magic on you…."

"It's okay. How are the others doing?" She asked, looking over at the barely conscious wizards.

"They're stable for now." Lisanna said.

"I may not be able to cast magic, but I can still help. Let's get you bandaged up, and then I'll check on everyone else." Wendy said with a smile, and Claire smiled awkwardly back, not looking forward to it.

"Great." She squeaked nervously.

"Haha, you got injured." Bickslow teased, waving his tongue at her.

"You're one to talk." Fried commented, and then poked his friend in the side, smirking when the seith mage cried out in pain.

"Aw man, it's worse than I thought." Natsu said nearby, and they all turned to look at him, smiling as his group that joined them.

As the groups started exchanging information and talking about what happened, along with planning their next move, Wendy went to work on Claire's injuries. She gripped the thighs of her shorts in pain as the spell slowly stopped working, trying to keep breathing quiet as the wizards conversed. Silent tears were rolling down her face.

She was always terrible at dealing with pain.

She used to cry over papercuts.

She was that annoying kid that screamed bloody murder when she scraped her knee, and even though she outgrew most of it as an adult, it wasn't easy.

Burns she was fine with. She loved it, in fact.

Anything resulting in blood was another story.

"I'm sorry." Wendy repeated every time she flinched.

"Just hurry up." She gritted, and tried to take a deep breath.

After another ten minutes, the others were still talking and planning, and Claire was particularly proud of herself for staying quiet. Strangely, it hurt slightly less than she thought it would, and the psychological fear was worse than the actual injury. Wendy had bandaged up all her wounds… except for one.

She gently touched the back of the strange device, looking at it carefully before deciding that it needed to be removed. It was strange and something she had never seen before. It had six 'legs' extending several inches from the center and dug into her rib cage, the center being between her scapula and spine. Most of the strange object had been melted off on the front side, and if there wasn't the risk of the melted metal killing her, she'd recommend she melt it from the inside.

"This is going to hurt." Wendy warned.

"What are you going to do?" Claire asked fearfully.

"I'm going to take this thing out of you."

"Can't we wait until your healing magic returns? I'm not good with pain."

"The longer we leave it in there, the worse it'll get."

"Nuh-uh. I took first aid. It's better to remove objects stabbing you when you have the resources to properly take care of it."

"But I don't even know the extent of this injury. For all I know, it's releasing poison into your system."

"I'll take the risk. You should go with the others and fight." She suggested, having overheard the other's final plans.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, go for it. They need all the help they can get." She said.

"My strength _is_ returning…." She commented, and looked up at the others. "Alright, but make sure not to move until I get back. Try not to aggravate the wound."

"Yes ma'am." Claire said, thankful when her hand moved from the strange device.

"Alright! I'm going with you guys!" Wendy announced as she stood.

As the fighters left the group, they started doing what they'd planned to do. Fried and Levy (who had woken up) started making their enchantments, Lisanna went over to check on the other fallen wizards, and Bickslow was supposed to be protecting them… but with no enemy to protect them from, he wandered over to Claire, taking a seat in front of her.

"How're you holding up? You made a lot of funny faces earlier." He asked, smiling at her.

"Not nearly as funny as yours." Her voice was strained, sitting upright and taking shallow breaths. The injury to her hip seared in pain whenever she breathed, so keeping her back straight and still oddly helped. "Don't you have something better to do?"

"Nope. I've got my souls guarding the perimeter in case anyone else tries to attack, so I'm pretty much hanging out until something happens."

"You could help Lisanna."

"Eh, she's got it covered. Besides, I'm helping by entertaining the injured: you."

"It hurts to just breathe. Please don't make me laugh."

"There you go being all tense again. Why don't you lie down and take a breather?"

"It'll put pressure on my wounds."

"So is sitting upright and using your muscles like you are now."

"If we're attacked again, I'd prefer to be ready to fight."

"Aw, I'm hurt. Don't you trust me to protect you?"

"I saved your guys's asses before. Speaking of which, what are you guys going to do about the white-haired guy?" She asked, nodding her head to the unconscious wizard. He looked over, having forgotten about him.

"Oh yeah…" He muttered, and stood back up. "I guess I'll go take care of him."

As he walked away, Lisanna replaced his seat, grinning at her.

"What?" Claire asked, hating that they were making her talk so much.

"So how long have you two been going out?"

"We haven't."

"Uh-huh." She said, continuing to smile at her.

"Do we have any alcohol? I'm actually in a lot of pain."

"I think I might know where some is…" She said, pretending to think as she looked up and touched her chin. "But it might help jog my memory if you tell me about you and Bickslow."

"That's mean."

She snickered. "Take it or leave it."

"We really aren't an item. He is the closest friend I have in the guild though. He's my best friend in this stupid fucking world." She said, trying to reign in the fire magic that had suddenly swelled up in her. "God damnit I hate this world."

"This world? Are you not from here? Are you from Edolas?" She suddenly asked, temporarily side tracked from her earlier target.

"I am really bad with pain, and talking hurts like hell. Either help me or get out of my face."

"Does that weird device thing really hurt that much? You really should have let Wendy take it out." She said, and then saw something move in the corner of her eye. "Big brother, you shouldn't be moving!"

And just like that, she was done talking to her, much to Claire's relief.

2.

"Don't be such a baby." Erza ordered her, dressed in a nurse's outfit and wrapping her hand around the strange device.

"At least let Wendy- GYAAAAAAH!" Claire screamed at the top of her lungs, her eyes widening at the utter pain that resulted.

"It seems stuck in there." Erza commented, and pulled again, eliciting another scream. "If you can survive on an alien planet, you can survive this."

"You can survive my foot up your ass!" Claire screamed, letting her fire magic attack her and cause her to jump back.

"Maybe I should be the one to help her…" Wendy said meekly as she approached her.

"No, I've got this. I'll just need to pull harder." She said with a determined stare, not noticing that Claire was struggling to breathe.

"Wait! She's got asthma!" Wendy yelled and ran forward, taking a seat in front of the gasping woman. "Where is your inhaler?!" She asked, but Claire was already too far gone.

"What's asthma?" Erza asked curiously.

"It's a breathing disorder. The magic of last time she used it must have worn off." She explained, and then put her glowing hand on the woman's chest, trying to help her breathe. "My magic isn't working."

"You sure she's not having a panic attack?" Bickslow asked as he wandered closer, eyeing his struggling friend. "Erza is pretty scary. I mean, pretty. Pretty amazing." He corrected when he saw the red head's glare, smiling awkwardly at the woman.

"Let me try something else." Wendy spoke, and placed her glowing hand on the woman's other injured shoulder, over the wound that was now visible. The bandages had been burned up, so the girl could see if her healing magic had any effect. "I think she was poisoned. None of my healing magic is having an effect on her." She said, and tried to think back to when Claire had explained the disorder to her.

Quickly, she set her hands on either side of the gasping girl's face, and made her look up at her. Wendy smiled.

"It's going to be okay. Just focus on your breathing."

"If she's been poisoned, then we should get it out!" Erza yelled, only to have her fire magic burn her again, but this time significantly stronger.

"Pulling it out will only make it worse. At this point the only thing we can do is calm her down." Wendy explained, trying to keep her voice low and even.

"Do you think my figure eyes will help? I could regulate her breathing." Bickslow offered.

"That might work. But if my healing magic didn't work then there's a chance yours won't, either."

"Worth a shot." He said with a shrug, and took a seat next to her. "Hey Checkers, I need to make eye contact with you to make it work." Bickslow spoke as he removed his visor, watching as the woman remained hunched over and gasping for breath, each breath getting shorter and shallower each time.

He reached over and gently grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up and make eye contact with him. He activated his soul possession, successfully gaining control of her body.

"It worked. Now, calm down and breathe slower." He spoke, trying to keep his face straight. _Stay focused._ "Man this is weird. Her magic is unstable."

She had never felt anything like that in her life. Being around him so much, she had sensed his magic before, but she'd never felt so covered by it. It was like being wrapped in a blanket, borderline smothering, but it was also oddly comforting. Her earlier panic subsided with her breathing, and as she continued staring into his hypnotizing eyes, it felt like the world was disappearing around her. All that mattered, all that was left, was Bickslow and his stunning green eyes. As cheesy any cliché as it sounded, she felt like she was connecting to him on an entirely new spiritual level. She could feel his pain, his loneliness, and his soul was reaching out to hers.

Or maybe it was the blood loss making her delirious.

"It's working!" Wendy said happily, watching as she seemed to calm down.

"Would it make things easier to knock her out while you remove the stabby thingy?" Bickslow asked, looking over at her with his glowing green eyes. He was sensing so many strange things from her, both magically and emotionally, he wasn't sure what to make of her current state. "If she stays conscious, I can make sure she keeps breathing."

"That might be best. Can you make sure her fire magic doesn't attack me when I do that?"

"I think so. It's been a while since I controlled someone with such strong magic." He told her, and then looked back at Claire, who was starting to breathe normally. "Wendy is going to try and take the thing out. Don't attack her with your magic."

"My magic has a mind of its own. I can't promise anything." She said airily, and he frowned. "I could use a spell to get rid of it, so that it's weakened."

"You should save as much energy as you can." Wendy told her.

"Even when my flames are gone, the monster inside is always there. Expelling my flames will still leave me with power." Claire spoke.

"Can't you just not burn her?" Bickslow asked.

"I'll try, but no promises." She told him, and he frowned, able to sense her magic. As Wendy put her hand on the device, he could sense all of the magic within her, and how it moved so strangely compared to anything he had felt before.

"Wendy, step back." He warned her. "She's right. Let her use up some of her magic so that she doesn't hurt you."

"You've gotten weaker since I've been gone, Bickslow. You can't control some girl's magic?" Laxus commented from nearby with a smirk.

"What spell did you want to use?" Bickslow asked Claire, ignoring the comment.

"Dragon roar would probably be best. Since you're controlling my body, you should point my face towards the sky." She told him, and he nodded, doing as she said. Since he didn't know the specifics of the spell he loosened his grip on her soul, allowing her to cast the spell.

"Wait, does that mean you're a dragonslayer?!" Wendy asked.

His eyes widened as the magic surged and swelled inside of her, having never felt magic move like that before. The closest was maybe Laxus, but even his wasn't as intense. This magic felt ancient, old, nothing like he'd ever felt. When the flames left her body it changed to appear more normal, but inside it was completely different.

The flames caused everyone to fall back as a pillar of fire shot into the sky, and after a few seconds of intense heat and magic, the flames died down.

"What the hell!? Why'd you waste fire like that!? I wanted some!" Natsu complained nearby.

"Screw that, it would have been useful against Hades." Gray spoke up.

"Well, who else needs healing? While Wendy is helping Claire, I can help whoever else needs it." Erza said, taking a seat on a tree stump nearby and crossing her legs in a sexy fashion.

While the other men were easily distracted by the long legs, Bickslow was staring the girl in front of him with wide eyes. If that magic expelled wasn't enough, something still lurked inside of her that he didn't recognize.

He turned her face back to him, and nodded to Wendy to continue.

"Will that other magic harm her?"

"No." Claire answered.

"This is going to hurt. I'm sorry." Wendy said, beginning her task.

3.

"You sure you're alright?" Bickslow asked for the tenth time, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes. I'm fine to walk around, at least. So long as I don't aggravate my wounds I'm good." She explained, walking next to him down the path. Almost immediately after Wendy had finished working on her, she'd insisted on going for a walk, despite the girl's protests. Bickslow offered to go with her in case her asthma flared up again.

"What happens if we aggravate them a little?" He asked, and she looked up at him, seeing his tongue hang out.

"Depends on how we aggravate it." She said with a wink. They were happening passed a waterfall, and after Bickslow looked around to make sure no one was there, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her off the trail, finding a secluded area blocked by boulders and trees. Once inside he sent his babies to keep guard, and cast yet another silencing spell around them.

"What if we aggravate them lovingly?" He asked, and took his visor and hood off again. He hated taking it off in front of the others earlier, and wouldn't have done so under any other circumstance, but he loved not wearing it in front of her. She didn't look at him weird when he took the visor off- she looked at him like he was normal, and that look was an extremely rare one, even among his close friends.

"I would like that a lot, actually."

"Would you?" He snickered, and stepped towards her, wrapping his arms around her while being careful of her injuries. She did the same, reaching up and entangling her hands in his blue hair. "Almost dying got you all hot and bothered?"

Instead of verbally answering, she pulled his head down to her, hungrily tasting his lips.

"I enjoy a good kiss now and then, but I don't think I could handle stopping halfway again. If we're going to do this, we need to finish it." He said, pulling away and looking her in the eye. As he spoke he hated himself for putting her in this situation, since it wasn't fair to give her an ultimatum. At the same time, he lost control on the ship and he was sexually frustrated to the point of it actually being painful, so any more sexual/almost sexual activity would only add to his pain.

She sighed, pouting slightly as she leaned back, her butt pressing against a large boulder.

"If you don't want to it's fine; I like hanging out with you and we can take whatever this is slow in the future, but here on the island I-"

"It's not that. I do want to go all the way with you."

"Oh. Then what's the problem?" He asked, sensing that there was another reason why she stopped. She seemed reluctant and wouldn't meet his gaze, a soft blush on her cheeks.

"It's just…"

"Yeah?"

"Friends with benefits has never worked with me. I've even tried one night stands and they tear me apart emotionally."

"Sooo… you want to be boyfriend and girlfriend? A commitment thing?"

"I… kinda…"

"Pfft, why do you sound so down about it? You're the only girl I'm interested in at the moment anyways, I'd be totally down for calling you my GF." He said, waggling his tongue at her as she looked back up at him, her heart racing in her chest. To be honest he wasn't sure whether he actually wanted to date her long term, but he liked her well enough and hadn't tried it before, so he figured that he'd give it a go and think about it later. "Just a suggestion though, in the future when you ask someone to date you, you might want to pick better timing. If I was a jerk I could lie just to sleep with you."

"If you were a jerk, you would have done so by now." She countered, causing his smile to falter slightly. Before he could think too much about it she pulled him back down to her lips, grinding her hips against his excitedly. "Wait," She spoke, pulling away. He groaned, moving his mouth to her neck. "Do you have a condom?"

"Yes. Anything else, Checkers? Would you like fries with that?"

"Nope. Just that lollipop that you promised me."

"Well you have been a good girl…" He whispered in her ear, licking the bottom of her lobe and sending a shiver down her spine. "And where do you want that lollipop?"

One of her hands slid down his side and cupped his butt cheek, pulling his waist into her.

A little disappointed that she wasn't very vocal, he nonetheless went with it, sliding his own hand down her side, but not doing what she did. Instead he slowly slid down the front of her shorts, his fingers pressing against her crotch and elicited a sensual moan.

"There?" He asked, and she nodded, eyes half lidded as he began small circles. He loved the reaction he got from her, and all that love amplified the uncomfortable tightness in his pants. Removing his hand from that spot he gently lowered her down so that her back was flat against the rock, groaning at the delectable kisses she was placing along his sensitive neck, and the teeth that grazed his collarbone. He briefly captured her lips again before pulling away, and although she tried to come back up with him, she winced from her abdominal injury. "Relax, just enjoy the view."

Smirking, he pulled his shirt over his head, placing it on a nearby rock that looked fairly clean.

"Shit, how much armor do you wear?" She asked, surprised by the padding strapped to the majority of his upper body. There was almost no skin exposed.

"A lot." He said simply, not feeling like going into detail at the moment. He unstrapped the armor as fast as he could, taking off the main one covering his chest and abdomen and then the four pieces on his arms. Claire watched intrigued, having never seen the lengths he went to protect himself for battle, although she wasn't entirely surprised. Watching him twist and flex his muscles was a pretty nice sight.

But then she noticed the bruises, especially the one forming on his left abdomen. She guessed it was from when the guys attacked them at camp, when they got a lucky shot at him. If he and the others hadn't insisted that she sit and rest, she would have joined the fight.

"Now where were we?" He spoke, bringing her eyes back to his face. "Would taking your sports bra off hurt, with your injuries?" He asked, eyeing the bandages on her shoulders and noticing that one of them was already bleeding through the white cloth.

"I can try."

"Nah, seeing you hurt is a turn off. We can leave it on this once." He said, and leaned over her again, pressing his lips onto hers for a smoldering kiss. His tongue licked her teeth, silently asking for entrance, while his other hand slid down her torso and unbuttoned her shorts. The angle was awkward for her since the rock was at such a weird angle, making her lean back at 45 degrees, but she still tried to make it work. She opened her mouth, moaning into the kiss as his giant tongue slithered in, exploring her mouth and massaging her tongue as they danced for dominance. One of her hands went back to his hair while the other went down his side, excitedly touching and teasing the muscled flesh. He flinched when her hand touched his bruise, and she lifted her hand to go around it.

Ever since she used up her excess magic she felt cold, so now she craved his body heat. She was hungry, and she wanted so desperately to not face reality yet.

His hand slipped down her underwear, gaining another appreciative moan. "You're soaking wet, Checkers." He said, pulling his lips away slightly, barely keeping them in contact while his tongue licked at her lips, his dark eyes glancing at her flushed cheeks.

"And you're mighty hard." She countered, looking him in the eye. With one last lick, he pulled back again, undoing his outside skirt and taking it off, setting it on his pile of clothes to the side. As he worked on his pants she worked on hers, shimmying out of her shorts and underwear.

Given how complicated his fighting outfit was, he only undid it enough so that his straining member could spring free. "I hope you don't mind if I keep my pants mostly on? It's a pain to get them off."

"We can leave it on this once." She said with a teasing smile, quoting him.

His hands started at her hips and trailed down the sides of her legs, keeping her upper body pressed against the boulder while he pulled her legs up on either side of him. Wrapping her legs around him, he leaned forward, capturing her lips once again. One of his hands reached up and cupped her breast, and one of hers reached down to his member, both of them groaning at the pleasure that resulted. He kept her up with one hand on her buttocks, while her thighs and weight on the rock did the rest.

Feeling that he'd already put the condom on, she guided him to her entrance, massaging it with her hand while their lips stayed locked together.

He pushed himself into her slowly, testing the waters so to speak. A wave of heat washed over him and he had no idea if it was from the action or from her fire magic. The pleasure of his member entering her warm canal was unimaginably wonderful, but he forced himself to stay still.

He felt her tense beneath him so he pulled his lips away slightly, looking into her closed eyes. "You okay? It's a lot tighter than I thought it would be. You said you weren't a virgin."

"I've had sex before, but only a few times. It's still a new feeling."

"Does it hurt at all?" He asked, using all of his restraint not to pound into her with everything he had. It was so tight, so wonderful, so _hot_ ….

"A little. It's mostly just weird, but not in a bad way." She admitted, genuinely surprised at both his restraint and his thoughtful question. Even her first partner wasn't this nice to her, or attentive to her feelings when they were having intercourse, nonetheless during.

"Tell me what you want me to do." He groaned, his voice low and course. He moved to start placing comforting kisses around her face, trying to keep the rest of his body still.

"Can you move slowly?" She asked, and he nodded, slowly pulling himself out of her. It was agonizing to go at this pace, but he kept placing kisses long the side of her face and clenched jaw, slowly pumping in and out. She was starting to relax as she got used to him, and he suspected that she was going to give him the okay to go faster. He'd actually been so frustrated from not only the teasing yesterday, and the multiple bikini babes, that he felt his peak coming much faster than it normally would.

But then suddenly her entire body froze up and she clung to him, pulling him roughly against her.

"What's wrong?"

"Peeping toms." She squeaked, and he cursed, suddenly hearing the laughter of their guild members nearby. One of them was particularly familiar, and he swore angrily at her.

"I'm going to fucking kill them." He seethed in her ear, truly conflicted in that moment. On one hand he could go and kill them. On the other hand he was still inside her, and he really, really needed to finish.

"Bickslow and Claire sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Evergreen taunted from the top of the boulders, both her and Elfman snickering up there.

"Making out with your enemy? How unmanly!"

"This is practically the definition of a man, you fucking dimwit." Bickslow cursed low, only loud enough for her to hear. Not that they'd be able to hear if he tried to talk to them anyway, since the silencing charm was up. "Babies…" He summoned, and without looking knew that his babies were attacking the pair, causing them to yell and fall into the watering hole by the waterfall. As they made a loud splash, Bickslow cursed again, conflicted.

"Babies?" Claire asked under him, and the tone in her voice made him chuckle.

"Not that kind of babies. My souls. They were _supposed_ to be keeping watch." He explained, then pressed his body against hers again, resting his forehead on the rock behind her.

"Since they screamed, it might have attracted the attention of the others."

"I know." He muttered, his warm breath drifting across her skin.

"… what do you want to do?" She asked, feeling incredibly awkward. He was full to the hilt inside of her, and they could both hear Elfman and Evergreen sputtering and arguing with each other on the other side of the rocks.

He tilted his head and glanced at her, his frustrated gaze meeting her own.

"What I want is to fuck your brains out. But that's not going to happen with Evergreen around and our friends coming this way. Fuck." He cursed again, hitting his head back against the rock.

"I'm sorry." She muttered.

"It's not your fault, and I'm not mad at you. I am _so_ going to kill Evergreen." He muttered, a small whine escaping him as he hit his forehead against the wall again. He could sense more magic energies approaching, likely to make sure everything was okay.

Reluctantly, very very very reluctantly, he slid himself out of her. She made a small sound as he did so, and he tried to be gentle as he set her feet back on the ground and backed away. They both avoided eye contact as they got dressed, and it took longer for Bickslow than for her, given all his body armor.

The seith mage undid the silence charm just in time for a worried Erza to peer at them from the entrance of their little hideout.

"Are you guys okay? We heard a scream."

"We're fine. We heard there was a cool cave around here, so we came to check it out." Claire told her, stepping towards her. "Elfman and Evergreen fell from the rocks up there, and they're the ones that screamed."

"I see. They're arguing so much at the moment I can't really ask them, so I'll take your word. Try and stay closer to camp, as we don't know for sure that all of our enemies have left the island."

"Yes ma'am." Claire said with a grin. Erza glanced at Bickslow who wouldn't meet her gaze, and raised an eyebrow at his quiet disposition.

"You're awfully quiet, Bickslow."

"Just tired." He grumbled, and she nodded.

"Well then, I'll meet you guys at camp. And try to be more discrete in the future." She added the last part with a smirk, causing both of them to blush.

"I- we weren't-" Claire stammered, but the woman was already gone.

"I'm going to go kill Evergreen and Elfman." Bickslow gritted, summoning his babies and jumping on them as they made a line. "And don't think I've forgotten about you guys. You were supposed to keep watch."

"We're sorry."

"Please forgive us!" They all echoed, all except for one.

"Hee hee hee." Puppu snickered, causing the seith mage to look down at the particular soul.

"When we get home you are so dead." Bickslow threatened, glaring at the doll. He heard footsteps retreating from him, and looked up to see Claire walking away. "See you back at camp?"

"Sure." She replied, not bothering to look back.

Too frustrated and hellbent on destroying Evergreen to follow her, he made his souls fly him up over the rocks, crossing his arms as he looked down at the bickering couple. "You guys are so dead."

Claire sighed, resting her hands in her pockets and trying to cool down. She heard the chaos behind her but didn't bother to investigate, figuring that he would tell her about it later if anything interesting happened.

Her thoughts wandered to the topic she'd been avoiding, a new frustration added to it.

Kelsey and Carl had been on this world for 30 years. That meant that not only could her family be anywhere, but they could be any age, too. Cursing, she kicked a rock on the ground, sending it flying into the trees.

"At least I'm finding them." She muttered, realizing that she'd located half of her family already. That was pretty good, considering the circumstances. Two out of two sisters, one of her brothers, and her mother.

Her heart clenched at the reminder.

Her mom was dead.

Given the fact that everyone she knew on Earth was dead, it made the knowledge slightly less painful for her, but it still made her sad that she died on this world. Scared and frightened on an alien planet with no idea why.

When she started the search for her family she knew it was a strong possibility- and in fact she'd expected- to be the only survivor. She continued down the path not knowing where it went, and at that moment, not caring.

An unlikely person was on the path as well, and as she wound through the woods, he started getting closer. Laxus Dreyar, grandson to Guild Master Makarov and worshipped by the Thunder Legion.

"Oh hey, you're that new girl, right?" He spoke as he approached her, a kind smile on his face.

She blinked, both not feeling very social and also surprised by the friendliness. After her two months at Fairy Tail she'd gotten used to the cold shoulder with strangers. "My name's Claire."

"I'm Laxus." He said, and once they got close enough, he held out his hand to her. She shook it, afterwards putting her hand back in her pocket. "So you and Bickslow, huh?" He asked, causing her to stare for a moment, spacey from her previous thoughts. "I have a heightened sense of smell, so I can smell him on you. I also saw the way you two looked at each other earlier." He said with a smirk.

She blushed, a soft smile on her face as she averted her gaze. "Yeah. He's a good guy."

"I'm surprised that you two are hooking up. You must be really special if he's willing to risk dating a fellow Fairy Tail wizard." He commented, and her smile widened, suddenly feeling embarrassed. She looked back at him, and blinked in surprised, surprised at how much he resembled someone. "What? Do I have something on my face?" He asked, noticing her change in expression.

"Sorry, you just reminded me of someone for a second." She apologized, and shook her head. "So, are you a member of Fairy Tail?"

"No, not anymore."

"How'd you get here, then? To this island, I mean."

"I wanted to pay my respects to the first Guild Master, Mavis." He said with a shrug.

"It was nice of you to help us out then. I heard you saved our asses." She said with a smirk, and he shrugged again.

"Glad I could help. I heard you did your part, too. Gray wasn't kidding when he said we could have used your help fighting Hades." He commented, but before she could reply, they both looked up at the sky. An ominous magic was approaching them at full speed, and Claire gulped, knowing who it was that was going to pay them a visit.

"Let's get back to base camp." He said, and she nodded, following close behind as he bolted down the path.

3.

"Guild Master, are you sure that you won't reconsider? Your answer is final?" Erza asked the Guild Master, who nodded.

"Of course it is…" Laxus interrupted, causing her to turn to him in surprise. "That's how the guild has stayed strong over the years. You can't buy your way in with a simple good deed. It takes a lot more."

"… that's true."

"You guys were in a jam, so I did whatever decent stranger would do and try to help out. There isn't any kind of ulterior motives behind my actions." He spoke, and looked up at Makarov, who sat high and mighty on his giant rock. "Hey old man." Laxus spoke, causing him to turn and look at him. "Yeah, that's the look. Classic. Probably the last time I'll see that scowling face for a long while. Pfft, later." He waved off, turning to walk away.

"Hold on, Laxus," Erza reached out. "I have an unrelated question for you." She spoke, glad when the blond paused.

The taller man turned, eyeing her curiously as he tried to push down the strong emotions he felt. He'd done such an awesome job staying strong while saying goodbye to his gramps, maybe for the last time, and he inwardly cursed at the red head for stopping him.

"I know this may sound odd, but were you adopted?"

Well that came out of nowhere.

Makarov eyed her as well.

"No." Laxus replied.

"Why do you ask?" Makarov asked curiously, and at his question, Laxus's blue eyes turned back to the old man. He knew the old geezer all too well, and he saw the look in his eye, saying that he was hiding something.

"I noticed Laxus's birthmark today… A friend of mine asked me to help search for their family, and one of the family members had that mark."

"Quite the coincidence." Laxus commented, still eyeing his grandfather suspiciously.

"I knew it was a long shot, but I thought I would ask. Given my friend's circumstance, I want to leave no stone unturned."

"Your friend… are they from this world?"

"No, actually. My friend was transported here from a world of no magic." Erza told him, being careful not to give any clues as to her identity. Claire had asked her to be discrete, so she would follow through with the request to the best of her abilities.

"Why do you have that look in your eye, old man?" Laxus asked his grandfather, feeling a bit anxious by it.

"Weren't you leaving?" He asked, glaring at him.

"Yeah. Later." The blond said, and waved again, leaving the pair behind. He shrugged off the strange conversation, just wanting to get off the stupid island.

4.

They all stared as the dragon landed before them, awestruck by its sheer power and size.

Laxus and Claire were the last to make it back to the group, but no one noticed their late arrival. Guildarts was telling everyone the graveness of the situation, how they would be lucky to make it out with their lives, and Erza was encouraging them to get moving.

 _Hmmm, and what are you?_ Claire heard a voice rumble in her mind, and she flinched at the loudness of it. She held her ears, but it didn't sound like it came from sound waves, it felt like the voice was in her head.

"Did you hear that?" She asked, glancing at Laxus, who seemed too distracted by what Guildarts was saying. The fire woman turned back to the dragon, feeling its eyes on her, despite the pupils being too large to distinguish where it was looking.

 _A dragon trapped in a human's body? Curious._

Removing her hands from her ears, she took a step closer to him, her eyes wide.

 _It doesn't matter whether you're human or dragon. You'll be a fun plaything either way._

She gulped, and even though she knew there was a good chance she would survive, she didn't like the way he said that. It didn't help that he was in her head, and she wasn't used to voices other than her own being in there.

Laxus grabbed her arm, yanking her away from her trance and pulling her towards the ship. "Stop daydreaming and get moving!" He ordered her, and she nodded, not needing to be told twice.

 _It doesn't matter where you run._ It rumbled in her head, and she watched as the dragon moved to cut off their escape route, trapping Bickslow and Fried and about to trample them.

"Bickslow!" She yelled, and activated her wings to jump in the air. Evergreen and Elfman did the same, charging the giant dragon they stood no chance against. The fairy and shapeshifter were smacked down by the dragon's hand. "Dragon roar!"

She'd never tried this attack when in the air, so she didn't account fully for the pushback… nor her magic level required to stay in the air.

 _Cute._ The dragon rumbled, and her eyes widened as the creature opened its mouth and got closer, threatening to swallow her whole. _I can't wait to see what you taste like._

"Dragon wings, wings, wings!" She screamed, panicking when her wings didn't reappear. She was freefalling, and screamed as gravity pulled her down.

Pain coursed through her body and was instantly knocked out, having been hit by the dragon's palm like a hacky sack, being thrown into the air again unconscious. She flew high into the clouds, and the dragon looked up at her, jaws wide and waiting for the food to land.

Instead, lightning struck the girl. Laxus quickly grabbed her and then teleported back to the others, worried when he realized she was limp in his arms.

"Good save!" Kana commented.

"We're not out of the woods yet." The blond replied, and shook the girl in his arms to see if she'd wake up.

She didn't regain consciousness until the near the end, when they were running towards the dragon hoping to save the guild master from the clutches of the massive creature. Bickslow had taken her from Laxus so that he could fight, and had been carrying her on his back.

Claire blinked awake, at first confused by what was happening.

Everything hurt.

Everyone was running.

Screams.

Yelling.

Spells being cast.

It all blurred, and she couldn't regain focus.

Everything was spinning.

She closed her eyes again, getting lost in the darkness. The last thing she heard was the voice of the dragon rumbling in her head.

 _You are weak._


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry this is a couple days late! I caught a nasty cold this week, and have been busy with school. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **Walking Cliché 5**

 _Peppe the Troublemaker_

"I can't believe I owe 7 years of rent…" Levy cried at the table, joined by several others in the same predicament.

"At least they haven't evicted us. We have a place to live." Claire spoke, trying to hide her smile. She'd been struggling so much since she got here, and every one was so well off, she couldn't help but feel jealous at the time. But now they were all in substantial debt and thrown into a world they didn't fully understand yet. It was comforting to not be the only one lost.

Despite her words, the other girls continued crying and moping at the table. Claire sat sideways with her back against the wall, legs propped up on the seat with her backpack next to her on the table top. Levy, Erza, Juvia, and Evergreen all sat at the table, most of whom were on the other side of her.

"But Juvia is in debt!" The blue-haired girl cried, now beginning to wail.

Claire's gaze moved around the room, looking for Lucy. She knew that the blonde would be having it the worst over the next few weeks, given that her dad died. When she'd been planning and making lists, it hadn't really occurred to her what Lucy would be losing until they got back. The celestial wizard had made some off-handed comment the night before about her dad, and it caused Claire's heart to sink at the realization.

 _It's already done._ She told herself, but it didn't ease the guilt.

Lucy missed out on her last moments with her father, just like she had with her family. She could have warned her and she didn't.

And even though she knew it was going to happen, it didn't ease the shock of seeing everyone so old. 7 years is a long time.

Of course, it's not like Claire got off scotch free in terms of loss. There was only so much she could do to prepare for a 7 year absence. Her family could have shown up at any point in the last 7 years, or at the very least she missed out on searching for them in that time. Erza mentioned the night before that she would ask her contacts about Claire's family to see if they had any luck in the time they were gone, and given how long they had to search, there was a good chance that they'd found them.

The more she thought about it, she determined the person most likely to be alive: her little brother, Cory. He was only 12 years old, but when he wasn't glued to the TV screen watching anime, he was a boy scout. If anyone in her family thrived, it would be him.

Her baby brother, only 2 months old, was likely dead. Her dad could be alive, but he was on so many medications for his various illnesses, she doubted he could live for very long in this world without them.

Kelsey and Carl obviously survived, but they'd changed for the worst. They'd joined a dark guild and judging by what she'd gathered, her sister had turned into an assassin. Apparently she had fought Gajeel before she got there, and although he took her out, she obviously got back up.

She eyed that dragonslayer across the room, noticing that he was drinking alone. She'd meant to talk to him last night but never got the chance.

Picking up her drink, the blue-eyed woman stood up, leaving the upset wizards to join the rather quiet iron mage.

"Hey Gajeel. Do you have a minute?"

He looked up at her with his usual scowl, but then smirked. "Sure."

Taking a seat across from him, she smiled to seem polite, despite how awkward she felt around him. Ever since she started training she'd gained a little bit of confidence when it came to talking to stronger wizards, but they still made her nervous. "I heard that you fought Kelsey. The iron wizard on Tenrou Island."

"Yeah." He said simply, and took a sip from his drink.

"I was hoping you could tell me about the fight. Anything she may have told you."

"Why?" He asked curiously, his steely red eyes staring into her nervous blue ones.

"She's my sister."

His eyebrows raised, clearly not expecting that. "Your sister works for a dark guild?"

"Apparently." She commented, hoping to keep the details of her situation under wraps.

"You're not too close to your family?"

"We were separated a long time ago. I didn't even know where they were until I fought her on the island, and I'm still searching for the rest of my family."

"Huh." He muttered. "Well, since you fought her too, I'm not sure how helpful I'd be. She used lost magic with her iron, and used lethal attacks. She's an assassin for sure."

"Did she talk at all during your match?"

"Not really. She bantered with the tree guy a lot, who seemed pretty stupid. I heard her mention something about his lost magic eating his brain, but I'm not sure if that was a joke or not. Lost magic can be pretty dangerous and come at a cost."

She frowned, and sighed. "He was extremely intelligent last I saw him…." She stopped herself from thinking about it too much. "This is a weird question, but did you notice anything… dragon like, about their magic?"

"Like yours?" He asked with a smirk. "I felt your dragon magic the first day you stepped in the Guild Hall. It's distorted, but I recognize a dragon when I see one. I don't know how flame brain and Wendy haven't figured it out."

Claire wasn't sure how to react to that. She definitely didn't expect him to know that about her, nonetheless since the very beginning.

"But no. She and her brother had no dragon magic in them."

"Why didn't you say anything about my magic sooner?" She asked curiously, trying to pull herself back together. "And you're sure that you didn't sense dragon magic from them?"

"I'm sure that they didn't have an ounce of dragon magic in them. And I didn't bring it up because it was none of my business. Natsu may be crazy about finding Igneel, and maybe Wendy, but I don't care. Metalicana ditched me and I'm not going to go chasing down anything with the word 'dragon' in it."

"Good for you. Dragons suck ass." She said, and the man burst into laughter.

"What you guys talking 'bout?" Bickslow asked as he joined them, pulling out a chair and swinging it around, he sat on it while his arms rested on the back of it.

"We were talking about Tenrou Island." Gajeel said. "And our mutual dislike for dragons."

"Amen to that." He said, and took a swig from the beer in his hands. "Did you guys get kicked out of your apartments, too?"

"I got evicted, but my landlord put my stuff in storage for me." Gajeel said with a shrug.

"Did you get kicked out of your place?" Claire asked the seith mage.

"Landlord sold all of my shit, too. Not only am I homeless, but I'm also stuffless." He said with a pout, and smacked his visor against the back of the chair.

"Ouch, that's rough." The dragonslayer said, although quietly wondering why the strange man had joined them. Bickslow had talked to him a few times before, as the seith mage liked to join random groups and show off his tongue tattoo while making crude jokes, and then wander to another group. But he usually didn't talk about anything serious, like his living situation.

"Could be worse." Claire said, even though she knew she should have been more supportive. She did know what it was like to lose all your stuff, home, and even planet, after all. She could sympathize, but at the same time, a vengeful tiny voice in the back of her mind couldn't help but be happy that they were as miserable as she was.

"How could it be worse?"

"We could be dead." She said, and he hit his chair again. "I'm sorry about your stuff. That royally sucks."

"Hey, remember how you were homeless, and I let you crash on my couch?" Bickslow asked, looking at the woman with a hopeful smile.

 _So that's why he's here…_ Gajeel mused quietly.

"Are you asking if you can stay at my place?"

"Maybe."

"As long as you're discrete, sure. Remember that my place is still a girls-only dorm."

"Woohoo!" Bickslow cheered, pumping his fists into the air. "Staying at a hot chick's place!"

"What did I just say, Bickslow?" She asked him, causing him to pause and blink at her in confusion, hands still in the air.

"… you said yes?"

"I said be discrete."

"Oh… Woohoo, I'm staying at a hot _dude_ 's place!" He cheered, causing her to roll her eyes with a smile.

"Dork."

1.

Claire left her window open that night so that Bickslow could sneak in after hours.

He'd been drinking with his team, including Laxus, so he didn't stumble into her apartment until well after midnight.

Tumble might be a better word for his ungraceful entrance. His souls had taken him up to her window, but as he tried to crawl inside the small window, he toppled and fell on his head awkwardly, cursing loudly.

The lights were off, so he figured that she'd gone to bed. Which was weird, but he shrugged it off. She had planned to stay up late but probably just fell asleep early.

Or maybe he was late.

He shook his head, trying to clear his foggy head.

"Oi, who's there!?"

 _That's not Claire's voice._ He thought to himself, staring blankly in the direction of the voice as he gently touched the bump on his head.

"Whoever is in there, you better have a good reason for it."

 _ERZA!?_

When he looked around, he realized that he was in a bathroom.

 _Claire's window goes into a bed room, not a bathroom. How did I end up in here!?_

Panicked, he quickly locked the door so that she couldn't get in, or at least it would slow her down, and scrambled back out the window with his heart racing. His babies caught him midfall.

"Isn't Claire on the other side of the building?" Peppe asked him, snickering.

"I'll kill you later, just get me to the right room." He said in a rushed whisper, terrified of the monster he'd accidentally awoken. His souls zoomed him away, turning a corner just as the fiery red head looked out her window, frantically searching for the intruder.

Stopping in front of a lit window, he peered inside cautiously, seeing that Claire had fallen asleep on her bed, book on her lap. Hurriedly he stumbled into the apartment, trying to be quiet this time, and closed the window behind him.

His souls flew across the room and babbled excitedly while he leaned against the wall and slid to the floor, sighing in relief.

Across the hall, he could hear the yells and rampaging voice of Erza.

"What's going on?" Claire asked, blinking tiredly at him. Her sleepy blue eyes moved to the door of her room, hearing the ruckus across the hall and the sounds of her neighbor yelling.

"… I accidentally climbed in the wrong window." He said breathlessly, and jumped when he heard a loud banging on her door. His souls quieted at the sound, sensing the angered creature at the front door. They zoomed back to Bickslow, trying to cower behind him. "Please don't let her kill me."

"Stay here and be quiet." Claire said, setting her book to the side and crawling out of bed, tiredly rubbing her eyes.

"Shouldn't you put something on?" He asked, referring to the fact that she was just wearing shorts. Her breasts hung free on her chest, and his drunken mind had to avert his gaze to try and keep his thoughts appropriate. _Don't stare, don't stare, don't stare-_

"Eh." She said with a shrug, and closed the bedroom door as she went to the main door of her apartment. Loud banging on the door met her ears again, and Claire jumped at the loud sound, but nonetheless kept walking to it.

Tiredly, she opened the door to reveal an angry Erza Scarlet.

"Someone tried to sneak into my room. I'm checking everyone's rooms to find the culprit."

"No one has been in my room except me. And you when you first cleaned it. And whoever stayed in my place before me."

"Oi, what's going on?" Levy asked as she entered the hallway, blushing when she realized that Claire was half naked. _We've only bathed in the same communal bath how many times now…?_ She thought tiredly, noticing the woman's red face.

"Someone broke into Erza's place." Claire explained.

"What's all the commotion?" Cana asked as she joined the conversation, even less clothed than Claire. The only thing she wore were hickies, which looked fresh, and there was a bump in her room after she'd entered the hall.

Erza's angry stare locked on her.

"I'm checking everyone's rooms for intruders. Whoever broke into my apartment is going to die by my sword." The red head seethed, her dark eyes locking on the man that stumbled out of her apartment. They were both obviously intoxicated, and the man had no shame about wrapping his nude self around the brunette.

"Why are we all out here? Orgy?" He asked hopefully, smirking at the ladies and trying to give them a 'sexy' look. In his drunken state he just looked like an idiot.

Which, considering that he'd just served himself up to be sliced into pieces by Erza, 'idiot' was a pretty good word for him. Upon his arrival Claire covered her breasts with her hands, not expecting a guy to be in the hallway.

"Uh, you might want to run, dude." Cana said, watching with a blank face as Erza used requip to change into one of her fighting outfits, causing the man's eyes to widen. The mage brought her sword to the man's throat.

"Were you in my room a few moments ago? Answer me!"

"No, he's been in my room the entire time." Cana answered for him, since he was too shocked and terrified to respond.

"This is a girls dormitory. That means that men are not allowed on the premises. It seems that I've been too lenient on this rule, but considering recent events, I think that I'll start being strict about it again. After I dispatch this _vermin_ , I will start random searches on all of the rooms."

"Will you be searching all of the rooms tonight?" Levy asked, and squeaked when Erza's stare turned to her.

"Can we sleep while you're searching the rooms? I'm tired." Claire said, blushing slightly and still holding her chest. "I can leave the door unlocked when you come back from killing him."

"Since you've been the most forthcoming I'll forego your room tonight. You were quite obviously asleep and I apologize for disturbing you." The red head told her. "As for everyone else, I'll do searches in the order that I think you look most guilty." She continued, her gaze landing back on Cana, who was frowning.

"Okay. Night." Claire said, and backed into her room, closing her door with her foot and then locking it. She smirked to herself and walked back to her bedroom, hearing thumps, yelling, and screaming soon erupt from around the dormitory. Some of the sounds were coming from outside, as she suspected many of the guys were fleeing out the windows.

"Is she going to kill us?" His babies asked, still cowering behind Bickslow, who looked terrified even under his visor. She turned out the light, much to his confusion.

"Should I run for my life?"

"Erza is going to check every room except for mine." She said with a confident smirk, and then went back to her window, opening it just enough to hear what was happening.

"What are you doing?"

"Watching the chaos." She snickered, gazing out the window at the men that fell/jumped out of the windows.

Elfman was by far the loudest and most amusing, seeing as Evergreen was screaming at the top of her lungs for him to get out 'before they got caught', and then shoving him out of the window. He fell less than gracefully with the fairy woman throwing his clothes at him.

"You just made enemies with everyone in this building." Claire commented, continuing to snicker at the large man clad in boxers.

"Is that Evergreen I hear?" He asked, and cautiously stood, peering out the window but keeping his head low. Both of them hoped that since their light was off they would go unnoticed, and Bickslow had a matching grin tugging at the corners of his lips. "I guessed they were dating, but I never thought they were _this_ close. Oh she is going down."

"She's not the only one with a late night caller." She snickered, watching as Gajeel was crouched inside Levy's window next door, arguing in loud whispers with the small girl.

"She's checking my room second! Move!" Levy's shrill voice yelled, and caused the dragonslayer to fall the three stories to the ground.

"Most of the guys here probably lost their apartments after Tenrou Island… They're probably here because they have nowhere else to stay." Bickslow commented, but despite the sympathetic tone in his voice, he kept grinning. "Elfman has a house with his sisters, though."

"THIS IS A GIRLS DORMITORY!" Erza yelled as she chased a group of guys around the corner, and Elfman and Gajeel joined the sprint to escape her. Bickslow quickly ducked at the sight of her, and had to cover his mouth with his hand from laughing too loud.

"I see Gray, Gajeel, Elfman, that naked guy from earlier, Loke… Oh, nice. Some other guy snuck out after Erza ran passed. You're ready to bolt on the off chance that Erza changes her mind about searching my room, right?"

"Do you think I should leave now?"

"No. She purposely lured all of the guys outside to round them up for the kill. Ha, that guy that waited to sneak out just got caught." She said, watching the horde of men make another round around the building. "I'm guessing that Erza is letting off steam from the stress of Tenrou Island."

"I wish I could watch. I can't risk her seeing me, though." Bickslow commented.

"Oooh, ouch." Claire winced, watching Erza launch an attack at the group. The entire building was awake with the screams and cries of the inhabitants, thumps and bumps heard from all floors.

"Overreaction much…" Bickslow muttered, imagining the pain and horror his fellow guild members were experiencing.

"So what happened, exactly?" She asked, turning to him. "You reek of alcohol, by the way."

"I've sobered up." He said defensively, and crossed his arms. "I wasn't paying attention when I got here, and my souls took me to the wrong window. I didn't realize it was the wrong apartment until Erza was screaming at me. I think Peppe did it on purpose."

"Who, me?" The little soul asked innocently.

"Did she see you?"

"No. I escaped before she saw me." He replied. "Thank god…"

"I wouldn't be too happy yet. If anyone finds out it was you, they're going to kill you." She said, and then closed the window and curtains. She walked over and hopped onto her bed, crossing her legs beneath her. Her hand reached to a small light on the nightstand, light enough for them to see each other but not enough to raise suspicion if anyone saw her window. "Do you know any spells to put on the door, so that if Erza sneaks in you have warning to run?"

"Uh… a bell?" He asked, and she chuckled.

"I don't think I have a bell."

"Would she really enter your apartment if the door was locked?"

"Bickslow, this is Erza we're talking about." She said, looking at him with a deadpan expression. "And what did I tell you about being discrete?"

"Uh… don't be?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

"So why'd your souls take you to the wrong window?" She asked, looking over at his babies.

"Cuz they hate me."

"We love Bickslow!" They all chorused, and Claire hushed them. Bickslow cast a silencing charm on the room.

One of the souls snickered, getting the attention of both wizards.

"Are they usually this troublesome?"

"Unfortunately. Usually I can keep them in check around people, though."

The snickering one hummed and flew up to Bickslow, rubbing its wooden body against his cheek. "Love?"

"I dunno. That was a pretty mean trick you pulled on me." The man said, sticking his tongue out at the flying totem.

Two of the others flew over to Claire. "Do you like us?" They asked, floating in front of her.

"Uh, I guess." She said with a smile. "I, uh, actually, should I be wearing a shirt around your souls?" Claire asked, suddenly remembering that she was still shirtless. Covering her breasts, again, she looked over to Bickslow who was just smiling at her.

"Nah, they don't have a sex drive, so they're impartial to nudity. Me on the other hand, I'm surprised that you were waiting for me half naked."

"I usually sleep naked. I didn't really think about it, honestly." She said, blushing madly. "But now that I'm thoroughly self-conscious I think I'll change into a shirt."

"Nooo, I like your boobs." Bickslow said quickly, pushing himself onto his feet and already forgetting about the earlier conversation with his souls. He ran over to her when she was opening one of her drawers, already wrapping his arms around her before she could grab a shirt.

Her face was beat red, still holding her chest and extremely self-conscious. She hadn't really cared before because she was half asleep, but it hit her now like a brick wall. Not only had Bickslow seen her breasts full on now (the ship's bathroom barely counted), but so did Cana's naked romp buddy, along with all of Bickslow's souls, which she really didn't know that much about.

And now Bickslow was on her, and she suspected that he'd taken her nudity as a sign she was planning to have sex, rather than just being comfortable. Not that she didn't dislike the idea of sex, but that was hardly the point.

"Uh… do you know that your face is on fire?" He asked, not expecting that reaction.

"When I went out in the hall, Cana's boy friend saw me."

"Eh? A guy other than me saw your boobs? If Erza wasn't killing him right now, I'd be kicking his ass." He said, relieved when the flames died down a little.

"Are you upset because of us?" One of the souls asked.

"Did we make Claire-Claire sad?"

"Did I make Claire sad?" Bickslow added with his babies, pouting as he lowered his head to her side, getting a better view of her face. A few of the totems landed on the dresser in front of her, humming softly while the others looked at her curiously. "What if I got shirtless too? Hell, I'd take off all my clothes if it made you more comfortable.

"If we had bodies, we'd take them off too!"

"If you guys had bodies this would be a very different situation." Claire laughed, and the sound made Bickslow smile. "I would like to put a shirt on, though. I really was just being comfortable earlier, and hadn't planned to be around people."

"But this might be the last time I can come here. You don't want to do anything… special?"

"I'm surprised you'd want to, considering that there's a good chance of Erza barging in here. If you thought it was bad having Evergreen and Elfman interrupt us, imagine Erza wielding a sword."

"Scary, scary!" His babies echoed, and a high pitched whine came from Bickslow.

"Very scary." He agreed. The mental image of Erza cutting off Little Bickslow made any potential erection for the night long gone.

2.

"She really is cracking down." Bickslow commented to his friend, and the green-haired mage sighed.

"Yes, unfortunately. This will take up the majority of my afternoon, and may even take days if she has her way."

"Are you getting paid for it?"

"No, but apparently she'll 'owe me one'."

"Huh. Better than being threatened into it, I guess." The blue-haired mage said with a shrug, and took a bite of his apple. "Considering your massive debt, money would have been better."

"She's in debt as well. I don't think anyone in Fairy Tail has much money at the moment." Fried commented, glancing around the shabby Guild Hall.

"I do, luckily. Upside to being evicted and losing my stuff is that I actually got a paycheck when I got back. A small one considering the expensive stuff I had…" He said, and trailed off as he started mentally cursing and ranting at his expensive and priceless belongings he had lost. But then a grin tugged at his lips. "So to cast the enchantment you have to actually enter the girls dormitory, right?"

"Yes, Erza wants to be thorough and set traps all over the building. She even wants them complicated enough that Evergreen and Levy won't be able to get through."

"Yikes. Well, will she be watching you the entire time?"

"I doubt it. It's very tedious and time involving work, especially the level of intricacy she wants me to do." He explained, and watched as Bickslow quickly turned his head to look around the Guild Hall, making sure that Erza wasn't in the vicinity.

3.

Later that evening, Claire came to the Guild Hall with her long-sleeve shirt covered in burn holes and cuts covering her arms, along with a bruise on her face. She went straight to the bar, asking for a strong drink.

"I take it the job didn't go well?" Mira asked, smiling sympathetically.

"Understatement of the year."

"What happened?"

"I was hired to help a blacksmith, and apparently his dog hates me. When he wasn't barking at me, which the old man couldn't hear because he was deaf, the dog was trying to bite me or knocking over half of the stuff in the shop, which either landed on me or I had to pick up."

"Old man Jenkins?" Romeo asked from a nearby table, and she looked over to the young mage.

"Yeah. Have you worked for him?"

"Yeah, he's a regular customer. If we weren't so strapped for clients I would have punched him in the face by now. I've never had a problem with his dog, though."

"In all my years in food service I've never had such an intolerable client." She told him, and thanked Mirajane when she gave her a glass.

"At least you got paid though, right?" Mira said hopefully.

"Yeah, I guess. Towards the end he was yelling so much I didn't think he'd pay me anything." She said, and finally took a sip of her whiskey. "Oh, do you happen to know any good tips on how to make clothes fireproof? Erza tried to help, but the spells aren't quite strong enough."

"Sorry, I don't. Natsu's clothes are very durable and fireproof, but he bought them that way, and they were pretty expensive from what I heard. How often do you use your fire magic?"

"I use it without realizing it, unfortunately. Ever since Tenrou Island it's been extra active and burning through what few clothes I have."

"That's a bummer. If that's the case, you might want to ask Natsu if you can borrow something of his until you can afford your own." She suggested, and the woman sighed. Claire looked around the Guild Hall for the pink-haired boy in question, finding him easily across the room and gorging on food. Lucy was sitting across from him and lecturing him about something, while Happy stood on the table and chatted as well.

"I just hope he doesn't try to fight me."

"Even if he does, he won't hurt you too bad." Mira said with a wink, causing Claire to frown. "I'm just teasing. He really is a nice guy, I'm sure he'll help you out."

"Thanks Mira." The checker woman said, and grabbed her drink as she made her way over to the group.

"Oh hey, Claire." Lucy greeted with a smile, looking up at her with sparkling blue eyes.

"Hi. How's it going?"

"It's been better. Happy keeps picking on me." She said with a pout.

"Sorry to hear that."

"So you need clothes, huh?" Natsu asked, temporarily looking up from his plate.

"Yeah, I've been burning through mine like crazy. Do you have any suggestions?"

"I can loan you some of mine. The best place I've found is in the east, and they don't have the biggest selection on clothes, but you can buy their sewing supplies and fabric and then hire someone else to make them. I can find you the address when we get to my place."

"To your place?" Lucy asked.

"Well yeah, how else is she going to figure out which clothes she likes? I don't have a huge selection, but I do have extras of each outfit." He explained. "And you're coming too."

"I am?"

"Well yeah, we're going to need your fashion input!" He explained with a grin.

4.

After an awkward 5 hours at Natsu's house, consisting of going through his clothes while the others bickered, made comments, tried to start random fights, and overall making the process much longer than it needed to be… Claire found herself walking home, bag slung over her slumped shoulders.

She was grateful for Natsu's help, but goddamn, she had no idea how Lucy put up with him. Not only was he a handful in general conversation, but he snuck into her house on a regular basis. If anyone did that to her she didn't know what she'd do.

It was getting late, and she'd hoped to be in bed an hour ago. She was naturally a night owl but after being transported to this world, she'd tried to get on a consistent sleep schedule to make life easier. Emphasis on 'tried'. Sleep schedules weren't a natural thing for her.

The stars were beautiful that night, and she found herself star gazing on her walk home. Their beauty always seemed to ease her worries and remind her that no matter what happened, they'd always be there. People may change, things may get lost, life may suck, but the stars always shined down on her.

Smoke once again drifted to her nose as her shirt burned yet again, creating a singed hole on the shoulder and revealing her tanned skin.

Luckily she hadn't started any fires in her apartment, but she was terrified that she would in her sleep. It was just a matter of time before her dreams of starting fires became a reality.

The mental image of her outfits caused her to groan. Again, she was grateful that Natsu was helping her out, but wearing his clothes was going to be weird. Lucy had helped her figure out some combinations to make them look a little less like Natsu's clothing, and they worked to an extent, but his pants were a dead giveaway. Even a pair of black ones he had looked exactly like the white ones, but simply inverted.

He tried lending her clothes that he didn't wear very often, to lessen the weird factor. A pair of black pants along with a white counterpart, one of his vests (she'd planned to wear it inside out in public), two simple black shirts, and a slightly loose green t-shirt. Since he never wore green she'd plan to wear that one the most.

There weren't that many stars out that night, otherwise she would have stayed outside and star gazed for a while. She'd picked up the habit of laying out on the grass on occasion, staring up at the night sky for hours at a time.

Erza was manic inside, ordering everyone around and checking people for… something. Freed was on the side of the stairwell working on an enchantment.

"Claire! I don't remember you owning that backpack before!" She yelled, running over to her.

"Since my fire magic has been burning through my clothes, Natsu offered me his. He also lent me an old backpack of his."

"Natsu?" She asked, and then watched a small tunnel of flame shoot out from her arm and disappear. "He lent you his clothes?"

"Yeah."

"I thought we made your clothes fireproof?"

"Not fireproof enough." She replied, holding up her near nonexistent sleeve. "The only reason why I'm not wearing the clothes now is because I'm curious how long my clothes will last."

"That's very unfortunate. I remember Natsu having the same problem when he was a kid… Levy, is that a new earring you're wearing?!" She yelled, causing the blue-haired girl to freeze as the requip mage ran over to her.

Claire continued on her path back to her small apartment, walking up the steps and holding back her faces at the pain that resulted. She was a little proud of herself for holding back so much. She'd be whining like crazy if this had happened back on Earth, but she was holding up like a fucking champ.

"I can't wait to sleep…" She muttered, and yawned into her hand as she pulled out the key. Opening the door, turning on the light and closing it behind her, she jumped in surprise when something moved in the corners of her eyes.

"Claire's home!"

"Yay, Claire's home!" Poppo and Pappa cheered, and as she turned to look at them, the others flying over as well. "Claire's home, Claire's home!"

"We missed you!"

She blinked at them, confused by their presence, although not entirely saddened by it. Other than her brother's two dogs assaulting her with licks whenever she would enter his house, she couldn't recall a time she was greeted so warmly before.

"You hungry?" Bickslow asked from across the room, and she looked over at the smiling man. He was holding two bags of takeout in his hands, and adorned in nothing but sweatpants.

"I… not that I'm complaining, but how'd you get in here? I thought Fried was setting up enchantments around the building."

"He is. I bribed him to create a loophole for me." He said with a cocky smirk. "I also convinced him to do a little something different for your door. He's supposed to be making every door extra protected against intruders, so I asked him to make yours a little more… specific."

"How so?" She asked curiously, still standing by the door.

"So long as you're inside the apartment, no one can enter it without your permission. So if Erza wants to make a spontaneous entrance, she's stuck outside until you say otherwise. There's also a time limit on it. You have to have given her permission within the last 30 minutes, so that she can't barge in say two hours later."

"What about when I'm not here?"

"It doesn't work when you're not here. She can search it when you're gone."

"Did Fried create the loophole for you as well? Or it just for the outside enchantments?"

"Nope. For your apartment specifically, I'll need your direct permission to enter if you're already in here. The only reason I'm already in here now is because you were gone."

"… huh. Interesting."

"Sooo… food?" He offered again.

"Uh… sure." She said awkwardly, still wrapping her head around the fact that he was there. Slipping her backpack off and taking a seat next to him on the small couch, they started taking out the various foods he'd gotten. He got a large variety of stuff, much to her approval. "Aren't you scared of Erza killing you?"

"Not really. She's not even paying Fried for his time, and given his massive debt, he can't really afford to do things for free. He's just too nice of a guy to turn Erza down." He explained as he made his plate, piling on the foods.

"Do you know if anyone else has bribed him?"

"Who knows. I'm sure that Levy and Evergreen will be able to get passed the enchantments without needing to, even though Erza wants him to make it too complicated for that to happen. She doesn't understand just how complicated that would be… I did see Gajeel talking to Fried earlier today."

"So did you set this arrangement because you wanted to see me or because you wanted a place to sleep?" She asked curiously, causing the tattooed man to look up at her.

"Both?" He asked, unsure. "Getting a hotel would be as expensive as hell, and I hate camping, otherwise I would camp with the other guys on the edge of town. The best route is crashing here, even though it's extremely inconvenient. Kinda fun, though." He added the last part with his tongue hanging out, and then took a bite of his food.

She smiled, beginning to eat from her plate as well. She scooted back into the couch, crossing her legs beneath her and glancing over at the souls on the other side of the room, who seemed to be whispering to each other. "What are your souls names?"

"You want to know our names?" The totems asked as they flew over to her, instantly stopping their whispers.

"I feel like you've told me before, but I'm spacing on what they are. Sorry."

"Peppe!" "Puppu!" "Pappa!" "Poppo!" "Pippi!" They introduced one at a time, doing little flips and turns whenever they spoke their names.

"You guys are adorable." She said with a grin, entertained by their energetic and light-hearted nature. Until yesterday, she couldn't recall them being this social and friendly.

"Yeah we are!" They agreed, earning a giggle from her. Bickslow couldn't help but smile at her, glad that she was getting used to their presence. He'd tried to keep some distance between them when they first met to keep from scaring her off, and probably would have continued doing so if they hadn't been insistent on talking to her. They actually were very social creatures and loved people, but given their form, were more likely to scare people when they found out what they were. Even his team had trouble being around them sometimes.

"So all of you guys were people at one point? I mean, you had human bodies?"

"Yeah, we all died, but now Bixy takes care of us!"

"We love Bixy!"

"They're what's called 'wandering souls'." Bickslow told her. "They're stuck in this realm and can't move on, so I take them in until they can. When they do move on, I'm short a soul until I find another one, but they're not that hard to come by."

She looked at him, surprised.

"Technically, Poppo over here isn't the first 'Poppo'. He's the third. I keep their names the same to keep it less confusing, and my babies don't really mind, do you?" He asked, turning back to them.

"Nope!" They all chorused, and continued spinning around and babbling as the pair talked, drifting away from them.

"So… when you say they're your babies, they really are kind of like your children. You take them in until they can move on."

He grinned awkwardly, a small blush tinting his cheeks. His hand reached up to the back of his neck, scratching at the small hairs as he looked away, eyeing his souls. "In order to move on, they need love and affection. I've found that referring to them as my 'babies' makes them feel safe… and their intelligence level really is closer to a small infant than a pet or adult. They have short attention spans, they're little bundles of energy (literally), they need a lot of care and attention… but they're better than kids, because I don't have to deal with spit up, feeding them, etc. They're also easier to control."

"They also get into trouble." She added, and he nodded.

"Yeah, they do that on occasion. Usually it's the newer souls that do that the most. I can't really blame them, since usually they're just acting out to try and deal with their death… but it can be a pain."

"So do you always have 5 souls at a time?"

"I actually have 6. The other one isn't ready to be bound to a doll yet, so he'll wander around town until he's more stable. On occasion I'll summon my extra soul for battle to get them used to fighting with me, but only if the situation is right. Sometimes the extra soul will watch me for a while to get a feel for who I am as a seith mage before letting me have control over his soul. Technically I could take it forcefully, but sometimes that will turn souls into poltergeists… which, when souls turn into poltergeists while being controlled by a seith mage, if the seith mage isn't strong enough it'll kill them."

"Huh. So when one of these souls move on, the 6th soul will replace it?"

"Depends on if it's ready. Usually it works out." He said with a shrug, and went back to eating his food. "Sorry if I rambled a bit."

"I like hearing about your magic." She told him, watching his beautiful dark green eyes look back at her. He seemed surprised, which considering the appearance of his magic, she couldn't blame him. Even she thought it was creepy when she first met him, and his appearance didn't make it that much easier to empathize with. "So uh, the tattoo on your face…. Is that for your seith magic?"

"Yeah. I've always had the ability to see souls, but I didn't get the ability to control them until I actually studied seith magic, which included getting this mark." He explained. "Since I've been so forthcoming with my magic, care to explain yours?" He asked with a grin, and took another bite of his food.

She made a face and looked down at her empty plate, taking a deep breath.

"You did promise that you would tell me."

"I know. It's just a long story." She explained, and reached over to set her plate down on the table.

"Story time!" His babies suddenly chorused, and hovered over to sit down on the empty spaces on the coffee table, their painted faces facing her. A small smile fluttered to her face, and Bickslow watched her curiously, getting excited to finally hear about her magic.

"I'm not from this world." She started. "On my world, there is no magic. It's in story books, sure, but it's not abundant or fact like it is here or on Edolas. It's simply make believe."

"No magic?" One of the souls asked.

"Sssh, don't interrupt." Bickslow hushed, and the soul squeaked an apology.

"It's alright. One night on my world I went to sleep, and when I woke up, I was in the middle the forest at the base of Mount Hakobe. When I came to Fairy Tail I had no friends, no family, no money- nothing but the clothes on my back and a world of questions. I figured that I didn't even have magic until you told me otherwise." She explained, and he nodded. "Anyway, I eventually found my sister, Carol. When the dragon took her he told me that we were both human counterparts to dragons, and that he had summoned her because her dragon counterpart, who was his mate, had died."

"So you're a human counter-part to a dragon from this world?" He clarified, and she nodded. "That explains why your magic felt so ancient. When I used human possession on you, I could feel your magic."

"Even back when I lived on Earth, I always felt something inside me craving fire. Like a monster inside starving for it, when I was a kid I would try to feed it and simply get burned, and eventually just learned to reign in the impulsiveness of it. When I came to this world the fire didn't burn, so I've been feeding it. Ever since Tenrou Island it's been more difficult to control. Hence the burned shirt." She said, pulling at her burned sleeve. "Natsu is letting me borrow some of his clothes until I can afford my own."

He frowned. "You're going to be wearing Natsu's clothes?"

She laughed. "That's what bothers you about my entire story? Not that I'm an alien or dragon hybrid, but that I'm borrowing someone else's clothes?"

"Pfft, I don't care if you're an alien and I already made peace with your fire magic. The fact that it's dragon oriented was obvious when you started using magic like the other dragonslayers. Considering how vague and weird you got when you talked about home, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that you're from a different planet. Of course I'm bothered by my girlfriend borrowing some other guy's clothes." He explained as if it were obvious, rolling his eyes at the end.

"It's not like I have a choice. It's that or run around naked."

He grinned at the mental image.

"You're more okay with other guys seeing me naked than letting me borrow their clothes?"

His grin fell, replaced by a frown.

"And it's just until I can afford my own clothes. Natsu told me where he got his, and he said they're the best of the best. They're expensive so it'll be a while until I can afford it."

"How much are they?"

"Depends on the clothing, but he said the cheapest is about $100 for each article. The simple black t-shirts he's letting me borrow were that price, and his more decorative clothes were twice as much."

"Shit, that's crazy. $100 for a t-shirt?"

"Yep. But he says that they're extremely durable and worth it."

"Coming from Natsu that's saying a lot, considering how many fights he gets into…. So your fire magic is really that uncontrollable?" He asked, and even as he asked that, he saw a stray wisp of red dance along her exposed shoulder.

"Yeah. I'm terrified I'm going to burn the building down in my sleep."

"I can ask my babies to keep an eye out while we sleep. Although they're not the best at keeping watch…" He said, eyeing one of the totems specifically. "You actually cool down a lot when you sleep, so I wouldn't worry about it. You actually get cold."

"Really?" She asked, surprised.

"I can heat you up, if you want." He said with a smirk, and set his empty plate down on the coffee table.

"Is that so?" She asked, glancing at his exposed chest. She'd done a good job in ignoring his partial nudity, but she'd been fighting back the urge to run her fingers along his well toned body. Although he was a pretty big guy, his muscles paled in comparison to some of their guild members; but even so he was still pretty buff. His muscles were more lean and subtle, and Claire found herself enjoying the view more than she had with the other guys.

When he moved towards her she looked back up at his face, instantly greeted by his lips crashing onto hers.

"Oooh," His babies teased, and Bickslow waved his hand at them, causing them to disappear.

"Where'd they go?" She asked, and closed her eyes as his head dipped down into her neck.

"I sent them away. I'll explain it later." He said, gently pushing her back into the cushions of the couch. He gently pressed his lips against hers again, happy when she started moving against him, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck. Tongues slid against each other and he groaned into the kiss, already hard.

One of his arms rested by her head, keeping him propped up over her as his other hand slipped under her shirt, quickly reaching for her breast. She seemed just as eager as he was, one of her hands wandering over his chest and lingering at his nipple, rolling it between her fingers as he did the same to her.

"I swear that I usually have better stamina…" He said panting, and looking into her lustful eyes. "But I'm not going to last long this time."

One of his knees was between her legs, and his pulsing members was full force against her thigh.

"But I- Nnng," He groaned when her hand dipped down below his waistline, her one delicate finger stroking the top of his shaft. "Please-" He pleaded, but was cut off by her other hand bringing his lips back to hers. Her tongue darted back into his mouth as her hand precariously fingered his cock, the contact bringing him closer to a release from the build up.

Lifting his hips so that she could have better access to him, he groaned again as her palm rubbed gently over his head, covering itself in his pre-cum. Hating his lack of self-control, he tried to last longer, but it only took two strokes of her wonderful hand before his body tensed and shook, releasing his load into his pants.

Panting, his body fell on hers, sweat covering his skin.

Her hand slipped out of his pants glided up his slippery skin, her lips placing a small kiss on the side of his face.

"I swear I usually last longer."

"It's okay. I'm used to it." She said, and placed another kiss on his cheek.

That comment bothered him. _She's used to it? What kind of guys does she usually date?_ Thinking back to their past conversations on the topic, he vaguely remembered her saying that she'd never had good sex with a guy before.

After another half minute of regaining his energy, he took a deep breath, and then lifted some of his weight from her. She looked at him curiously, and then blushed when his hand moved against her breast, having forgotten that it was there.

"Your turn." He said, and she gave him a confused look.

"Turn for what?"

"Your orgasm. Duh." He said with a roll of his eyes, and lightly pinched her nipple. Her back arched at the action, and he smirked. "I may not be ready for intercourse, but I can still repay the favor. I'm not the kind of guy to leave a girl hanging." Bickslow said, watching the cute and still confused look in her eye.

Shifting his position again so that he didn't need to use as much muscle to stay up, he made sure to keep one of his legs between thighs, feeling substantial heat from her crotch.

Leaning down to kiss her again, he rolled the small nub between his fingers one more time before moving the hand down her abdomen and teasingly along the hem of her pants. Again she arched into him, reaching her hands up to tangle in his hair and explore his muscled torso.

He actually wondered if her underwear was going to burn off before he got to it, given how much heat was radiating from that area. After teasing the edge of her pants a bit longer, dipping his fingers beneath the band and chuckling when her hips bucked into his hand, he finally reached for the button keeping her pants closed.

The metal burned his skin, and he had to try and shake it off, hoping to not deter the excited movements of his partner. She seemed unaware of the action and continued arching herself into him, enjoying the movements of his tongue in her mouth. Kissing was something he was particularly good at, and he took pride in his masterful movements of his excessively large tongue, moving his tongue between a consistent slow and fast pace.

Instead of attempting to pass the searing metal gates guarding her pants again, his hand wandered to her thighs, gently caressing and pressing against the sensitive flesh.

His theory of her burning her underwear wasn't far off, as he found a large enough burn hole to dip his hand into, pushing the fabric aside to gain access to her. She moaned at the sudden skin on skin contact and let out a content sigh when his fingers finally dipped into the soaking wet folds of her lips.

"You're so wet, Claire." He commented, surprised by the pooling liquids that spilled into his hand, gently caressing the slippery flesh. His eyes peered into her half-lidded ones, and then to her slightly parted lips. They were slightly swollen from their earlier kissing, and he couldn't help but smirk at the sounds that were coming from her. After stroking the outside for a while, he gently pinched her pearl, watching her eyes close in pleasure. One of his fingers slid into her, and her eyes widened again, moaning into him.

"Goddamn you feel good."

"And you look sexy as hell." He told her, watching her eyes flutter to a close again, her breath hitching as he moved his fingers inside her. He did that for a while, watching her breath become more shallow and cheeks flare up, along with the occasional flame dance along her skin. He'd gotten burned a couple of times now, but he didn't mind too much. Fried had some awesome ointment for burns, so he'd just grab some the next day.

"I'm close." She breathed after a while, and at this knowledge, he descended his lips back to hers. As his fingers started a steady pace of pumping into her, finding a particular spot she seemed to respond to, he made his tongue do the same movement. His palm pressed against her clitoris for the first time, his hand moving faster and faster with his tongue.

A small gasp escaped her lips as her nails dug into his neck and shoulder, her entire body tensing under him and shook abruptly. The walls around his soaked fingers clenched. He watched her expression curiously, as her eyes drifted back to a close and her body became limp under him, her breathing labored.

When he looked back down at her, he noticed that more of her clothing had burned off.

"Thanks." She breathed, and he leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead, and then removed his hand from her juicy nether region.

"Thank you." He countered with a chuckle.

"I've never orgasmed with a guy before." She commented, her eyes still closed.

"Does that mean you have with a girl?"

"Once. She had one hell of a tongue." She said with a chuckle, and he licked her cheek.

"So do I."

"Sorry, I guess it's impolite to talk about past partners with a current one."

"I don't mind it. Well, so long as you're not screaming someone else's name while we're doing it, at least." He told her, watching her clear blue eyes peer at him beneath her long lashes. "Should we go to bed? It's pretty late, and I don't know about you, but I'm spent."

"Sure." She said softly, her breath slowly returning to normal. Bickslow jumped back to his feet and held out his hand to her, which she readily accepted.

5.

"Any jobs for us today?" Bickslow asked as he took a seat, smiling at his teammates. He chewed on his apple as the other two sighed heavily.

"No, unfortunately." Fried replied.

"Where's Claire?" Evergreen asked with a knowing smirk.

"Training. Her magic has been kinda wonky lately, so she's training to get it back under control. She almost burned down the building this morning." He explained, and the brunette's eyes widened.

"This morning?" She asked, and then frantically looked around the mostly empty building before leaning and whispering. "How the hell did you get passed Fried's enchantments? You don't… Fried, how'd he get passed your enchantments?" The fairy woman asked, turning back to the green-haired mage.

"Bickslow asked me to create a loophole for him."

"I bribed him." Bickslow whispered with a prideful smirk. "Why, is there someone you want to sneak in? Elfman, maybe?"

"I- what? Of course not! Why would you think that- I don't like him- it's not like that- shut up!" She screamed frantically, her cheeks red as she animatedly waved her hands in the air.

"So he fell out of your apartment window wearing nothing but boxers the other night… why?"

"Shut up!" She screamed, causing the two men to snicker.

"Ever's in loooooove~" Bickslow teased, and his babies appeared behind him and started repeating his words, making the woman squirm even more.

"I can't believe she screwed us over like that!" A loud shrill voice screamed by the entrance, temporarily distracting the group. They looked over to see none other than Team Natsu walking in the door, looking rather beat up and dirty. The look had actually been pretty common since they got back, seeing how desperate the guild had gotten for jobs. "We worked our asses off, and all we got was this stupid orb! This isn't going to pay my rent!"

"Or give me food." Natsu added, groaning as he looked at an odd looking ball in his hands. "What did she say this does again?"

"It's supposed to suck in and trap evil energy." Erza explained, taking it from him. "Although I honestly think she was bluffing when she gave it to us. It looks like an empty lacrima to me."

"Oooh, is that a trapper?" Bickslow asked them, causing the group to look over at him.

"'Trapper'?" Several of them asked.

"Seith mages use them a lot for poltergeists, but they can be used to contain other dark magics. It also works as a good protective charm." He added with a shrug.

"Would you have any use for it?" Erza asked.

"Yeah." He answered, and his eyes widened when she tossed it to him, barely catching it before it fell to the ground and smashed. "Are you sure you don't want to keep it?"

"Any objections to giving it to Bickslow?" Erza asked the group, and they all shook their heads.

"Alright, cool. Thanks guys." He said with a grin, not bothering to mention that these usually go for a small fortune. For all he knew this was one of the ones he used to own, sold off with the rest of his stuff, so he didn't feel too bad about it. Rolling it over in his hands he eyed the ball about the size of a grapefruit, seeing if it had any scratches or niches. It appeared to be relatively beat up, but it would work well enough.

"Since we're not working today, do either of you two have plans?" Fried asked his companions.

"I might go back home and… I don't know. Read or something. It's so quiet and dismal here." Evergreen said, looking around the depressing room.

"Quiet and dismal!?" Natsu yelled from across the room at her. "We're just gonna have to change that! I think we need to have another party!" He announced, a few cheers rang out in the small space, lighting up the mood in the Guild Hall.

"Woohoo! Partay!" Bickslow cheered, letting his tongue roll out.

"It's 10 in the morning…" Fried commented, but was ignored.

6.

Claire sighed, walking back to the Guild Hall. Aside from her magic problems she physically felt extremely relaxed and happy. The fresh air was refreshing, sky was a beautiful rainbow of colors from the sunset, and the streets had a peaceful hum to them as people passed by her on the street.

Unfortunately, her magic had been bringing down her high ever since that morning.

It felt like her magic was going to eat her alive, and she'd never felt so intimidated by it. It had never felt like a different entity, but simply an extension of herself, and what she figured was her magic. Whatever happened on Tenrou Island triggered and changed it somehow, and now the 'monster' within her wanted to climb out of her, threatening to burn the people around her and take control of her. Imaginary claws were ripping her apart from the inside, and the only other time it felt this bad was when her sister was taken by the water dragon.

In her desperate attempt to get control of it, she tried talking to 'it', which turned into more of a pep talk for herself. She'd felt like a complete idiot.

It was embarrassing to say the least, not having control over her own magic. She'd finally felt like she was getting the hang of it, and now it was slipping from her grasp at an alarmingly fast rate. Even the hem on the clothes Natsu gave her were beginning to singe.

As she neared the Guild Hall, she heard the cheers of her fellow guild mates inside. Music was drifting from the open windows and door, and she could see the wizards laughing and breaking things inside.

She smiled fondly, happy that despite her circumstances, her guild had good people in it. Annoying and obnoxious at times, but she couldn't imagine making friends with better people.

Her hand gripped her chest, feeling the creature tug at her again and cause a flare of fire to erupt from her hip.

"Knock it off." She gritted, trying to regain control. "Maybe Natsu can help me out… again." She mumbled, and walked towards the Guild Hall, moving her hand back to her pants pocket.

Not having the courage to speak with him quite yet, and seeing that the pink-haired man was chatting animatedly with his team, she instead made her way over to Bickslow and his team. They were laughing about something, drinks in hand, and there was a small ball sitting on the table.

Almost immediately after making eye contact with the small ball, a bright light started shining from it, getting the attention of Bickslow and a few others around him. Not knowing what it was, she walked towards the group nonetheless, watching Bickslow turn around and frantically look around the room.

"Sup?" Claire asked as she approached them.

"There's a poltergeist in the area." Evergreen told her.

"Or just evil magic." Bickslow stated, still looking around the room. "Either way, there could be trouble."

"What is that?" Claire asked, eyeing it curiously as she stepped to the side of him to look at it, noticing that it seemed to get brighter as she neared it.

"It's a lacrima designed to trap evil magic." Bickslow explained quickly, standing up and lifting his visor to look around the room, presumably searching for the poltergeist.

"So you're looking for a poltergeist?" She asked him, and he nodded.

"It's probably just passing through…" He commented, but then looked back to the lacrima, noticing that it was still glowing white. His gaze moved to the nearby surrounding area, and then to Claire, who was staring at it. Suddenly a beam of light shot out from the lacrima and into the checker woman's chest, causing her eyes to widen and stumble back.

Immediately afterwards a loud roar erupted from the now blackened orb, causing everyone to hold their ears in pain.

"What the hell was that?!" Someone yelled.

"Yeah, what the hell?" Claire asked, looking to Bickslow and holding her chest, eyes wide. Her blue eyes moved back to the black orb, and she fell to her knees hunched over, the sudden loss of magic weakening her.

The orb roared again, causing the rugged Guild Hall to shake beneath its might.

"… I think I figured out why you've been having trouble with your magic." Bickslow said, looking back down at her. The magic emanating from the orb was the same ancient magic he'd sensed from her on the island, and now that it wasn't distorting her fire magic, it changed how her natural magic felt.

Wendy ran over to Claire, putting her arm around her and looking up at the orb. "What is that?"

"I dunno. It's strong, though." Bickslow commented, leaning over and staring at the orb, visor now covering his face again. "It came from inside Claire. It's probably what's been screwing up her magic."

"Hey, did you eat a dragon!?" Natsu yelled as he got closer to Claire, sniffing her.

"Her magic does feel like dragon magic…" Wendy added.

"It took you this long to figure that out?" Gajeel scoffed from nearby.

"TELL ME WHERE IGNEEL IS!" Natsu yelled at the woman on the ground, grabbing her shoulders roughly and shaking her.

Bickslow kicked the dragonslayer in the back of the head, causing him to fall over.

"What did you do that for?!"

"Give her a minute, will you? She just lost a ton of magic. From what she told me, she's had that thing inside her for most of her life." He explained, glaring at the fire man. The dark orb roared angrily again, and the seith mage looked back down at Claire, who was still hunched over and looking at the ground.

7.

"You okay? You've been quiet ever since the parasite was taken out." Bickslow asked, looking over at his girlfriend on the ground.

After they'd left the Guild Hall, they walked around town for an hour or so, and eventually they went back to Fairy Hills. Instead of actually entering the building though, Claire walked to the side of it, walking passed some trees to a patch of grass. Without saying anything she laid down to look up at the stars, hands behind her head and unreadable expression on her face.

"Wendy said that it was lucky timing. Much longer and it would have taken over you." He commented, and took a seat next to her, not entirely sure what to do. "She also said that since the parasite had been in you for so long, it might take a while to get used to."

She didn't say anything, and simply stared up at the stars.

Wondering if his babies might cheer her up, he summoned them.

They flew around her head, looking down at her blank expression. "Is Claire sad?"

Her gaze briefly turned to them, but then returned to the starry night.

"Why is Claire quiet?" They asked, turning back to Bickslow.

"I dunno. She won't talk to me, so I hoped she might talk to you guys." He said with a shrug.

Something warm brushed against his hand, and he looked down to see that that it was her own hand. Her blue eyes stayed locked on the sky, but her warm appendage brushed against his skin, caressing it softly.

"I haven't seen your fire magic go off without you realizing it, so that's a plus. It should be easier for you to use it in the future." He added, and raised her hand to his lips, kissing it softly.

"Claire is adorable. Like us!" One of them said, and a smile cracked along her face.

"You're right. Claire is adorable, wonderful, fantastical, amazing," Bickslow spoke, and leaned over her, smiling at the embarrassed smile that tugged at her cute lips. "Especially when she smiles like that. Right babies?"

"Right!" They all chorused, and he leaned down to place a small kiss on her lips.

"How do you always do that?" She asked, smiling up at him as he gently touched her nose with his, gently nuzzling them together.

"Do what?"

"Make me smile when I don't want to."

"I'm just an awesome boyfriend like that." He replied, smirking at her.

"Bickslow is amazing!"

"We love Bickslow!" His babies chorused around him.

"Are they your babies or your fan club?" She asked curiously.

"They know that I'm still annoyed by the recent pranks, so they're being extra nice." He explained, gazing into her clear blue eyes that stared back into his. "How are you feeling?" The blue-haired mage asked, still nuzzling her nose with his.

"Empty, mostly. Pretty drained."

"Your magic is a lot lower than normal."

"Wendy said it should go back to normal in a few days. It feels weird… like I got an organ cut out. A part of me is missing."

"You'd be missing a lot more if Natsu's group hadn't gotten their hands on that lacrima. You're lucky to be alive."

"I guess…" She said softly, still staring into his dark green eyes.

"Hey, why don't we go do something?" He asked, suddenly pulling back to sit upright again. "You could use some cheering up, and so could I. I don't like the idea of you almost dying, nor do I like being homeless."

"Party, party!" His babies spoke, causing him to grin.

"I take it that you're not a fan of star gazing?" She asked, and he stuck his tongue out.

"Not really. They're just a bunch of dots in the sky."

"Planets, stars, galaxies… you don't find any of that interesting?" She asked, and he shrugged.

"Eh. I'd rather get hammered and listen to obnoxiously loud music. There's a bar in Magnolia that's space themed, maybe we could go to that?"

"Space themed?" She asked, and he nodded.

"It's actually pretty cool. It's actually got more of a bad sci-fi movie feel to it, with cheesy aliens and props." He explained, watching as she seemed to be getting interested. "Wanna go?"

"Party, party!" His babies cheered again, and she chuckled.

"Sure, let's go."

"Woohoo!" He cheered, jumping back onto his feet.


	6. Chapter 6

**Walking Cliché 6**

 _Jason?_

"Hey Claaaaaire." He spoke as he jumped on her bed, landing fully clothed next to the sleeping woman. The visor and hood were placed on the nightstand, but otherwise he was clothed in his purple and blue garb.

She grunted and turned over, pulling the blankets over her as she turned away from the open window.

"Guess what." He said as he crawled over her, arms and legs on either side of her as he leaned his face close to hers.

"Let me sleep." She grumbled, trying to pull back the blankets as he tugged them away with his teeth, which were surprisingly winning in the mini tug-of-war. As the blankets fell from her face she turned into the pillow, and would have covered her eyes with her arm had he not put so much weight on her.

"Wake uuuuuup." He said, and once he had pulled the blankets far enough, nipped at her exposed nipple. Not expecting such a sensitive area to be pinched, she jumped and tried to buck him off.

"The fuck, dude?" She asked, finally blinking her eyes open to look at the smiling man, who looked remarkably like a Cheshire cat with all the purple. "What time is it?"

"It's one in the afternoon."

Her blue eyes stared blankly at him, trying to comprehend his words.

"You probably overslept from all the magic you lost yesterday. Not to mention the drinking that followed… my little alien." He nuzzled her cheek lovingly.

She groaned again, and he licked the side of her face, creating a trail of saliva along her jaw, cheek, and then ear. "You're like a dog."

"Ouch."

"You're jumping on me, pulling my blankets with your teeth, and now you're licking my face."

"Good point…. ruff, ruff ruff!" He started barking, and she cringed as he started licking her face more fervently.

"Damn it, Bickslow, knock it off!" She said, but she couldn't help but start laughing towards the end of her sentence, somehow ending up on her back with the tall man leaning over her. Distracted by the panting, 'barking', and licking, she didn't notice that her wrists had been pinned above her until he stopped moving. He leaned over her, smirking at her with his face only a few inches from her own.

"So… am I good or bad boy?" He asked, adding a pout and small whine.

"Definitely bad." Claire said with a smile, giggling when he growled and tightened his grip on her wrists. She felt oddly aroused by his actions, despite how silly he was being. "Weren't you going to tell me something earlier?"

"Oh yeah!" He said happily, and removed her wrists to sit back on her stomach, straddling her waist as he looked down at her. Sleeping nude was a definite plus when he stayed over, but in this case, extremely distracting. But also pleasant. "Guess what?" He asked her with a grin, trying to keep his gaze on her face.

"What?" She asked with smile, resting her hands behind her head to look up at him.

"I got us a job together. We leave today."

"… 'us'?" She asked surprised, and he tilted his head slightly, surprised by her lack of enthusiasm.

"Well, yeah. You, me, and my babies!"

"You want to do a job with me?" She clarified.

"… do you not want to?"

"No, it's not that, I would love to do a job with you. I just… I've never been asked to do a job with someone, and I figured that you only work with the Thunder Legion."

"Usually I do, but with jobs so tight, I had to think outside the box to get us a gig. Ask how I got us this one." He said, regaining his excitement and grinning at her.

"… how did you get us the job?"

"I told Mira I had a crush on you. So she saved us a two person job."

"That actually worked?" She asked, and he nodded.

"She loves hooking people up. I told her that I was too nervous to ask you out directly, so I asked if she could save any two person jobs that came her way."

"You lied to her?"

"We technically haven't been on any official dates together."

"What about all the times we've gone out for food, or going to the bar last night?"

"I wouldn't count those as date dates. I would categorize them as fun outings with a friend." He tried to reason, and started to squirm a bit at the look she was giving him. " _However_ I got the job, it's decent pay, relatively easy work, and we'll get to spend time together. Not to mention I won't have to be so sneaky about seeing you after hours."

"What's the job?"

"Security at a camp. We basically hang out, walk around on trails to make our presence known, occasionally break up any skirmishes that arise with the campers. Stand around and look authoritive like. Make s'mores."

"How long will we be there?"

"About 4 weeks. Campers arrive a week from today, so we might be asked to help set up and prepare with the counselors, or depending on the level of security they want, we might spend the time actually doing security stuff."

"When do we leave?"

"Tonight. We're taking a train at 9 PM."

"Soooo we've got 8 hours to prepare? Is there anything else I need to know about the job?"

"Nope. Have I mentioned how much I like your boobs?"

"Once or twice." She said, enjoying the feel of his hands gliding across her skin, and palming her ample breasts.

A bang at her door caused them both to jump, startled by the sound.

"Surprise inspection! Open up!"

"That's my cue to leave." He said, and leaned down to give her a quick kiss before running to the window. "Meet me at the Guild Hall later."

1.

"So you two are the security guards?" An older man asked, looking at the pair up and down, particularly landing on Claire's hair. He was about to ask about it when he saw the five totems floating around Bickslow, and upon remembering that they were wizards, shook his head.

"Yes, sir." Bickslow said, grinning at him.

"I wish you guys had gotten here sooner. There's some guy running around in a hockey mask and scaring people. Hopefully you two can find him before the campers get here."

"We were told to get here either tomorrow morning or tonight. Mira should have called ahead to tell you we were coming."

"Yes, yes. I'll show you two to your cabin in a few minutes, and tomorrow I'll fill you in on the details of your job." The man spoke. "I'm the owner of the campground, Mr. Greenly. Have either of you two done camp security before?"

"Once, a while back. I've done security for other events." Bickslow replied, and then the older man turned to Claire.

"I, uh, attended a few camps growing up and did a lot of camping as a kid." 

"Anything with security?"

"No." She said awkwardly.

"She's new to the guild, but she's one of the strongest wizards at Fairy Tail." Bickslow offered, and the man laughed.

"That's not saying much, considering Fairy Tail's reputation." He said, and the seith mage frowned. "In any case, we've never had trouble in the past, so your jobs should be pretty easy. Come on, I'll show you to your cabin." Waving his hand to follow him, the two wizards walked in a single-file line down a trail, passing a few buildings as they went along. "Breakfast is at 8 AM, lunch is at noon, dinner at 6. That's the mess hall over there, and this is your cabin. The nurse's cabin is next to it."

They all stopped on the path, and the camp owner turned to face them.

"Good night. I'll debrief you guys in the morning."

"Night." They both replied, and turned down the path towards the security cabin. Bickslow walked ahead of her, babies in tow, and entered the small cabin. There were two bunks, but most of it was empty space and a desk, along with a poor light that hung from the ceiling. Outside were stronger lights shining from the various buildings, and only seconds after they entered the cabin, did the lights turn out. A single blue light remained on outside the cabin, likely to guide any lost campers to them at night.

"What's the name of this camp?" She asked him, and set her backpack on the bottom bunk.

"Camp Crystal Lake." He answered, watching her chuckle and smile. "What?"

"Guy in a hockey mask? Crystal Lake?" She said, but he simply shrugged. "Jason?"

"Sorry, no idea what you're talking about."

"Right, wrong planet. Sorry." She said, biting the inside of her cheek as she returned her gaze to observing the cabin. It was pretty simple overall and not much to it. There was a first aid kit on the wall.

"… is it a pop culture reference from your world?"

"Yeah, there's a series of famous horror movies about a guy in a hockey mask. He lives by Camp Crystal Lake and kills the counselors, because they weren't paying attention and let him drown when he was a camper there."

"Sounds like a campfire story."

"It was probably based on one." She said with a shrug. "So, are we sharing a bunk or sleeping on separate ones?"

"Why wouldn't we share one?"

"Cuz we're on a job."

"Gotta be professional, man." One of his babies told him.

"Yeah, professional, man."

"Pfft, like they're going to care. As long as we wear clothes, in case some kid runs in here crying in the middle of the night, it won't make a difference. Push comes to shove we lie and say we're married."

"First Mira, now the campers? You're just a lying machine."

"Oi, you're one to talk." He countered, and she snickered, moving to close the door.

"Does Claire lie?" His babies asked.

"In my defense, I never lied until I got stranded on an alien world."

"Never?"

"Well… not as often. 'Lie' is such a strong word."

"Has Claire lied to us?" His babies asked as they circled her.

"Uh… I don't think so?" She told them, and watched as they bounced and spun away, giggling and talking to themselves. A loud thump met her ears, and she turned to see that Bickslow had set his backpack on the ground. He turned and sat on the bottom bunk, cursing as he hit head. "So why don't they act like this around the guild?"

"Like what?" He asked, holding the back of his head and frowning.

"Like… that. I don't think I've ever seen them act so happy at the guild."

"Oh… yeah, I try to keep them in line when I'm around other people. It uses up my magic and they don't really like it, so when we're alone I let them do whatever. If I let them run loose like this all the time they get a bit too rowdy and rambunctious." He explained, and just as he talked, they heard the crack of two of the wooden totems smacking into each other. "Oi, simmer down."

"Yes, sir." They all said in unison, stopping briefly to face him but then instantly returning to their erratic movements.

"They really are like kids." She commented, watching as three of them smacked into each other and then crashed into the wall, making silly noises all the while. She couldn't help but be reminded of 'Grr' from Invader Zim.

"Yep." Bickslow replied. Suddenly all of the totems lined up in the air and zoomed towards him, forming a straight line in front of him. Judging by the whines and complaints they emitted, Claire guessed that he was using his magic to make them do that. "What did I tell you guys about being rough with your vessels? I haven't had time to make you a new one, so if you break it, you're stuck with it for a while."

"But we're having fun!"

"You can have fun without breaking yourselves. Otherwise I'll have to unbind you for the night."

"No, we'll be good! We wanna play some more!"

"We wanna be with Bickslow!"

"We love Bixy!" They all chorused together.

"I'll give you guys one last chance. Either calm down or I'll unbind you for the night. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!" They chorused, and with that they were set free, bounding and bouncing away to a corner of the room, slightly less obnoxious than before.

"So if they're your babies, does that make you their dad?" Claire asked, leaning against the wall adjacent to him. The seith mage took his hood and visor off, smiling at the question and thinking about how to answer it. He scratched the back of his head for a moment, and brushed back his wild blue hair.

"Daddy Bixy!" One of the dolls said happily as he flew back over to Bickslow, humming as it pressed against his cheek.

"I always tried to avoid that word, on the chance that they used it in public. It might give the wrong impression."

"Calling them your 'babies' doesn't?" She countered, watching him with a smile as he just shrugged. "How long have you been collecting souls?"

He looked back up at her, his dark green eyes locking with her blue ones. "My first soul, although I didn't control her at the time, was when I was 6."

"Really?" She asked, and he nodded. "I thought you would have been older."

"I've been able to see souls my entire life, and dead souls have always been drawn to me, but I technically didn't start studying seith magic until I was around 13 or so. I was always the black sheep in my family, so… I made my own family." As he spoke a soft blush crossed his cheeks, and looked over at the souls fondly.

"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

"Sweet enough to get me laid?" He asked, turning back to her with a wicked grin.

"We need to keep our clothes on, remember?"

"There's no kids here yet, and we technically don't start work until tomorrow." He reasoned, letting his tattooed tongue hang for a moment. "I could be _your_ daddy tonight." He added with a wiggle of his eyebrows, and watched as she giggled.

"You're not good with talking about mushy stuff, are you?"

"Nope. I don't know how you put up with me."

"Hmm… me neither." She said with a straight face, and Bickslow frowned for a moment, suddenly worried that he had said too much. But then that smile drifted back to her face, ebbing some of his nerves away. "I'm kidding, Bixy. I didn't mean to scare you." Taking a seat next to him on the thin mat, she leaned over and pecked him on the cheek.

"Pfft, you didn't scare me."

"For a second you looked absolutely terrified."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He lied, looking away and blushing, avoiding her curious stare.

"Is Bixy embarrassed?" She asked, turning to sit on her knees and wrapping her arms around him, trying to see his face. "Your cheeks are red."

"Am not. It's just hot in here." As he tried to turn and keep his obviously red face from view, she tried to turn him so that she could see him, struggling against his stronger build. After a few seconds of failed attempts to turn him, she reached her leg over his lap and sat down on his thighs, smiling as she got a good view of him, but he still kept his gaze averted, pouting slightly.

"You're adorable." The fire woman said, watching his face get even redder. "Why are you embarrassed?"

"Why is daddy's face red?"

"What's wrong with daddy?"

"Now look what you've started." He grumbled, glaring as his babies hovered around them. Claire blinked in surprise as the dolls zoomed away and landed on the desk, their humming and chatter becoming silent. Silence pervaded the small cabin, and for a moment she just watched the increasingly frustrated man, wondering what he was thinking.

"What's wrong? Did I upset you?"

"It's nothing. We should go to bed." He said, and raised his hands to her waist to move her, but she intercepted his hand and brought it to her lips for a kiss.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."

"You didn't."

"Then why do you look like you're going to cry?"

"I must be allergic to something in here." He muttered, and raised his free hand to rub his eyes, trying to hide his face from her.

"I'm not judging you at all; part of dating someone is getting close to them, not just physically. I'd like us to be honest with each other, and if I said something to offend you, I'd like to know so that I can avoid it in the future. I really like you and it would make me sad if we didn't work out just because of a miscommunication." She explained, saddened when he still wouldn't look at her. "If it's a guy or macho thing, even guys have feelings, and don't let Elfman tell you differently. I grew up with three brothers and know the 'men don't cry' thing is bullshit."

He chuckled at that, still not meeting her gaze as the tears still continued to swell up in his eyes.

Keeping her eyes on him, she brought his hand back to her lips and then pulled him into a hug, glad that he reciprocated it. His arms enclosed around her small frame and he buried his face into the nook of her neck, inhaling the scent of her lavender body wash.

She refrained from asking him about what was bothering him again, despite her gnawing curiosity when she felt tears on her skin. Thinking back to the preceding conversation, she couldn't recall anything particularly mean she'd said. They teased and joked all the time so she couldn't fathom what bothered him so much that he cried.

One of her hands gently stroked his soft blue hair, patiently waiting for his sobs and sniffles to fade away. They stayed like that for close to an hour, with him holding her close to him while she tried to comfort him by rubbing circles on his back. Other than once or twice when her younger sibling Cory would cry in her arms about the boogie man or a nightmare, she'd never really had anyone cry on her shoulder. It felt oddly nice to feel needed, and for that hour, it felt like they were the only people in the world.

It broke her heart to hear him cry like that, but she had the strange feeling that it wasn't bad crying. More like life had been getting him down, and he just needed to vent his sadness to someone.

"Sorry." He muttered, leaning back to wipe his tears away with his hand. She gently reached her hands up to the sides of his face, wiping away the tears with her thumbs.

"Don't worry about it. My shoulder is always open for you to cry on." His bloodshot eyes briefly looked up at her, but went back to avoiding her gaze soon after. "If you want to talk about it I'll listen too, but if you don't that's fine. We can just go to sleep." She told him, and gently leaned up to kiss his forehead. The movement made her realize that her legs had fallen asleep from sitting that way for so long, but she tried to hide it best she could.

"W-we should s-sleep." He croaked.

Nodding, she carefully removed her legs from him, sitting back down on the mat while shaking her legs to regain feeling. He ignored her as he went to grab his large sleeping bag, oddly robotic and awkward in his movements.

"Is your sleeping bag big enough for the both of us, or should I unroll mine, too?"

"Mine's big enough." He replied curtly.

After changing into their pj's and getting the sleeping bag set up, staying quiet as they did so, Claire turned the light off and crawled into bed with the man.

Much like their first night together, they cuddled with Bickslow resting his head on her upper chest, their arms and legs entangled. The occasional sniffle still entered the quiet air, and just as Claire was on the verge of falling asleep, his voice brought her back awake.

"I've never told someone so much about me." He whispered into the darkness.

Sighing tiredly, she reached her hand back up to his head, going back to stroking his hair. "Why not? You're depriving the world of your amazingness." Her fingers lingered on the shaven parts of his hair, enjoying the feel of it beneath her fingertips.

"People usually run when they find out my babies are souls. They don't really bother to stick around to find out more, nonetheless laugh or play with them, or call them 'cute'. When they don't run, they don't want to know the details of my magic."

"What about Fried, Evergreen, and Laxus?"

"They've gotten used to my babies, but I can tell that it still weirds them out. Even after five years they don't know their names, and they treat them like tools or objects."

"Do you ever let your babies run loose around them, like you do with me?"

"I've tried it a couple of times, but Evergreen starts screaming and freaking out. Laxus gets annoyed, and Fried… well, actually Fried doesn't mind it too much. He's gotten used to them."

"So letting them loose around me was a big gamble for you?" She asked, and he nodded against her, tightening his grip slightly. "But they're so cute. How can people not like them?"

"I personally think they're adorable, too. But I can understand why people are weirded out by them."

"People don't seem weirded out by Lucy's spirits."

"Uhh… I've actually heard that some of her spirits are pretty weird. But Lucy also can't control your body just by looking at you." He added. "I don't really mind what people think about me… I just… I don't know."

"What did I do earlier to make you upset?" She asked, since he seemed to be trailing off anyway, and it was still bugging her.

"I thought you were going to dump me because of my past. Most girls run when I tell them about my babies, and one night is usually the extent that they stay."

"So you cried because you thought I was going to leave you?"

"Well, we haven't been together for that long, and I figured that you'd bolt when you figured out how attached I was to my babies. I'm still surprised that you stayed at my house the first night."

"I think that you're wonderful, fantastic, awesome, amazing, spectacular, kind, caring, and all the other awesome words in the rainbow to describe just how amazing you are. Thank you for sharing that awesomeness with me." She told him, and sat up slightly to start placing kisses along his scalp. Pushing him onto his back, she continued her flurry of small kisses, and after another 20 or so ended it with a lick on his cheek. In the darkness she could make out the faint smile along his lips.

"Thanks for listening. We should get some sleep."

"Mmhmm." She hummed, sinking into his arms as they reversed cuddle positions. "Night."

"Night."

2.

"You're afraid of ghosts?" Bickslow snickered, and Claire crossed her arms over her chest.

"No."

"Really?" One of his babies, not attached to one of the dolls, asked next to her ear. When she turned and realized no one was there, she jumped back with a scream, and upon hearing his laughter glared at the tall man.

"Not funny." She glanced around into the dark forest, suddenly feeling like eyes were on her. Shadows and darkness filled the forest, and in the distance she could see the lights from the cabins. Part of their job was to make rounds through the campground every two hours, and after 10 PM, every 4 hours.

"You know what ghosts are, right?" He snickered, two of his souls giggling with him.

"Yes."

"Without their vessels, that's basically what my babies are."

"I'm not scared of ghosts."

"You're not?" The invisible voice asked in her ear again, and she barely suppressed a scream, clenching her jaw as she tried not to move. Visibly shaking and terrified, Bickslow continued snickering at her.

"… I'm just scared of invisible things." Her voice went up an octave as she spoke.

She jumped when she heard screams in the distance, and both of them turned towards the source, wondering if it was happy or scared screams.

"Duty calls." Bickslow said, still grinning as he started walking towards the screams. They were only a short distance away, and when they got there, realized it was the girls counselor cabin. He walked up by the door and knocked on it, causing another round of screams. "Camp security. Are you girls alright?"

"There's a peeping tom out there! He's wearing a hockey mask!" One of them yelled, and Claire looked around the cabin, using her flashlight to illuminate the darkness.

"You go inside and make sure they're okay, I'll walk around and see if I can find the creep."

3.

"You seem nervous." Bickslow teased later that night, still grinning at her.

"… you're having way too much fun at my expense." She said with a frown, groaning as he just laughed again. "Ghosts, Jason… and now I'm about to go take a shower. At night. At Camp Crystal Lake home of the notorious serial killer, and with my luck the guy from Psycho will show up and murder me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but you should chill out. I mean, you can turn into fire. You'll be fine."

"It's hard to chill out when my boyfriend is sending ghosts to scare me and laughing at me." She said, pouting. He simply snickered again and stood up, grabbing her waist and pulling her into a kiss. "That's making it worse! The slutty characters always die first!"

"Yep."

She hit his chest and huffed angrily as she walked away, carrying her bag of shower supplies with her, all the while Bickslow howled in laughter in the cabin. "Stupid… boyfriend… ghost whisperer…"

Still grumbling when she reached the showers, she went overboard in checking every nook and cranny for bodies or hiding serial killers. But in the end she felt satisfied that no one was in there, and a little relieved after being so thorough. After all, if a cartoon on her world could be based on reality in another world, there was equal possibility of other media having basis of truth here.

Trying to push out the mental image of dead bodies and serial killers, she got undressed and hopped in the shower. She tried to be as quick as she could, not wanting to be in there any longer than necessary.

Just as she was finishing up, a scream pierced the night air and she nearly jumped out of her skin, almost slipping in the process. Steadying herself on a metal handle, she turned the water off and peered cautiously behind the shower curtain, watching as one of the female counselors ran towards her at full speed and screaming bloody murder.

"Oh thank god, you're the security lady!" She said, latching onto the checker woman with the plastic shower curtain between them, her breathing erratic. "There's-there's-"

"Be quiet for a second." Claire told her, and as the woman hushed for a moment, they heard laughter outside.

"Did you see her face?" They heard a distinctly male voice ask outside, along with the laughter and voices of a few other guys.

"Bobby? I'm going to kill him!" The brunette stated, letting go of Claire and running out of the cabin. After watching the counselor leave and hearing the yells and laughter of the group, she let out a sigh of relief, and then shook her head.

"Stupid kids." She muttered, and closed the curtain to finish her shower, feeling a bit less nervous.

Turning the water back on again, she washed off the last of the suds on her skin and hair, grumbling about how ridiculous she was being. At least with the horror movie references- ghosts were something that she had to deal with. Bickslow wasn't going to stop taunting her with his babies, and she had to figure out a away to not be bothered by them when they weren't in vessels.

She heard someone step into the cabin, and forced herself to not open the curtain and see who it was. It was probably just another person taking a midnight shower.

As the water turned off, she turned, only to scream when the curtain opened abruptly to reveal a guy in a hockey mask. He tried to stab her with the knife in his hand, but she instinctively launched her flames and set him fire, sending him tumbling back.

She quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her, and as she did so the man disappeared into thin air.

4.

"So uh… turns out that guy was one of the counselors trying to pull a prank on his girlfriend."

"By attacking her in the shower with a knife?" She asked disbelievingly, and he nodded.

"I never said he was smart. He found the mask in a shed on the edge of camp, and apparently him and the other idiots have been scaring the girls with it. You scared the holy shit out of him when you caught him on fire, though." He said, grinning. "I also gave him an extra punch in the face for attacking you in the shower. The owner of the camp fired him too, and threatened to do the same to the others if they continued pulling that shit."

He eyed her for a moment, noticing that she still looked freaked out. While he'd gone to investigate and take care of the mishap he'd had two of his babies stay and guard her, and they were still floating near her folded up self. She was hugging her knees with her back against the wall, looking over at him with a blank expression.

"Bet you're glad I'm not as bad as that guy." He said with a grin.

She grunted, hiding most of her face behind her knees.

"Oh come on. He attacked you with a knife! A fake knife, granted, but all I did was have my souls talk to you without their vessels."

"Don't be scared of us."

"We're sorry." The babies echoed as they circled her.

"Ya know, if you're going to be a wizard, you can't let stuff like this drag you down." He commented, and she glared.

"Fine. Do you want top or bottom bunk tonight?" She asked, standing up and taking her sleeping bag out.

"Uh, what?"

"I'll take the top one then."

"Hold on, how am I in the dog house?" He asked, watching as she tossed her sleeping bag and pillow on the top bunk, and then climbed up. "I think you're overreacting."

"Then I'll overreact up here and not bother you. I'll take the 2 AM shift like last night."

"Bickslow is being mean."

"Don't be sad!" His babies cooed to her, hovering in front of her and humming against her cheek.

"How am I mean?" Bickslow asked, frowning. _Maybe they're starting to like her a little too much._

"That parasite may have been eating up my magic, but it's also been with me my entire life. Not to mention it protected and helped me fight when I first came to this world. When it comes down to it I'll fight and if someone comes in here I'll put on a strong front, but I'd hoped that I wouldn't have to with you."

"The parasite helped you fight?" He asked, surprised.

"Yeah. I thought that it was my magic, and so I'd let it have partial control whenever I fought and trained, and even let it have full control when I fought Guildarts."

"… so that's why you've been extra jumpy? Because you lost some of your defensive magic?"

"I guess…" She muttered, stopping unrolling her bag to sit and stare at her hands for a moment. She raised her hand a bit and let it turn into fire, a recent ability she developed over the past day. "I have better control of my magic, but it's kind of a scary feeling. And I've only been on this planet for a couple of months, so yeah, I get scared when I hear estranged voices and people threaten to kill me when I take a shower on a horror movie set." Her voice had started soft, but her gaze turned into a glare as she looked back at the seith mage, who sighed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"I'm sorry for not being more considerate of your feelings, and I keep forgetting that you're from another world…. Now will you please come down? I'm tired from interrogating the entire camp about the shower incident and I would like to get some sleep. It's almost 2 AM." Just as he said it, the timer went off, letting them know it was time for the 2 AM round. He groaned, pulling his hood and visor off to pinch the bridge of his nose. His other hand reached over to turn the timer off. "I'll go."

"No, I will. Crawl into bed and get comfy, when I get back I'll join you." She said, and hopped down from the top bunk, surprised at how little noise she made. Leaning up and giving him a kiss on the cheek, she was surprised when two of his babies flew over to her halfway to the door.

"Take Pappa and Peppe with you."

"Woohoo, Claire time!" They cheered and spun.

"Oi, don't wake up the entire camp and act on your best behavior." 

"Yes, sir!" They said in unison.

5.

Claire woke up to the feeling of something wet on her cheek, and groaned tiredly at the hands that wandered across her torso. He felt warm and she liked the tingling feeling that resulted from his gentle caresses, but she didn't like the feeling of waking up.

She'd had a wonderful dream about eating a mountain of fire, and it was delicious.

"Do you hate me?" Bickslow's voice asked gently in her ear, and she groaned again, not wanting to get up. "Cuz I liiiike you. I like to hoooold you. And give you kiiiiisses." He sang, placing kisses along her exposed neck and face.

"What time is it?"

"Time to get up."

"Nnng…" She groaned yet again, not entirely disliking the attention she was getting. His hands were roaming across every inch of skin he could get to, although never lingering or getting too close to the more erotic areas, given the time and place.

"You're so cute when you wake up in the morning. Your face looks all soft and pretty."

One of her eyes opened, peering over at the blue-haired man. His face was tilted slightly to make him look more innocent, and large green eyes looked up at her like a lost puppy.

"And your eyes are so pretty and sparkly."

"Now I see where your babies get that from." She commented, and he nuzzled her cheek cutely while humming a curious 'hmm?'. "You feel bad for picking on me yesterday, so you shower me in compliments and be extra nice."

"Is that bad?"

"… not really. It's one of the better ways I've woken up in the morning, and I definitely like the compliments."

"And maybe I just feel like being nice to you. Ever think of that?"

"Is that the case?"

"Eh, it's a mix of both." He said with a shrug, and sighed against her as he pulled her closer to him, cuddling into her extra warm body. "We've got another ten minutes until we need to get up and moving."

"How long have you been awake?"

"Since my 6 AM shift. Afterwards I came back and tried to go back to sleep for another hour, but couldn't. Would you find it creepy if I said I watched you sleep?"

"Depends on why you watched me sleep." She spoke, closing her eyes and enjoying their moment together.

"Cuz you're cute. And it gave me time to think about us."

"Any interesting thoughts?" She asked, only partially awake as they conversed.

"Just that we've been moving really fast, and I've been falling for you way too fast."

"Is that a bad thing?"

He smiled, and pressed his lips against the edge of her ear. "I guess I'm just worried that I'm going to scare you off. World traveling, time traveling, messed up families… there's a lot working against us."

"If it makes you feel better, I'm terrified of scaring you off, too."

"Really?"

"You're my best friend in this world. Of course I am."

"What do you mean?"

"The wizards at Fairy Tail have opened up a little to me, but you're the only one that I've actively been hanging out with. Everyone I grew up with is either stranded at some time in this world or dead on my home planet. Getting intimate with you is a huge risk because I have no support system if you break up with me."

"You do have friends at Fairy Tail, ya know. They've been warming up to you… Kind of. Natsu and his group like you."

"Uh-huh."

"Erza likes you."

"She likes everyone. And same with all of Team Natsu."

"I… okay, I actually don't know how people feel about you. Most of them never warmed up to me either, especially after the Battle of Fairy Tail thing, where I kind of threatened to steal Lucy's soul, and beat up Gray… and the event nearly killed the Guild Master, and everyone had to fight each other, and we threatened to kill all the female hostages… which included Lucy and Erza…."

"How about we change topics?"

"You're pretty." He spoke, and went back to giving her kisses.

6.

"… the cook hasn't shown up yet?" Claire asked, feeling oddly reminiscent of the first Friday the 13th movie.

"Yeah, she was supposed to be here yesterday." Mr. Greenely replied. "A few other counselors have suddenly disappeared as well. I'm guessing that the male counselors have started pulling pranks again… or maybe the girls are retaliating…" He said, brushing back his short hair and sighing, sweat soaking his t-shirt. "Whatever the hell is going on, figure it out, and do whatever it takes to get them in line."

"Will do. Who's missing?" Bickslow asked.

"Mindy, Stacey, Bobby, and Clyde. Bobby and Clyde were last seen leaving breakfast, Stacey went missing about the time of the shower prank, and then Mindy… I dunno. She's gone too."

"We'll look into it." The seith mage told him, and then they heard noises coming down the trail. Looking towards the source, they saw a middle aged woman toting along a boy, who looked to be around 8 years old. "Parents aren't supposed to be here for another 4 days, right?"

"Yeah." The owner said, and walked over to the woman. She had long blond hair tied back in a pony tail, and bright red lipstick that was slightly smeared on her face. The boy attached to her hand had dark brown hair that covered his face, and in his free hand was a small action figure that he clutched to his chest. "Can I help you ma'am?"

"Look, I need to drop my kid off early."

"I'm sorry, but camp doesn't start for another 4 days. I can give you a tour of the campground, but-"

"Look, I'm already paying you $400 to watch my kid for a week…" As she argued with the man, she let go of her kid's hand and stepped closer to him, appearing to be trying to bribe him with either money or sex. Or possibly both.

"Poor kid." Claire commented.

Bickslow stared for a moment, unusually quiet, and she looked over at him curiously. "I think that's my sister."

"Seriously?"

"Your sister?" His babies asked in unison, seeming just as surprised as she was.

"Sharon?" Bickslow asked, and the blonde peered at him over the owner's shoulder.

"How the hell do you know my name?"

"… I'm your brother." He replied, walking over to her. Unsure whether to walk with him or not, Claire glanced at his babies, and then shrugged and followed him.

The woman narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, and the camp owner took a step back, seeming to be relieved to have them intervene. "Bickslow? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I work here. I'm doing security."

"Great. Can you watch my kid?" She asked, and pulled the child forward, putting hands on his shoulders and crouching down. "Michael, this is your uncle, Bickslow. He's going to watch you."

"What are you doing, Sharon?" He asked. "I haven't seen you in what… 14 years?"

"I'm going to leave you two to discuss this. If you need me, I'll be doing paperwork inside." Mr. Greenely stated, pointing to a nearby cabin and hastening his exit. He stumbled as he walked away, tripping over the various objects on the lawn he had yet to set up.

"What better opportunity to get reacquainted with your nephew?" She said, batting her eyelashes up at him. Bickslow sighed, looking down at the kid, and then back to his sister.

"Can we talk alone?"

"Fine, but make it quick." Sharon said, rolling her eyes as she stood back up, straightening her pencil skirt and walking with him to a path nearby. As the siblings argued, Claire looked back to the scared boy just a few feet away from her, clutching his action figure and looking at the ground. Bickslow's babies floated around Claire to give the seith mage some privacy.

"That's a cool action figure you got there." The checker woman commented, crouching down to eye level. "What's his name?"

"… Captain Sonic…" He mumbled, twisting his foot in the ground.

"What kind of superpowers does he have?"

"… he can fly…"

"Wow, really? That's pretty cool. What else can he do?"

"… he saves people."

She tried chatting with him while Bickslow and Sharon argued nearby, finding that he was painfully shy. He also had some bruises peeking beneath his t-shirt, which although worried her, she tried to give the mom some reasonable doubt. Bickslow had mentioned that she was in rehab a while back, which wasn't very comforting.

Given how long the siblings were chatting, Claire and Michael took a seat on the grass, avoiding the signs and objects littered on the ground.

"What are those?" He asked, looking up at Bickslow's babies.

"They're like mini superheroes. They can fly like Captain Sonic." She said with a smile, and given how fascinated he was by them, she made a motion with her finger for one of them to get closer. "Can I hold you, Poppo?"

"I'm Peppe, but yes!" It spoke, and although she was annoyed that they had switched vessels on her, decided to bring it up later. Putting her hands on either side of the small totem, and surprised by the small vibrations coming from it, she held the soul between them.

"This is Peppe."

"And he's like a superhero?" The boy asked, looking fascinated at the small totem.

"He fights bad guys with Bickslow. They're… they're his side kicks!" She told him, rather proud for coming up with the comparison on the spot.

"We're adorable." Peppe said, his voice causing stronger vibrations in her hands.

"Does that mean that my uncle is a superhero?" The boy asked, looking up at her with big brown eyes.

"Well, uh, he's a wizard. Sometimes he's like a superhero. I've seen him line up all these guys and stand on them, kind of like a flying skateboard, and fly through the air."

"My uncle can fly?"

"Yeah. A lot of wizards can, actually." She told him, surprised by the small giggle that vibrated through Peppe. "What's so funny?"

"It feels nice to be held." He replied, and suddenly she felt pressure on her head, shoulder, and two knees. "We like being held, too!" The others replied.

"Why are they glowing?" The boy asked, and she looked down at him, trying to ignore the very… odd, sensation of having several souls vibrating against her limbs. She looked down at the souls in her hands and knees, not noticing any glowing coming from them. They glowed at night on command, but they looked like simple wooden totems to her.

"They don't look glowing to me."

"No, they look like you and mommy." He said, his gaze moving to the different souls. Trying to make sense of what he was saying, she didn't hear the footsteps approaching them. Sharon strode right up to Michael, glaring at Claire with such disdain she didn't know how to react to.

"How sick. Come on Michael, we're leaving." She said, grabbing the boy's arm and roughly pulling him to his feet, dragging him along behind her.

"It was nice talking to you, Michael." Claire told him, and didn't miss the small smile she got from him. He argued as he was tugged along, but ultimately the mother's decision was final.

"What are you guys doing to Claire?" Bickslow asked once they were out of earshot.

"She's holding us!" They all said happily, causing her to make a face at the weird sensation. She changed her hands so that her palms were facing up, and the small totem hovered slightly to turn and face her, but still stayed in her hands.

"I'm not sure that word means what you think it means." She told them, not sure how to feel when they all started humming softly. It felt… weird. Kind of nice, but mostly strange. "How'd your talk with your sister go?"

"Apparently I have two nephews and a niece. Sharon has another boy and my sister has the little girl."

"That's cool."

"Sharon is definitely on something, and by the way she was talking, I'm guessing my other sister is, too. Hopefully I can find out more when I meet their kids in a few days…. I barely talked Sharon into taking her kid back until then."

"Are all of them going to be here for the camp?" She asked, looking up at him when he took a few steps forward to be in her line of sight. Since one of the dolls was on her head, she didn't want to move it and have the soul fall.

"Yeah… apparently they're going on vacation while the kids are here, and she was hoping to leave early for it."

"Are you excited to get to know your little nephews and niece?" She asked with a grin, looking up at his awkward expression. He shrugged, looking away. "Do your souls look like they're glowing to you?"

He looked back down at her, surprised by the question. "Yeah, why?"

"Is your soul seeing ability genetic?"

"…yeah?"

"You and Michael have something in common, then. He said your souls were glowing."

"… huh. That explains why his mom was so bitchy towards him." He muttered, looking away again. "Come on, let's go find those missing counselors."

With that, the souls levitated from her and got in formation around Bickslow.

7.

After finding the missing counselors, all of which were in various stages of dress in discrete locations, the pair took a break in their cabin.

"Why do your souls keep laying on me?" Claire asked, confused when she went to lay down and was followed by the pack of souls. One of her hands was beneath her head and body stretched out, relaxed on the thin mat and sleeping bag.

Bickslow looked over at her and chuckled, letting his tongue hang out. "If it bothers you, you can ask them to stop. They do it to me all the time but I enjoy it."

"Is it like their version of hugging?"

"Cuddling might be a better word. Souls like to resonate with other souls, which is why I keep them in groups."

She chuckled, and then closed her eyes, getting used to the soft humming sound they were emitting. Her free hand reached up to one of them on her stomach, 'petting' the wooden totem and causing it to hum slightly louder than the rest.

"If it bothers you, you can tell them to get off. We've only been dating for a week, so there's no pressure to push your boundaries with them."

"Honestly, it reminds me of my brother and I's cats growing up. They loved taking naps on me for some reason." She told him, smiling when a few of them 'meow'ed at her. "If it bothers you, I can tell them to get off. I honestly don't know what proper etiquette with souls are."

"I think it's really cute. I'm glad you guys are getting along." Bickslow said, still looking at her and smiling fondly.

"We're adorable!" The babies spoke.

"You guys really like saying that." Claire commented, keeping her eyes closed as she relaxed.

"Other than me, they've never had anyone give them compliments since their death. I'm not surprised that they're so excited about it." Bickslow said, and finally took a seat on the chair at the desk, raising his feet and resting them on the desk. He leaned back, 'Camp Crystal Lake Secrutiy' badge gleaming on his left breast as his hands clasped behind his head.

She looked over at him, surprised by his comment but also mildly entertained by his posture. "Not even from Fried or Evergreen?"

"How come you're so curious about my babies?"

"Because I can tell that they're important to you. You did say that they're like your family." She told him, and closed her eyes again. "I would like to take a nap though."

"Have sweet, firey dreams." He told her. As he watched his babies and his new girlfriend fall asleep together, he couldn't help but feel anxious at the thought of her leaving. The sight was just too perfect to be real. A mix of pride, happiness, love, and doubt swelled within him, and conflicting emotions troubled him.

After fidgeting for a few minutes, he eventually resigned to walking around the camp again, trying to find something to do.

8.

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"… what if we went naked?"

"Why would that make your argument more convincing?"

"Cause I wanna dooo you. And humpy huuuump you." He sang quietly in her ear, snickering when she playfully hit his shoulder. "It's 2 in the morning, and the camp owner has been so strict with the counselors they wouldn't have the energy to be running around even if they wanted to. They've been working their asses off today."

"No way in hell I'm swimming in that lake, Bixy. Naked or clothed."

"You're no fun." He pouted, shoving his hands in his pockets. "What abooout doing it somewhere else? Or are you scared Jason is going to kill us for having sex?"

"I'm not opposed to doing it somewhere else, but I will be if you keep teasing me about that."

"There's a shed by the lake-"

"A shed?" She asked, making a face.

"Alright, uh… actually, there's an empty cabin not too far from there. We can stop by the security cabin on our way there and grab a blanket. Does that make you happy?"

"Mmhmm~" She hummed with a smile, and reached out to hold his hand.

9.

"Silence charm up, 'be back in 5 minutes' sign is up at the security cabin, we've got the blanket, shades are drawn, and we've got just enough light that we're not completely blind. Am I missing anything?" Bickslow listed off, looking around the dank cabin in case he forgot anything. Unfortunately there weren't any mats stored there, but the blanket would do fine for the short term.

Despite her concern about bugs, snakes, mice, or other animal critters in the cabin, she smiled up at him and tried to push those thoughts away. "I think all of our bases are covered, honey."

The sexy smirk he gave her caused the familiar butterflies to flutter excitedly in her belly, and she was glad that they'd found a place to do this.

When they'd first arrived she had set up the blanket and closed the blinds, while he did the silence charm and checked the cabin for any animals/counselors. Afterwards she sat down on the blanket and waited for him to join her while he mumbled to himself, making sure he wasn't forgetting anything important.

He pulled his shirt off to reveal his usual guards, and she tilted her head inquisitively. "Why'd you wear so much armor here?"

"I like to be prepared. You wouldn't believe how many times these have saved my ass, even on easy missions when we didn't expect to fight." He explained as he removed the garb, trying to flex his muscles as he did so.

"Do most wizards wear guards like that?"

"Most wizards in other guilds do. Not so much Fairy Tail, namely because of their style of fighting…. You're so inquisitive lately, Checkers." He added, and once the last of his guard on his upper torso was removed, he lowered himself down to his knees and placed a kiss on her lips.

10.

It was the night before camp would be officially open, when all the parents would arrive with their kids and utter chaos would ensue.

Claire was reading at the desk, handbook on her lap and her feet resting lazily on the table. She was mostly alone, with only Peppe and Poppo resting happily on her head and shoulder. The seith mage was taking a shower, so for the moment, it was extremely quiet in the camp.

Crickets sang, cool night air drifted in and out of the mostly empty cabins. The door to the security cabin was open, allowing anyone inside to see the occasional night walker on the path and vice versa. Since it was next to the mess hall the security cabin was pretty popular, and throughout the day counselors and the camp owner had stopped in frequently to ask questions or change schedules.

"Do you love daddy Bixy?" Poppo suddenly asked on her shoulder, bringing her out of her contemplative state. She'd just been reading camp procedures, which although they'd been explained by Bickslow and Mr. Greenely and she didn't need to read the book, she'd taken the time to skim through it anyway.

"I care about him a lot, and I really like him." She told the totem, still looking down at her book.

"So you don't _love_ him?" Peppe asked.

"He and I haven't been dating for very long. I'm a firm believer that true love can't be confirmed until you've been with a person for a long time."

"You don't believe in love at first sight?"

"I think it's rare."

"Why don't you love daddy?" Peppe asked.

"He loves you." Poppo said, and Claire chuckled.

"I think there's many types of love. And-"

"But daddy is _in_ love with you." Peppe interrupted.

 _In lust, maybe…_ She thought to herself, unsure how to go about correcting them or remedy the situation. They really were like children, with black and white ideas on how the world worked, and very innocent perception of complicated issues.

"Why don't you two get married?"

"I think you guys are getting way ahead of yourselves." She said with a laugh, wondering if they acted this way around Bickslow. An explosion in the distance caught her attention, and she turned to look outside, watching as a screaming man ran down the path on fire. "The hell?" She muttered, swinging her legs over and jumping to her feet, quickly running after the burning man with Poppo and Peppe close behind.

The man tripped over something, making it easier for her to catch up with him. She sucked up the flames as fast as she could and tried to calm him down, but he was absolutely terrified and frantic, pushing her away and trying to run again.

"I'm campus security! Just calm down and tell me what happened!" She told him, but then he managed to slip from her grasp and try to bolt again. As she went after him, Peppe and Poppo ready to tackle him, the trio froze. A beast appeared on the path ahead of them, blocking the charred man's escape. It grabbed the man by the throat and broke his neck so quickly they didn't even realize what had happened until the body slumped to the ground.

"Don't worry, deary. It's the counselors we want to kill, not you." The oddly sweet voice sent chills down Claire's spine, and she looked behind the 8 foot creature to see an elderly woman, looking to be in her late 60s. The creature was mostly black, and on the shrouded form was only blood and a hockey mask on his 'face'.

"… your name's not Jason, by chance?"

"How did you know that?" The woman asked, smiling at her.

The checker woman turned her hands to fire and let the flames dance along her skin. "Just a guess. How many of the counselors have you killed?"

"About half of them. If you let us pass, we'll let you live."

"Sorry, but I couldn't call myself a wizard of Fairy Tail if I did that." Claire told her, eyeing the creature carefully and trying to recall any useful information from the movies. All that came to mind was that he was immortal, and the mom… actually, she died in the first movie, and Jason didn't start killing until the second movie, if she recalled correctly. The fact that they were teaming up meant this was different from the movies., which made them wildcards.

"Bixy is coming this way. He's mad." Peppe told her her.

"Both of you stand down, or I'll have to hurt you." Claire informed them, not surprised when they made no movement to surrender.

"Oh, deary, you have no idea who you're dealing with. Get her, Jason."

"Unfortunately I've got a pretty good idea." Claire muttered, watching the machete wielding giant stampede towards her. "Dragon roar," She spoke, but her eyes widened when nothing happened. Not having time to dwell on it she dodged the swing of his arm and simply shot flames at him from her mouth, not using a spell for it. She purposely made the flames as hot as she could get them, smirking when the man cried out in pain.

Jumping back and getting out of his reach, he saw the creature scream and try to pat out the flames. As he did so, Peppe and Poppo started shooting bursts of energy at him, causing him to fall back and a cloud of dirt and debris to fill the air.

"Claire! Are you okay!?" Bickslow asked as he ran towards the commotion, at first unable to see anything. As the dirt cleared he could make out her fiery form, and had his two other totems join the others.

"Yeah, are you?" She asked over the commotion, looking over to where the souls went. As the dust cleared she could see that the seith mage was shirtless and dripping wet, wearing only a pair of tattered pants. "Why aren't you wearing your armor?"

"He attacked me when I was in the shower, blowing up the building along with my guards." He explained as he approached her, watching the screaming creature in the corner of his eye.

"Jason! Nooo!" The older woman screamed, running to try and aid her son.

"Did she say Jason?" Bickslow asked, and Claire couldn't help but grin.

"Fucking CALLED IT." She said triumphantly, ridiculously happy that all her paranoia and jumpiness hadn't been for naught.

"… good job?" He said awkwardly, looking back to the burning creature, who appeared to be unmoving. "It looks like you took care of him. Was anyone hurt?"

"They said they killed half of the counselors already." She explained, powering down her flames and watching the crying psychopath burn herself on the pile of 'flesh'.


	7. Chapter 7

**Walking Cliché 7**

 _You Don't Choose Your Family… Unfortunately_

"Why are you back so soon? Did the mission go okay?" Mirajane asked him, watching the scowl on his face deepen.

"Turns out there was a poltergeist… demon… monster… hybrid, thing, hiding out there. It slaughtered a bunch of the counselors so they canceled the camp."

"Oh my, I would have thought it would be an easy job. Is Claire alright?" She asked, noticing that the woman was absent from his side.

"Yeah, she just stopped by her place to shower and stuff. She'll be here in an hour or so."

"So how'd it go with you two? Did you ask her out?" The white-haired mage asked with a grin, leaning in closer and lowering her voice slightly.

"Uh…" Bickslow suddenly found himself conflicted, not sure what to tell her. Originally he had been content giving her vague information about their relationship to get the job, because he had worked it out in his head so that it was being mostly truthful; but when he'd talked to Claire about it, he suddenly felt guilty about lying to the sweet mage. While Bickslow didn't want to lie to the shapeshifter, he also didn't want to tell her the truth, because telling her was the equivalent of shouting it to the entire guild. "I think she's warming up to me. She's the first person to actually like hanging out with my babies."

"She thinks we're adorable!" They said in unison behind him.

Mirajane giggled. "That's great. But did you actually ask her out?"

"Well, we don't have solid plans, per say. Crazy murdering whatever made it difficult to get a solid conversation in."

"So you haven't asked her out?"

"I'm working on it." He said defensively. "Thank you again for getting us the job, by the way."

"Did you guys end up getting paid for it?" She asked, and he faltered for a moment.

"… shit." He muttered, and looked at his babies. "The camp owner was one of the people killed… and he was paying us…"

"Claire won't get rent money?" His babies asked.

"Guess not. She's not going to be too happy about that."

"Sorry Bickslow. Similar stories have been happening since we got back from Tenrou Island. Our new clients aren't very reliable, and the paying system has changed so that it's easier for clients to skip out on paying. We're in the process of changing it to be more efficient, but it's going to take a while." Mirajane told him.

 _Karma biting me in the ass… Lie to get the job, don't get paid to do the job…._ He thought miserably.

Bickslow shrugged it off. "Could have been worse. Can I get a beer, Mira?" He asked with his typical grin.

"Sure, this one will be on the house."

"You're the greatest, Mira. Is that a new dress?"

"Yeah, I went shopping with Lisanna the other day."

"It looks awesome on you. Really brings out your eyes."

1.

Claire had changed into the pair of black pants and t-shirt, along with the white vest. To her dismay she'd already burned the green shirt Natsu had lent her, and although it wasn't too bad, it did singe the hem of it considerably. Natsu had insisted that he'd never been able to burn his clothes, only damage them from tearing or scraping them while fighting, so she was left to believe he was either exaggerating or her flames were hotter than his.

In either case, she'd have to go easier with her fire magic. She didn't even go all out with Jason ( _thank god_ , she always thought when she recalled the event) and she'd damaged the fabric. She figured that she'd be able to get better jobs after the Grand Magic Games, so she would just need to hold out until then.

As she walked back to the guild hall, the realization that they wouldn't get paid for their camp job made her heart sink. _At least we had free food and board when we were there… Not that that helps with the massive debt, dwindling funds, and the time lost that I could have spent working or training…._

She sighed as she entered the guild hall, fire magic book and notebook in her backpack. The Guild Hall was quiet for the most part, since Team Natsu wasn't there, but there was still a good crowd present. Close to 40 wizards were sitting at various tables around the room.

Claire approached the white-haired mage, not missing the extra happy smile on her face. "Hey Mira, could I get a beer?"

"Sure thing." She replied, pulling out a mug and going for the tap. Claire took a seat at the bar, pulling out her book and notebook. "So how'd your mission with Bickslow go?" She asked, still smiling and setting the beer down in front of her.

"Did he tell you what happened?"

"Yeah, that it didn't go according to plan. It must have been pretty scary."

"It was, but I'm just glad the psycho was easy to take down. Sucks that so many people died, but it could have been worse." She said with an awkward half smile.

"Bickslow said the same thing." She told her, still sporting that curious smile of hers. "So what do you think about him?"

"About Bickslow?" She asked, and the woman nodded.

"He's a good guy."

"Lisanna said you two are 'best friends'?" Mira asked, and Claire paused for a moment, trying to remember if she'd had a conversation with the younger Strauss sister before.

"Back on the island?" Mira nodded. "I forgot I told her that… I was pretty injured when she was talking to me."

"So you two aren't good friends?"

"We're great friends. Like I said, he's a good guy." She said, trying to be careful about what she told her. Bickslow had mentioned that she was a huge gossip, despite her good intentions.

"I'm glad that he's made friends with someone outside of the Thunder Legion. Considering his magic, he's probably the most closed off of the group." She told her, looking over at the seith mage joking and chatting with Fried and Evergreen. "When he first came to Fairy Tail he was painfully shy, and the only people he'd talk to were his souls. He would do solo missions and sit in the corner of the Guild Hall, not talking to anyone. When word spread about his magic, no one really tried talking to him, and even avoided or picked on him. Laxus was the first person to really reach out to him."

"The lightning guy?" She asked, and Mira nodded. Claire was surprised that she was telling her so much, but nonetheless listened intently, delighted by the extra info on the seith mage.

"Most people in the guild avoided Bickslow for his magic, and to be honest I did, too. Since Fantasia he's been reaching out more, but people are still pretty scared by him. I don't know how close you two are since I haven't seen you guys interact much in the Guild Hall, but I'm guessing that your friendship means a lot to him. If you do end up turning him down, please be easy on him. I don't want to see him close himself off again."

Claire looked back at the white-haired mage, not expecting the last part. "I didn't realize he was such a loner. He's always so outgoing and happy when I see him."

"Mira, can I get a drink?" Someone else asked, interrupting their conversation.

"Just think about what I said." Mira said with a wink, and turned her attention to Macao, who was holding out an empty mug to her. "You might want to slow down, Macao. That's your 7th one…."

Claire tuned them out as she glanced back at Bickslow's table, and then went back to her original task. A few minutes later a familiar humming followed by a small amount of pressure on her head appeared, causing her to briefly stop what she was doing. She set down her pen and reached up to hold the small totem in front of her, looking at the small guy.

She glanced over to Bickslow, who seemed utterly fascinated by whatever Fried was telling him, and some of his babies were glancing in her direction.

"Does Bixy know you're over here?" She asked him, and felt the soul snicker hands.

"Yes." He replied, and she gave him a look.

"Which soul are you?"

"Peppe! I'm adorable." He said, and then flew over to nuzzle her cheek while humming softly.

"Adorably distracting." She told him, feeling him snicker yet again against her skin.

"Claire?" A small voice spoke, accompanied by a tug on the bottom of her shirt. She turned towards the source, looking down to see none other than Bickslow's nephew. He was still holding the small action figure to his chest, and appeared to be wearing the same clothes as last time she saw him.

"Michael? What are you doing here? Where's your mom?" She asked, and looked around for the blonde woman. Her eyes locked with the scantily clad female, who sauntered towards her with three other people with her. A brunette holding a small girl in her arms and a boy looking close to Michael's age were close behind, and all of them were headed to Claire.

"Where's my brother?" Michael's mom asked, not bothering to hide her dislike for the fire woman. Claire pointed to Bickslow's table, and the trio made their way towards them. The small boy stayed next to Claire, who stared up at her with his adorable brown eyes and still holding the bottom of her shirt.

"It's good to see you again. How are you?" She asked the small boy, but he simply looked down at his feet and twisted his toe into the wooden floor, not answering her. Feeling Peppe leave her, she looked up to see him flying back to Bickslow, who was now talking to his sisters about something. As her boyfriend stood, the brunette handed the little girl to him, to which he very awkwardly tried to refuse, but then grabbed her when the mom almost dropped her.

Looking closer at the sisters, they appeared to be swaying slightly, and their voices were pretty loud. As their voices raised Michael wrapped his arms around Claire's waist and buried his face into her side, probably trying to block out the sound.

"You can't just show up at my work like this." Bickslow told them.

"You said you wanted to babysit, now's your chance. What kind of uncle doesn't want to spend time with his nephews and niece?"

"What's the matter with you?" The brunette added.

"When I said that I hoped that you would give me some notice. I don't even have a place to live right now. Can't they stay at our parents place?" Bickslow told her.

"Right, I forgot you like to play with dead people." The brunette scoffed.

"… they're dead?" He asked, causing an awkward silence to follow.

"Two years ago. What, have you been hiding under a rock? Didn't their _spirits_ tell you?" The blonde scoffed, unfazed by the surprised look on her brother's face. "We're going to be out of town for the next two weeks. Keep your dead people away from them while we're gone."

"I, wait, can we talk about this outside? I see you guys for the first time in 7 years, and you just leave your kids with me and run off?" He asked, but the two women were already leaving, laughing loudly and joking as they left the Guild Hall together.

"I'm sorry about your parents, Bickslow." Fried spoke, bringing the seith mage out of his thoughts. There were a few others in the area that said the same, as most of the guild had overheard the conversation.

"Are you a knight?" The little girl asked, looking up and grabbing the man's visor.

"Uh… no I'm a wizard." He replied awkwardly, holding her the same way he'd seen his sister do, which felt extremely unnatural to him.

Claire stood up, patting the little boy's head.

"Come on, let's go say 'hi' to your uncle." She told him, trying to move so that she didn't accidentally knock him over in the process. His arms stayed clinging to her as if for dear life, even as she made her way over to the utterly confused seith mage.

"My Mom said you talk to dead people." A little boy standing in front of Bickslow said, crossed arms over his chest and glaring up at him. Unlike his brother, he had very short almost buzz cut hair, along with bruises and cuts along his visible skin. He had a small scar on his eyebrow and dark green eyes, just like his uncle.

"Did she mention how much of a bad ass he is, too?" Claire asked, walking up from behind him. "What's your name?"

"Nathan. Who the hell are you?" He asked, narrowing his eyes when he noticed his little brother clinging to her.

"Claire. I'm a friend of Bickslow's."

"Who?"

"You're uncle." She said, nodding her head towards the taller man, who seemed to be temporarily stunned into silence. "So Bickslow, are you going to watch these guys or chase down your sisters?"

Bickslow tore his eyes from the little girl and looked at her, unable to form a response.

"You guys can stay at my place for the next two weeks." Fried spoke up, getting their attention. "I'm sure we're going to have a great time." He tried to look as friendly as possible, adding a smile.

"Auntie Evergreen is going to make sure of that!" She said excitedly, standing up from her seat.

"Tch, are you my uncle's girlfriend or something?" The nine year old asked with a snarl.

"No, I'm just a friend. I've been on Bickslow's team for 5 years now."

"Can you hold… her, while I case after my sisters?" Bickslow asked Claire, finally snapping back to reality.

"Of course." She said, reaching out the 4 year old. He seemed relieved to finally be free of her, and after ordering his babies to stay behind, ran out the Guild Hall. "What's your name?" Claire asked, looking down at the little brunette, her brown eyes looking up at her in delight.

"Sam!" She said, and was instantly distracted by Claire's hair, reaching up and petting it. The fire woman shifted the girl in her arms and put her on her shoulders, earning a happy giggle from the girl at the better access to her hair.

"So are either of you good with kids?" Claire asked, looking to Fried and Evergreen.

"I have a niece." Fried said.

"I… don't." Evergreen said awkwardly, and walked over Nathan, a smile on her face as she crouched down to eye level. "You're Nathan, right? I'm- OW!" She yelled, jumping up and holding her leg in pain.

"Hey Nathan, do you like fire?" The checker woman asked, getting the boy's attention as Fried attempted to hold Evergreen back from killing him.

"Duh." He said with a roll of his eyes, and pointed at his pants, which were covered in drawings of fire. His eyes widened when she held up her hand and caught it on fire, at which the boy yelled "Cool!", but then immediately turned back to his indifferent attitude, crossing his arms. "I mean, uh, whatever."

"Well, if you play nice and not hurt anyone, you and I can set things on fire later."

The boy contemplated her offer for a moment.

"… Deal."

"You little- I'm gonna-!" Evergreen yelled as she struggled against Fried, and finally settled down, straightening out her dress with her hands.

"Part of playing nice is apologizing to Evergreen." Claire told him, and he scoffed.

"Sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Claire asked him, causing another roll of his eyes.

"I'm sorry for kicking you." He said, not looking at the brunette who seemed to calm considerably.

"Apology accepted." Evergreen said triumphantly.

"I take it you've dealt with kids in the past?" Fried asked the woman, noticing that she seemed oddly comfortable with the three children. Two of them were clinging to her, and she'd managed to 'tame' the third one relatively quickly.

"I'm not a kid." Nathan stated indignantly.

"I have three brothers and two sisters." She told him, ignoring the boy. "So you're really willing to take these guys in while they're here?"

"Of course. Bickslow is a dear friend of mine." The green-haired mage spoke. "It may be a bit crowded at my apartment, but considering his living situation, there's not really any other option."

"And I'll help too." Evergreen said, taking a seat on the table. "They can't stay at my place, but I'll help out any way I can. Thunder Legion is a team, and we stick together."

"We'll help, too!" Bickslow's babies said, speaking for the first time.

"What the hell are those things?!" Nathan yelled, now noticing them.

1.

Fried's apartment was just as she had imagined it.

Leather chairs, book shelves lining the walls, everything exceptionally clean and orderly. Not a speck of dust could be seen.

Evergreen and Fried volunteered to make dinner, and they insisted that everyone else make themselves comfortable in the living room: namely so that Bickslow could spend time with his newly acquired relatives.

Nathan, not surprisingly, sat by the window and stared off into the distance, not really socializing. Under promise of setting things on fire, he figured that he'd stay 'good' by not doing anything.

"So, uh, what do you guys like to do?" Bickslow asked the two kids. Michael was sitting next to him on the couch, while Sam was still sitting on Claire's shoulders. Whenever they tried to move her she'd burst into tears, and the little girl seemed intent on simply staring and petting the woman's checkered head, sometimes rubbing her face against it.

Michael looked down at his lap, hands fidgeting with the action figure in his hands.

"Michael likes superheroes, right?" Claire asked after a long silence, neither of the kids very forthcoming.

"Oh really? What superheroes do you like?" Bickslow asked him, trying to sound chipper and energetic. He wished that he could let his souls hang out as well, since they absolutely loved kids, but upon the utter tantrum Nathan threw he had to keep them hidden.

"… Captain Sonic…." Michael muttered quietly, almost too quiet for the seith mage to catch.

Conversation was painfully long and awkward, none of the kids forthcoming in talking about anything. When they had a surprise guest some twenty minutes later, Bickslow cheered up considerably.

"Laxus, what are you doing here?" He asked with a grin, looking up at the lightning mage that entered the room.

He shrugged, looking around at the kids. "I was in the neighborhood. Thought I'd come over and see if Fried wanted to hang out. No one answered when I knocked on the door, so I just came in."

"Fried and Ever are in the kitchen. Are you going to stay for dinner?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. What's with the kids?"

"Oh, uh, Laxus, meet Michael, Sam, and Nathan. Guys, meet Laxus." Bickslow said awkwardly, but the only one that made any gesture to acknowledge him was Michael, who looked up at him briefly but then looked back down again. "They're my sister's kids. I'm watching them for two weeks."

"I didn't know they had children."

"Neither did I until a few days ago." Bickslow replied, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Huh. I'm going to see if Ever and Fried need help." The blonde said, and then walked away. A few seconds later an excited scream erupted from the kitchen, along with the clatter of something dropping on the floor.

Dinner was a mix of awkward silence and overly loud voices talking over each other. The group seemed to erupt into loud conversation every once in a while, die down to silence, and then erupt again into chaos.

Claire ended up sitting between Laxus and Michael, trying to get conversation going between Bickslow and the kids. The man would randomly get really quiet and spacey throughout the meal, so the others tried to keep him invested in conversation. Given the recent news about his parents, they couldn't really blame him.

"So what have you been up to since Tenrou Island, Laxus?" Claire asked, talking to the man next to her for the first time that meal. Not surprisingly he also stayed pretty quiet, keeping most of his conversations limited to short sentences or stares that spoke for him. She was actually quite impressed for how expressive his blue eyes were.

He shrugged. "Not much. Taking occasional jobs. Hanging out in the forest nearby. This and that."

"Are you thinking of joining another guild?"

"Laxus could never join another guild! His heart is with Fairy Tail!" Fried exclaimed crying, starting another round of yelling over each other.

Claire took a deep breath, trying to focus on eating her food. She'd done a good job in pushing back the nostalgia and frequent reminders of her own family, ignoring the memories that threatened to surface by focusing on Bickslow and being there for him. They were dating after all, and he needed all the help he could get, especially after finding out that his parents had died. But after seeing Laxus give a look that reminded her so much of someone, she knew that it was just a matter of time.

"I'm sorry, I think I should head out. I'm not feeling too well." Claire announced once it had quieted, and they all looked at her in surprise as she stood up, grabbing her plate. "Thank you guys for the meal."

"Are you okay?" Bickslow asked.

"I think those tacos from earlier today aren't settling right. I'll be fine, but I think I'll head home. It was nice seeing you guys."

"Hey, what about the fire thing?" Nathan asked with a frown.

"How about we do that in two days? If I hear you've been good, we'll make it a bonfire." She said, and the boy smiled, likely imagining things to set on fire.

"I hope you feel better." Fried offered, and she thanked him before walking away.

"Oh, Checkers," Bickslow spoke, causing her to pause and turn in the kitchen doorway. "Peppe really wants to walk you home. Can he hang out with you for the night?"

"Sure. I'll bring him back tomorrow and check up on you guys." She said, and continued in the kitchen, the soul appearing and following close behind. She scraped off the remaining food on her plate in the trashcan and rinsed off the plate in the sink, placing it next to the other dirty dishes.

Conversation worked much the same after she left, and she was glad that they hadn't tried to talk her into staying.

Slipping out the front door with Peppe in tow, she wasn't surprised when the soul landed on her shoulder in the hallway. She let out a sigh of relief, letting the silent tears fall from her eyes.

The night air felt nice on her cool skin, and her favorite stars were visible in the night sky. She made her way down the mostly empty street, passing by the occasional person rushing to their home.

"Why did you leave?" Peppe asked her after a while. Claire was surprised that the soul had been quiet for that long, and was so lost in her own thoughts she even forgot he was there.

"It reminded me of my family." She said simply. Usually the souls sounded happy or cheerful, but something in the soul's voice sounded sad.

"Why did you leave?" He repeated.

"When I came to this world, my family came with me, but they were scattered. Erza told me that she located my dad, but he died about 23 years ago. My mother died as well, while two of my siblings turned into assassins. I still have two brothers that are missing."

"… You left because you were sad?" Peppe asked, and Claire sighed, having forgotten how childlike Bickslow's souls were. "You miss your family?"

"Yes."

A long silence followed as Claire walked home, eyes on the stars as tears continued falling. It wasn't until they were close to Fairy Hills that she spoke again. "Do you mind if we hang out outside for a while?"

"We can do whatever you want~" The soul said happily, causing the woman to chuckle as she turned down the path, winding through a patch of trees. Once she reached her favorite star gazing spot she lay down on the damp grass, hands comfortably behind her head.

Peppe made himself comfortable on her stomach, which rose and fell with each breath. It was silent between them for a long time, maybe a half hour, before Peppe spoke.

"I miss my family, too."

Claire furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, having never heard any of the souls refer to their past lives.

"I was married for 10 years, with three beautiful children. They were murdered by Zeref enthusiasts." Peppe spoke, the vibrations in his voice sending waves through her. "My entire life was gone. Just like that."

"I'm sorry, Peppe." Claire said softly, her heart breaking at the small soul's words. She reached over and placed a hand on the totem, stroking the smooth wood and feeling him hum against her. The humming sounded oddly like purring.

"I never got justice. They were never caught. They got away with killing me and my family."

"Do you know the concept of karma?" Claire asked calmly, sensing the anger in the small soul's voice. "I like to think that it exists. It means that when people do bad things to others, bad things happen to them."

"But I never got justice."

"And that's terrible." She spoke, continuing to pet him softly. "What were your kids like?"

"They were angels."

"What were they _really_ like?" She asked, and the soul paused.

"… little hellions." Peppe finally replied, and Claire chuckled. The strangeness of the conversation had gone quickly, and Claire found herself connecting to the sad soul. "When their dad left to fight and defend our town, they would be the worst children ever. Throw tantrums, waste food, poop in the sink. Absolutely awful."

"It's weird how no matter how annoying family is, you can't help but love them."

"Yes." Peppe agreed. "But the people that killed them will never be brought to justice."

"So why are you punishing yourself?"

"… huh?"

"Bickslow mentioned that you guys are wandering souls, which means that something is keeping you here. I could be completely wrong and you're welcome to correct me, but I'm guessing that you haven't moved on because you can't get passed your death."

Peppe was silent, listening to her quietly.

"Your soul is trapped here because you want justice, but all you're doing is punishing yourself by staying." She spoke when the soul didn't say anything, and desperately hoped that she wasn't out of line. The souls hadn't shown any intelligence above a toddler before now, so she was venturing into unknown territory, and had no idea how Peppe would react. Right or wrong in her observations, there was no telling how the soul would take the information.

They were silent for some five minutes before Peppe said something.

"… I miss my family, too. I want to see them again." He, or She, spoke softly.

Claire watched with wide eyes as the ghost of a figure appeared above her at the same time the humming stopped. A beautiful woman dressed in white looked down at her, levitating away from her. Her long blonde hair levitated around her heart-shaped face, which smiled down at her kindly.

"Thank you, Claire." She spoke, and as tears fell from her, her body turned into mist and disappeared into the sky.

Claire blinked, her eyes wide and completely baffled by the turn in events.

"… Peppe?" She asked, suddenly panicked. Abruptly sitting up, the totem falling limp on her lap, she quickly picked up the small object. There was no humming, no sound, and it felt rather… empty. "Peppe?"

No answer.

"Was that you I saw? Or did I break you? Crap." She frantically looked around her, looking up at the sky for the woman, and then back down at the silent totem in her hand that smiled back at her.

2.

"Sorry to hear about your parents, man. That's rough." Laxus told Bickslow that evening, looking at the man sympathetically. The kids had just been put to bed, sleeping in Fried's spare bedroom, and had fallen asleep some time ago.

The adults had gathered in the living room with glasses of wine, conversing about the earlier events and catching up.

"Thanks."

"How are you holding up?" Evergreen asked, wishing she could see the man's eyes. He still wore his visor and hood, limiting what they knew of his emotions considerably, and even though they couldn't see his expressions they all noticed he was spacier than usual.

"Honestly, it hasn't really sunk in yet. I was never that close to them, so I'm not really sure how to take it." He replied, and took another sip of his wine.

A knocking sound caught their attention, interrupting their train of thought. It was only 10 PM, but they hadn't planned on any other visitors. "I wonder who that could be?" Fried asked, setting his wine down and walking to the door.

When he opened the door, he was surprised to see the woman standing there, holding one of Bickslow's totems in her hands. "Did I wake you?" She asked awkwardly.

"No, we were just talking in the living room. Are you feeling better?"

"… I think I broke Peppe." She said awkwardly, holding up the small, unmoving totem in her hands. "Can I talk to Bickslow for a minute?"

"… I didn't think it was possible to 'break' one of his souls. Come in." He said kindly, moving to the side so that she could enter.

"Thanks." She said, and walked down the hallway to the living room, finding all the adults from earlier sitting with glasses in their hands. "Sorry to interrupt. Peppe, uh… stopped moving, and I got worried."

Bickslow set down his glass and walked over to her, surprised by the information. He took the totem from her hands, finding that Peppe's soul was no longer attached to it, and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Looking at the empty vessel from all angles, he couldn't see any scratches or marks that weren't there before.

"She started talking about her family and stuff, and then this figure appeared above me and disappeared… and Peppe stopped talking…" She explained, her cheeks red at the inquisitive eyes on her, and even redder when Bickslow looked back up at her through his visor.

"What did you say to her? How did you know that she was a she?"

"She mentioned having a husband for 10 years… I mentioned something about karma, and how she shouldn't blame herself, and then the figure appeared and thanked me, and then disappeared."

Bickslow suddenly smiled. "Congrats. You helped someone move on."

She blinked at him, confused.

"'Move on'?" Fried asked nearby.

"All of my souls move on at some point. I'm surprised that Peppe did so soon, but apparently Checkers helped her work through her issues." He said, looking over to his friend.

"So… it's a good thing?" Claire clarified.

"Well, I'm going to be short a soul for a while, but yeah it's good. Sorry if she scared you." He said, and then tossed the vessel in the air and made it disappear.

"Since you're here, you should stay and talk to us. Since you're dating Bickslow, the Thunder Legion needs to get acquainted with you." Fried spoke, causing both of them to blush and look at him.

"You guys are out, huh?" Laxus asked.

"We're trying to keep it low key." Bickslow said awkwardly. "How did you know?"

"It was obvious back on the island." He said with a shrug.

"You should stay and hang out with us." Evergreen spoke from her spot, looking at the woman curiously. "I'll even pour a glass for you, so it would be rude for you to leave."

"… I guess I have to stay, then." Claire said with a polite smile, watching the woman hurry around the living room that connected to the kitchen. As she did that, Bickslow reached for her hand and guided her to the couch, where they sat next to each other with their hands locked. She really hadn't planned to stay and talk to them, just drop off Peppe and leave, but judging by the looks on their faces they would probably hold her down if she tried to escape.

"How long have you been in Fairy Tail?" Fried asked.

"Not counting the Tenrou Island time jump… a little over two months." She replied, and thanked Evergreen when she handed her the glass. She took a sip of it, not surprised when it tasted entirely different from the wine on her world.

"Where are you from?" Evergreen asked, returning to her original seat.

"North." She said vaguely.

"That's specific."

"They're good at keeping secrets. You can tell them where you're really from, and they won't judge you." Bickslow told her, watching her tense slightly by his statement.

She paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "I've lost a lot of family recently, so I'd prefer to not talk about my past."

"That's no fun." Evergreen commented, getting a glare from Fried.

"I'm sorry to hear that. You mentioned having a large family earlier, so I'm sure that must be difficult, and we'll respect your privacy." Fried spoke, glad when the brunette seemed to accept it.

"Thanks." Claire said, beginning to like him best out of the group.

"So what kind of literature do you read? I've seen you in the library countless times, but never looked at what you were reading." Fried asked, effectively changing the conversation. She was grateful that he avoided mentioning that she had been living there at the time, since he was the one that told Bickslow back then.

"History, geography, and fire magic mostly. Without the parasite eating and manipulating my magic, I'm able to study and learn spells I wasn't able to before."

"She can turn into fire now." Bickslow added, causing Claire to grin.

"How so?" Evergreen asked curiously, watching as the woman held out the hand not holding her glass and turn it to fire for a moment. "Huh. Cool trick."

"Have you figured out what you're going to do with your nephews and niece?" Claire asked, turning back to the man beside her. He groaned, and then took another drink from his glass.

"Why'd you offer to babysit when you don't have a house?" Laxus asked the man.

"Because my sisters are hopped up on drugs, and if I didn't take them, god knows who they would have shoved them off to. Considering how they feel about me and my babies, I still can't believe they asked me to watch them. I don't know the first thing about kids."

"Your babies are practically children." Claire reminded him.

"But that's different. If I mess up with them, the worst that happens is they get pissy and break something. If I mess up with actual kids, they could, you know, die."

"The only one you'll have to worry about getting into trouble is Nathan. The other two are pretty tame."

"That kid seemed pretty quiet to me." Laxus commented.

"That little twerp kicked me when I tried to introduce myself." Evergreen said with a huff. "And do you really think promising him bonfires is really the best way to manage him?" She asked, turning back to Claire.

"I dunno. At the time I didn't actually know if we'd be taking care of him, so I tried to bribe him with something most little boys liked. I'm surprised it worked, actually."

"What if we all went to the beach?" Evergreen suggested. "We can have a bonfire there, and you can set things on fire with him without damaging too many things. Not to mention it'll be fun for the rest of us. Sandcastles, plenty of space for them to run around… _s'mores_." The last word caused Bickslow to grin.

3.

Bickslow lightened up considerably when they got to the beach, and got along much better with the kids. For the time being he kept his babies hidden from them, which Claire was a little disappointed by, but understood. At the moment he was building sandcastles with Sam and Michael, while Nathan would stand around and criticize it.

Evergreen was enjoying lounging around in the sand, soaking up rays nearby with the fire woman next to her. Laxus and Fried sat nearby with drinks in their hands, chatting and watching their friend play with the kids.

"Oi, instead of criticizing, why don't you help?" Bickslow asked him, finally showing his annoyance for the young boy.

"Why the hell would I do that? Sandcastles are stupid." He said, keeping his arms crossed.

"Hey, do you guys want to go play in the water?" Bickslow asked the other two. Sam cheered happily while Michael shyly nodded. "Let's go!"

"Ah! Let me go!" Nathan screamed over the sound of Bickslow's loud laughter, trying to wriggle himself free from the seith mage after being flung over his shoulder.

"Bickslow seems to have lightened up." Fried commented with a smile, and Laxus nodded. At the sound of all the commotion, Claire sat up to see what was going on, smiling when she confirmed that they were all right. Her chest tightened painfully at the sight, feeling nostalgic over the last time she went to the beach with her own family. 

"I'm thinking about going for a jog. Will you guys be alright here?" She asked, looking over at the two men. She would have asked Evergreen, but she was pretty sure the fairy woman was asleep.

"Mind if I join you?" Laxus asked.

"Uh, sure. I should warn you that I'm pretty slow, though." She said, and he shrugged, moving to stand up. Chuckling at the typical Laxus response, she pushed herself to her feet, picking up a piece of drift wood nearby. Setting it on fire, she quickly consumed the flames and turned it to charcoal within seconds.

"You eat fire like Natsu?" Laxus asked, watching her toss the crumbling black object to the side.

"Yeah. I found out recently that eating it before exercising reduces my breathing problems." She told him, smiling as she felt the magic boost course through her. "You ready?" She asked, and he nodded simply.

"Have fun. We'll keep an eye on everything here." Fried told them.

With that, Claire started jogging down the beach, the S-Class wizard at her side.

It was a perfect day for their beach trip. The sun was shining, the wind was the perfect amount to not blow everything away but serve as a nice breeze to cool people down, the water was warm, and the beach was relatively sparse, since it was still early in the season and not summer yet.

She tried to not feel self-conscious with the man jogging next to her. He was clad in just swim trunks, much like the other guys, which allowed his bulging muscles to be extremely obvious. His lightning occasionally danced along his skin, likely without him realizing it, which always reminded the people around him of his power if they'd forgotten about the crazy amount of magic he was giving off.

Ever since the parasite had been taken out of her, she felt considerably lighter. At first it made her feel light-headed and weird, but now that she'd adjusted, physical activities were significantly easier. Not only that, but her other senses were now getting better.

Even with her new 'upgrade', she still felt incredibly self-conscious next to the lightning man at her side. It took her another ten minutes before she finally got used to him and the silence, getting lost in her own thoughts as she continued moving down the beach.

Out of the group she was the only one not wearing a bathing suit. She wore Natsu's white pants and green t-shirt, but had rolled and tied the t-shirt up to expose her stomach, making her fit in a little more with the exposed skin theme.

A ridge came up ahead of them, effectively blocking their path and marking the end of the beach. Since they'd been moving for roughly forty-five minutes, Claire figured it would be a good time to take a break. "Want to rest for a bit, and then head back?" She asked, and noticed that the man was covered in a sheen blanket of sweat.

He simply nodded.

Smiling, she walked over to some rocks and sat down, looking out over the water. She couldn't help but feel a little cocky at not having a drop of sweat on her.

They sat in silence for some time, catching their breath and staring out into the waves. Claire felt considerably less awkward around him now, getting used to the strange, quiet man.

"My gramps told me something the other day." He spoke, just before she was going to ask if he wanted to head back. She looked at him curiously, watching his steely blue eyes remain locked on the water.

"What did he tell you?"

"That I'm adopted." He said, causing her eyebrows to rise.

 _Definitely wasn't expecting that._

"I still can't wrap my head around it." He continued. "I'm not really sure how to feel about it."

"Have you talked with Fried or the others about it?"

"No. I'm not really sure why I'm telling you this." He said, still not looking at her.

"Seems like everyone has family issues lately." She commented, looking back out at the horizon. "Do you know who your blood relatives are?"

"… no. I'm not sure if I want to know. If my adoptive family was so messed up, no telling how bad my actual family is." He explained, and she nodded understandably.

"… on the other hand, they could be better." She spoke. "I have no idea what their circumstances were, but personally, if I had a relative I didn't know about out there, I'd want to know about him. Even if your real parents turned out to be jerks, you could have other family that aren't jerks. Since you're not bound to Fairy Tail anymore, it would probably be the best time to track them down, too."

He remained silent, his expression and posture unmoving.

"Of course, whatever you do is your decision. Good luck with whatever you do." She told him with a smile, finally seeing him look at her with a matching smile.

"Thanks for the advice."

"You're welcome. You ready to head back?" She asked, and he nodded.

4.

Upon Claire's suggestion, Nathan started gathering wood for the bonfire rather than criticize and bark orders at the others. He spent hours collecting wood for the fire, even trying to drag logs to it (and failing) and by the end had a semi-decent pile going. The Thunder Legion was just thankful for the break from him.

"Is it almost s'mores time!?" Bickslow asked excitedly, little girl giggling excitedly from his shoulders. Just like with Claire the previous day, the little girl pulled and played with the man's black and blue hair, sometimes causing the man to wince when she pulled too hard.

"It's not even dark yet." Evergreen said nearby, causing the man to pout.

"Can't we just roast marshmallows on you, fire girl?" He asked.

"You'll spoil your appetite for dinner." Fried spoke nearby. "You have to lead by example, Bickslow."

"But… but s'mores." He replied dejectedly, shoulders slumping. In the background Nathan was still building up the pile of wood, sweating under the still warm air and determined look on his face.

"Besides, remember what happened last time you tried to roast marshmallows on me?" Claire asked.

"Practice makes better?" He asked with a grin, sticking his tongue out and snickering at the memory. While at the camp he had attempted to make s'mores over her flame hand, but not only scorched the marshmallows but scare Bickslow and accidentally make him throw the gooey substance clear across the room.

"Sorry Bixy. Gotta agree with Freed on this one." She told him, smiling sympathetically at him.

"Ow! Don't pull so hard!" He yelled when Sam pulled particularly hard on his hair.

After another couple hours, it finally got dark enough to light the fire.

"Aw right! Woohoo!" Bickslow cheered excitedly, getting everyone pumped for the show. Claire grabbed one of the pieces of wood and held it up, looking at the others.

"We ready?" She asked with a smirk, watching everyone nod. The log in her hands caught fire, and she threw it into the pile, using her magic to speed up how quickly the fire grew.

Bickslow had the marshamallows at the ready, and started roasting them as soon as it was time. Much to Claire's annoyance he set graham crackers with chocolate on them on her hands before excitedly holding his stick up to the flames.

"Well, if we were in the woods I would have set them on rocks by the fire so that they'd melt. Since we're at the beach, and you're already so hot, I figured you would work."

"… so you're using me as a rock?" She asked, frowning at the idea of getting chocolate on her hands.

He grinned cheekily at her.

"Bickslow has s'more making down to a science. He's obsessed with them." Evergreen told her, getting her own marshmallow to roast on the fire. Everyone except for Claire was starting to make s'mores, and even started putting their own graham crackers on her like Bickslow had.

"What are s'mores?" Sam asked, causing Bickslow to give an exaggerated gasp.

"You don't know what s'mores are?" He asked, crouching down to face her. She shook her head sadly. "They're just the most amazing things _ever_. Here, I'll show you how to make them." He spoke, and started explaining the process to the little girl.

Claire sighed, tempted to drop their precious graham crackers on the sand, but fighting back the urge. Watching her boyfriend teach the magic of s'more making was beyond adorable, and seeing how easy it was to make the girl cry, she suspected that dropping the objects currently placed along her forearms cause tears to follow.

The fire woman wasn't a huge fan of marshmallows, but it was kind of awkward being the only one left out. Not to mention being used as a rock.

Eyeing the table nearby, particularly an empty plate, she walked over and carefully placed the graham crackers on it. She got them off just before the chocolate started spilling onto her skin, and just as Bickslow was finishing his marshmallows. "Thanks, honey." He said, leaning over and kissing her cheek.

"You're welcome." She said, smiling at him. He'd already made Sam her first s'more, which she was happily munching away on nearby, and he was in the process of putting together two more.

He held out one of them to Claire, surprising her.

"I made one this for you. Since you let me heat up the chocolate on you, it's only fair." He said with a grin. "Unlike the others, I'm not a deadbeat using you for your body."

"You make it sound so dirty!" Evergreen told him, having been close enough to overhear their conversation. As Bickslow turned to stick his tongue out at her, Claire took the s'more from his hand, thanking him.

It kind of scared her at how many s'mores the man could eat. Even after dinner he managed to eat a total of 15, and his team said that that was normal for him.

The 'bonfire' really wasn't a bonfire, so much as a big campfire. Nathan had been working so hard that they didn't say anything, but contemplated making a bigger fire the next day to show him the 'right way' to do a fire.

Soon after eating, the kids fell asleep on the blankets, and in Sam's case in Evergreen's arms. The group had calmed considerably to a comfortable silence, all of them mesmerized by the fire.

Laxus and Freed sat next to each other across from the sleeping boys, but closer to Bickslow and Claire, who were sitting comfortably in each other's arms. She rested with her back against his chest, and his legs were bent comfortably on either side of her with his arms wrapped around her waist. This was the most 'coupley' they'd acted in public, and they didn't miss the smiles from Bickslow's teammates when they looked their way.

Evergreen loved Sam. She saw her as a little doll to dress up and play with, and was planning to take her shopping at some point during their vacation.

"How're you holding up, Bixy?" Claire asked the man currently resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Tired." He sighed.

"You had a long day." Freed commented nearby. "You looked like you had fun."

"I did. Going to the beach was a good idea." He replied, closing his eyes.

"How late do you guys want to stay out here?" Claire asked curiously.

"Ready to head back to the hotel?" Fried asked her.

"She just wants to gobble up the fire." Bickslow said with a smile.

"…Maybe." She said with a matching grin. "I don't mind staying out here, though. Whatever you guys decide I'm fine."

"I'd like to get back to the hotel, personally. It's getting late and we do plan on being here for another three days." Fried said, smiling at how relaxed the two wizards seemed together.

"I'll help you pack up." Laxus said, pushing himself onto his feet.

"Do you guys want help?" Bickslow asked, but they shook their heads.

"We've got it. So long as someone doesn't eat the fire so that we can see what we're doing." The green-haired mage said, looking at the girl in his arms. She grinned at him.

"I'll refrain until you give me the 'okay'." She told him, watching as the pair started working on gathering the various toys, plates, blankets, etc. "You have good friends." Claire told Bickslow, a warm tingly sensation spreading through her chest at the feel of her lips on her ear.

"And an awesome girlfriend." He whispered, and rested his face in the nook of her neck, sighing tiredly again as he tightened his arms around her. "Thank you for being here."

"You're welcome, but how are you really holding up? Hearing about your parents that way must have hit you pretty hard."

"It hasn't really sunk in yet. I wasn't really that close to them, and they did kick me out when I was 15… they weren't the nicest people." He whispered, keeping his voice low enough that the others couldn't hear. "Mostly it's just weird to know that they're gone."

She gently caressed part of his arm with her thumb, briefly looking at the others to see if they were watching. Evergreen seemed utterly lost in her own world, holding the girl in her arms and staring into the fire. Laxus and Fried were chatting as they packed up supplies, which was a ridiculous amount of stuff. When they'd first arrived they had to use a wagon, the same size as Erza's.

"How are you holding up?" Bickslow whispered after doing the same, looking around at his team.

"Good." She said quietly.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Pretend you don't have feelings just because I'm dealing with stuff. I know being here with them has been hard for you since your family is still missing. Every once in a while you get that look in your eye and stare off into space, and I know it's because you're sad." He whispered, feeling her shift awkwardly in his arms as he spoke. Despite only wearing shorts, he was incredibly hot from the combined warmth of the fire and her body against him.

She took a deep breath, glancing at the others before speaking. "Erza found my dad."

"That's great."

"He died 30 years ago." She said, and he frowned.

"I'm sorry, honey." He said, and kissed her cheek. "Who are you still searching for?"

"Cory and Kale."

"I'm sure they'll show up. Don't give up hope." He whispered, and kissed the part of her neck just under her ear.

"Cory is probably alive somewhere, but Kale was only 2 months old… He couldn't survive in the middle of a forest alone."

"Your brother, sister, and mom were transported here together, right? Maybe your two brothers were, too. They're probably having a beer somewhere together joking about getting laid and other stupid boy things." He told her, smiling when her body shook slightly from her laughter.

"What are you going to do about your sisters?" She asked him.

He sighed, deciding to nuzzle the side of her head. Her hair prickled his face a little, causing his nose to wrinkle up in annoyance and one of his eyes to close. "About them relapsing?"

"Yeah, among other things."

"I figure that I'll stay quiet for now and learn more about the situation before jumping in. I don't like those bruises on Michael, and Sam was doing some… not 4 year old appropriate things earlier. I don't want to alienate them and get cut out of their lives before being able to help them."

"You're a good uncle." She commented, and leaned back into him.

"I hope so."

5.

"Sir, please step away from the child." A police officer ordered, causing Bickslow to stop his movements, confused by the sudden hostility.

"What's going on here?" He asked, removing his hand from Michael's head. He'd just playfully messed up the kid's hair, and the group was just heading out to the beach for the day after eating breakfast in the main lobby. Since they were a little ahead of the others, it took a minute for everyone to catch up.

The policemen looked over at the group behind them, their eyes locking on the two other children.

"We were told that three children matching their descriptions were kidnapped by a Fairy Tail wizard by the name of 'Bickslow', which you just said is yourself. Hand the children into our custody or we will use force."

"Woah, wait a minute. Kidnapped?" Bickslow asked him. "My sisters asked me to watch them for the next two weeks. We came to the beach because we thought it would be fun. We didn't do anything wrong."

"We were told that you came to their house and used physical violence to take their children. You're denying these accusations?"

"Of course I am!"

"Calm down, sir."

"What's going on?" Claire asked, carrying Sam on her shoulders.

"Sharon and Maryl told the police that I beat them up and kidnapped their kids." He said, clenching his jaw and taking a deep breath. The checker woman looked back to the police officers, who had none too friendly expressions on their faces.

"Both of them came to the Fairy Tail Guild Hall two days ago, obviously intoxicated, and publicly asked Bickslow to watch their kids for the weekend. Our entire guild can vouch for him. No violence was used and we were only obeying the wishes of their mothers." She told them.

"When we saw them, they were covered in bruises from head-to-toe. Their house was a mess, kids gone- they were in hysterics."

"Stupid druggies…" Bickslow muttered, looking away from them.

"Both of them have a long history of drug use. I have no idea how they were injured, but Bickslow didn't do it. None of us did."

"Nonetheless, we have to take him into custody to perform an investigation."

"Bull-" The seith mage started to yell, but Claire put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Under article 112.56 if an accused has at least 5 witnesses to corroborate their side of the story, they cannot be unwillingly detained for the crime until the investigation has ended. At present we have 3 witnesses and we can easily call up the Guild Hall for more."

"All of you are biased witnesses. Of course wizards in your guild are going to say he didn't do it. Fairy Tail of all guilds is probably the most un-law-abiding guild there is." The police officer stated.

"So you're going to let your personal bias against wizards cloud your ability to do your job?"

"Under article 98.34 if a person suspected of kidnapping is unwilling to relinquish custody of children to law enforcement, physical force may be used to ensure the safety of the children."

"That's article 65.89." She corrected with a smirk, causing the man's glare to harden. "But you haven't requested custody of the children. We're happy to return them to their mothers, and therefore you, if that is their wish. We just want these kids to be happy and healthy." Claire told him with a smile, and reached up to place her hands under the girl's armpits, effectively picking her up and setting her on her feet. She looked up at her confused, her eyes watering up.

"This is stupid. They didn't kidnap us." Nathan spoke up, walking forward. "Our moms got high and dumped us with our uncle at Fairy Tail."

"After we get this sorted out, maybe we can do another beach day. I had an awesome time with you guys." Claire said with a smile, and the others behind her said the same, trying to keep calm and collected given the situation. Michael and Nathan walked forward to stand next to the officers, both of them reluctant and looking away. The only one left was Sam, still looking up at Claire with her big, watery, brown eyes. The fire woman crouched down to the teary little brunette, smiling at her. "You're going to go with these police officers, alright?"

Her lip quivered.

"Come on, Sam." Nathan said, walking forward and taking her hand.

Without another word, the policemen walked away with the three kids, leaving the seething wizards standing outside the lobby. The group was silent for some time, exchanging awkward glances.

Once the policemen were out of sight, Claire made a weird sound and face, shivering and shaking out her limbs. "I hate talking to police. I hope you don't mind me speaking for you, Bixy."

"They would have taken him to jail if you hadn't." Evergreen said. "I can't believe your sisters did that. What is wrong with them?"

"They suck." Bickslow gritted, still staring at where the group had left, his glare hidden beneath his visor.

"We should have beaten the shit out of them." Laxus spoke up after a long pause, causing a smile to crack on everyone's faces.

"The police dudes or Bixy's sisters?" Claire asked.

He shrugged. "All of them."

"So what do you guys want to do?" Bickslow asked suddenly, turning to look at his team and girlfriend. "Our plans are pretty much shot. Should we just go home?"

"You've already paid for the rooms, haven't you?" Evergreen asked, and he nodded. "Why don't we just stay here for the next two days? It'll be a small vacation. Just because the kids aren't here doesn't mean we can't have a good time. We can deal with your sisters when we get back, and hopefully everything will have cooled down by then."

"You did absolutely nothing wrong, Bickslow." Fried told him, trying to give his friend a reassuring look.

Laxus placed a hand on Bickslow's shoulder and nodded sympathetically to him, much the same way he'd done to Elfman on Tenrou Island; but, instead of freaking out, the seith mage sighed and straightened his posture.

"Let's head over to the beach, then. I'm getting antsy just standing around." Bickslow said, and the others nodded, feeling rather hyped up as well.

6.

Claire frowned, looking up at the sunny sky.

She hated seeing her boyfriend so sad, especially after he'd been so happy the previous day. When they got to the beach they set up their camp the same as yesterday, but instead of staying and hanging out, Bickslow excused himself to go walk on the beach alone.

It was kind of awkward, since they'd originally planned to be entertaining Sam, Michael, and Nathan. They'd already made lunch for them, had tons of toys for them to play with, and the previous day they were content with hanging out and watching/listening to them play while sunbathing.

She reached over and touched the sand, drawing small circles with her finger. Then an idea occurred to her, and she looked over to Laxus, who was sitting content nearby.

"Hey Laxus," She spoke, getting his attention and sitting upright. He looked down at her with his stunning blue eyes, appearing silent and wise as he always did. "So you know how when lightning strikes sand, it creates glass?" He nodded. "Do you know if that's from the heat produced, or from the force of lightning striking the sand?"

"It's from the heat. Why?"

"Do you know how hot it needs to be to do that?"

"Something like 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit." He replied, and she hummed quietly, looking back at the sand in her hand. "You're thinking of making glass with your fire magic?"

"Well, I've never tested how hot I can get my fire. Might be a fun way to pass the time." She said with a shrug, and scooped up more sand into her hands. Setting her hands on fire, she started increasing the temperature, making it as hot as she could get it.

She didn't actually expect it to work, but to her astonishment, the sand melted in her hands into a liquid. As she stopped the fire, it turned into a solid.

"I don't even think Natsu can do that." Laxus commented.

She grinned widely at the piece of glass, moving it in her hands and looking at the oddly shaped object. It had formed to the shape of her hand, but because her hands were emitting flames at the time, the edges were rough.

"If this whole wizard thing doesn't work out, I could become a glass sculptor."

"There's probably a lot of people that would pay top dollar for that gift." Fried spoke.

"Too bad I have zero artistic skills."

"You wouldn't need to be artistic. Simply creating the glass would be enough." He told her, and the group watched as she tossed the piece of glass to the side and moved forward to her hands and knees. Sitting on the edge of the blanket, she looked at her exposed arm, and then stuck it into the sand, moving and wiggling it beneath the surface until it reached her elbow.

"What are you doing?" Evergreen asked, giving the woman a weird look for putting herself in such a blatantly awkward position.

"Seeing if I can make a glass arm." She said, trying to heat her arm up to the temperature it was before, but without using flames to get the result.

When she felt the consistency of the sand change and melt into her arm, she stopped the heat and waited a few seconds. With her other hand she reached in to touch her arm, smiling when she felt the hard substance coating her skin.

"Raaaawr! I am glass woman!" She said animatedly, pulling her arm out of the sand and holding up her now green arm, pridefully admiring the bumpy cast she had created. Sitting on the heels of her feet, she turned and stared at the glass cast.

"How do you plan to get your arm out?" Fried asked curiously, and she frowned.

"I, uh…" She wrapped her free hand around the rough surface and tried to move it, finding that it had formed perfectly to her arm.

A little too perfectly.

"I guess I'll have to melt it off…." She said sadly, and sighed, moving her arm over the sand to prevent any damage to the blanket as she slowly turned her arm to fire, melting the glass again.

"So Claire, I know you said that you don't like talking about your past, but I'm curious. How do you know so much about law enforcement?" Fried asked her, causing her to look up from the melting glass. He was sitting between her and Laxus, clad in a black speedo.

Laughing nervously, she looked back to the melting glass. "I recently found an updated book on Fiore law, and I skimmed it for potentially useful laws in case I ever got in trouble."

"But you've had run-ins with the law before?" Evergreen asked her, causing her to laugh awkwardly again.

"I've always had an… unhealthy obsession with fire. When I was little, the local law enforcement thought I was a psychopath, so they had me admitted to a mental institution. They released me after a week of doing a thorough psych exam, since I'm obviously not crazy, just a fire enthusiast. After that my parents banned me from the kitchen and limited my exposure to fire as much as possible."

"So you left and became a fire mage?" Laxus asked with a smile.

"Not exactly, but it is a plus side to my predicament." She said, and wiggled her fingers that were now free from the oddly shaped glass on the ground. "But I hate dealing with police. If those guys didn't look dead set on taking Bickslow I would have stayed quiet."

"He definitely would have punched him if you hadn't been there. When it comes to family, he's particularly short-tempered."

"He tried to fight me when I made a stupid comment about his 'babies'." Laxus said with a smirk, chuckling at the memory. "That's how we became friends, actually."

"I forgot about that. He almost beat you in that fight, if I recall."

"That's why I asked him to join the Thunder Legion." The blond said, still grinning at the memory.

"How much do you guys know about his babies?" Claire asked curiously, causing an awkward 'uuh' to follow.

"Well… they're dead people attached to his dolls." Evergreen spoke.

"They can be quite friendly when Bickslow lets them off their leash." Fried added.

"A little _too_ friendly. One of them tried to sit on me once." Evergreen said with a shudder.

"I think they can be quite cute. It takes a lot of magic for Bickslow to control them, so he lets them run loose when we're alone. They really are like his children." Freed commented fondly.

"Have they ever sat on you, though? It's creepy."

"Yes, and I've asked them not to. It is a bit unnerving."

"Claire!" A chorus of voices yelled, and they all looked up to see Bickslow's babies hurtling towards her. Evergreen screamed at the fast moving objects, and watched with wide eyes as she circled the woman next to her. "We missed Claire!"

One by one they all landed on her, taking a seat on her head, shoulder, and knees. She smiled at the familiar humming sensation, a small blush forming on her cheeks at the surprised stares of the other wizards. The timing for their arrival couldn't have been better.

"Where's Bixy?" She asked them, looking around for him. Her eyes locked on the man still quite aways down the beach, walking alone.

"He'll be here soon. He said we could come over here and visit." One of them said.

"You're okay with them doing that?" Evergreen asked, giving her a weird and disgusted look.

"Yeah."

"We're adorable!" The babies said in unison.

"They seem to have taken a liking to you." Fried commented with a chuckle, looking much more comfortable with it than the other two.

"… you know that they're basically dead people inside dolls, right?" Laxus asked, eyeing the small totems.

"I like to think of them as drunk people with dolls for bodies." She said with a smile, and earning a chorus of giggles from the souls. "I also think of children as short drunk people…. So I guess I see them as children with dolls for bodies."

"You guys having fun?" Bickslow asked as he approached them, noticing that his babies were enjoying 'Claire time', as they had put it.

"I am. This weather is awesome." Evergreen said, inching away from the woman next to her.

"Oh! I made this!" Claire said excitedly, reaching out to the glass rock she had made earlier and showing it to him.

"… What is it?" He asked, looking down at the object curiously.

"Glass. Turns out my fire is hot enough to turn sand into glass." She said, but when Bickslow reached out to touch it, he suddenly pulled his hand back. "Eh? Is it still hot?"

"Yeah. I'll check it out better once it's cooled down. How are you guys doing?" He asked, turning to Fried and Laxus.

"Good, but I'm about ready for lunch." Fried admitted.

7.

That night since the kids were gone, Claire and Bickslow shared one of the three rooms. When Evergreen tried to tease him about it, he merely reminded her of the time she and Elfman peeped on them, and that shut her up pretty quickly. Since she and Eflman had thought that they were just making out when they interrupted, and not actually doing it, the pair had become extremely awkward when they learned otherwise.

Bickslow was unusually quiet for most of the day, and they'd foregone the fire they'd planned. Once it got dark they returned to their respective rooms.

Claire couldn't help but feel nervous around the oddly quiet man. She tried to joke with him, or make an awkward sexual comment here or there, but he just muttered an automatic response and went back to whatever he was doing.

She found herself watching the taller man walk across the room, who was taking deep breaths. After closing the door he had made his babies disappear, making it eerily quiet.

"… are you okay?" She asked hesitantly.

He grabbed a nearby glass and threw it at the wall, shattering it to a thousand pieces. The sound caused her to jump, not expecting the violent response.

He was still breathing hard, and for a moment, she was worried that she might grab something else to throw. His back was turned to her, hands balled up into fists and shaking as he gazed out the window.

Hesitantly, she stepped towards him, ready to defend herself if he got violent again.

Her hands pressed against the back of his hips and snaked slowly around his front, effectively wrapping her arms around him. His muscles were extremely tense, even trembling under her touch.

"Please don't throw stuff again?" She asked after a moment, and placed a kiss on the center of his back, between his shoulder blades. He was still in his swim trunks, so his entire upper body was exposed.

For the first time she could actually look at him without his clothes and guards, and she was surprised by the plethora of scars along his back. One in particular was near his spine, and she traced the white line with the tip of her nose. He seemed to relax ever so slightly at the touch.

"Can you leave?" He asked, unmoving.

"Can you talk to me instead of pushing me away?" She countered, continuing to trail along the various small scars. She felt him take a deep breath and slowly breathe out, but his muscles stayed tense. "Part of dating is that you can tell me stuff, and I promise not to tell anyone else."

"I don't have a lot of self-restraint right now." He breathed.

Cautiously, she tip-toed to stand in front of him, keeping her hands in contact with him. When he kept his eyes locked on the horizon with his jaw still clenched, she reached her hand up to the side of his face, gently caressing his warm and soft cheek. Still not getting his eyes she gingerly grabbed his chin and tried to make him look at her.

She saw his shoulder and arm tense and move fast in the direction of her face, as if he was going to hit her, making her flinch.

Eyes closed, she waited for the impact, but none came.

Instead the hand softly touched her cheek (making her jump at the contact), and she was pulled into a hug. He placed a kiss on the top of her head and relaxed as her arms wrapped around him again.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He repeated, his hand holding the back of her head against his upper chest, and other arm around her back. "I'm sorry."

She let out a shaky breath, stunned at what just occurred.

 _He almost hit me._

 _Bickslow almost hit me._

"I'm sorry." He said again, his body quivering in her arms. "I thought that I had cooled down enough on the walk to be around people, and I wasn't. I'm sorry. Please don't hate me." His voice cracked at the end, and the genuine remorse in his voice made her previous fear melt away. "Please." Tears fell from his eyes and collected on her head.

"I don't hate you." She said softly, and keeping one arm around him, tried to reach her hand up to his face again. His grip kept her relatively in place, as if he was terrified to let her go, and she had to move awkwardly in his arms to try and touch his cheek again. After some maneuvering she finally was able to make eye contact with him.

He pressed his forehead against hers, tears rolling down the sides of his face and watery green eyes looking into her brown ones. The sight almost broke her heart, hating to see him in so much pain.

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean it. Just tell me what's going on in that head of yours."

8.

"Nnng…" She whined, feeling the familiar kisses against her skin. "I don't wanna get up." She groaned, turning over and burying her face in the pillow. Unlike usual, however, she didn't feel the pervasive light of the sun on her face. Just the soft hands rubbing up and down her sides beneath her shirt, and familiar lips trailing kisses along her skin. "What time is it?"

"3 AM." He whispered huskily against her ear, the sound stirring awake her clitoris, but not her head.

"Then why are you kissing me?"

"I couldn't sleep, and you were so cute I couldn't resist myself. You can go back to sleep if you want." He told her, continuing to grope and touch her. Acting on impulse and still not completely awake, she turned her head so that their lips would lock, and sighed contentedly into the kiss. His tongue moved along her lips and then slipped passed her teeth, expertly moving and slithering within the wet cavern as his hands continued moving.

They changed positions so that she was on her back and he was on her, keeping their lips in contact.

His hand dipped under the band of her underwear, and she moaned into the kiss, bucking her hips into him. The feel of his skin on hers was intoxicating, and in her sleepy mind all she could think was one thing: _Please touch me. Please touch me everywhere._

She craved the feel of him against him, the feel of his skin against hers, the warmth that radiated from him and covered every inch of her.

The absence of his lips against hers caused a small whine to escape her throat. "Take our clothes off?" He asked, and without further thought she started stripping her clothes while he took his pants off.

She moaned happily at the increase of skin-on-skin contact, laying back again as his hands wandered up and down her body, and his eyes hungrily ate up the sight of her. As he straddled her waist and ogled her, she did the same, looking him and down while her hands touched everything within reach.

This was the first time that they were fully nude while doing this.

He closed his eyes and a deep groan filled the air when her hand experimentally touched his throbbing erection.

Bickslow threw the blanket on the floor since it was just getting in the way.

He leaned down and popped one of her perked nipples into his mouth, simultaneously cupping the other breast and gently kneading it. As he licked and sucked at the small nub, he got a variety of appreciative sounds from her, making him even more aroused.

She arched her back into him as pleasure coursed through her, heat pooling in her loins and twitching in anticipation for the main event.

"Bickslow…" She breathed, and her breath hitched as his mouth switched to the other nipple. "You feel so great."

"I do, huh?" He asked, and let his tongue hang and trail along her skin as he made his way back to her mouth, where he was met by her starving lips. He met the intensity of the kiss, moaning when her hand wrapped itself around his pulsing member. Moving his hips in her hand, he almost lost himself again.

Pulling away, he reached over to the nightstand and opened the drawer, reaching blindly for the condom inside. Once he finally found it he quickly returned to her, tempted to say 'fuck it' and just pound into her with the way she was touching him.

His fingers fumbled with the plastic as he ripped it open, and he quickly rolled it over the head, letting her roll it the rest of the way down his shaft.

"You ready?" He asked her, and she nodded, pulling his face back down to hers as her legs spread for him. Her hand still on his cock, she guided him into her.

Like last time, he remembered to be slow with her, trying to be extra tentative as he slowly slid inside.

She hummed softly, eyes closing.

"How does it feel?" He asked, halfway in.

"Awesome." She breathed, her cheeks flushed.

He pushed in the rest of the way, her hips moving up to meet him. At the movement she felt a wave of heat ripple through her body, and craved more of it. Keeping himself propped up with one arm, he reached his free hand down to her clitoris, massaging it with his thrusts.

His slow, steady pace was too slow for her.

"Faster, please?" She asked shyly, looking up at him.

"Hell yeah." He whispered, and started thrusting into her faster, slowly increasing his speed in case she changed her mind.

He leaned back slightly to get a good look at her, pounding harder and faster into her. Unfortunately he had to use both arms to prop himself up, but she didn't seem to mind his hand leaving her clit. Her breasts bounced with each thrust, and he found himself hypnotized by the beautiful sight that added to the wonderful warmth around his cock.

"Bickslow…" She moaned, lost in the waves of pleasure rippling through her. Her short nails dug into his back, leaving faint crescent marks along his skin.

"God you're so sexy right now." He whispered, leaning over her and moving his lips to her collarbone, still pumping into her.

"I'm close." She whimpered, and he brought his lips back to hers, pumping more fervently into her.

"Cum for me." He whispered huskily into her ear. "Cum for me, Checkers."

The tension building in her lower abdomen released, sending her toppling over the edge with a small gasp, gripping him tightly against him. Their orgasms were timed perfectly, as his penis was full inside her and the feel of her tightening around him finished him off.

They shuddered against each other, and Bickslow collapsed on her, breathing heavily as his load filled the condom.

After a few minutes of laying there, he shot his tongue out and licked her skin, realizing that it tasted different than it should have.

"You didn't sweat at all?" He asked, panting and sitting up slightly to see her face. Her expression was soft, eyes closed, and her breathing was still relatively labored.

One of her eyes peered at him beneath her long lashes, locking with his red face.

With his hair sticking up like that, he kind of looked like a troll doll.

She smiled.

"I haven't been able to work up a sweat the past few days. It might be a dragon thing."

"Maybe I'll just make you do the work next time we have sex." He said, sticking his tongue out at her. He was still inside of her, and at the moment, it felt so nice he didn't want to pull out.

"Sure." She said, and closed her eyes again. As her breathing returned to normal, Bickslow blinked at her, wondering if she fell asleep again.

"… Checkers?" He whispered. "… Claire?"

No answer.

He sighed, still feeling rather awake. Reluctantly he pulled out of her, watching her cute face twitch slightly at the sensation, but otherwise stay asleep. The condom felt awkward and gross, but he was too lazy to get up and dispose of the latex object.

Instead, he propped his arm against his head and tangled his legs with hers, getting a perfect view of her. There wasn't much light, but there was just enough from an outside lamp for him to see her.

His gaze stayed locked on her sleeping face, captivated by how soft and relaxed she looked. She was always so tense that it surprised him to see her sleep, noticing how different she looked when she was actually calm.

It scared him how she made him feel. He couldn't tell if she was causing him to lose control, or he simply felt comfortable enough around her to let himself lose it. There were so many strong emotions when he was around her that he didn't know how to deal with it at times. It frightened him most that he almost hit her earlier.

He still couldn't believe he did that.

He'd thought that he had walked off all the anger he felt about the earlier events, but as soon as they were alone, it all came crashing down around him. It was a sudden, powerful, burst of rage that almost cost him the closest person in his life right now.

That look of fear in her eyes crushed his heart. The way she flinched, eyes shut, and how his hand stopped only an inch from her cheek.

The only time he could remember a situation like that is during the brawls at Fairy Tail. Spending most of his adult life at Fairy Tail, he'd been taught that when he was upset, drinking and fighting was an acceptable solution. It was a habitual practice for him and several other wizards at his guild, and he'd never even considered that it might cross over into his personal life. The more he thought about it, the more he became convinced that there was a connection between the two, and wondered if he should give up fighting at Fairy Tail.

Well, fighting to deal with his issues, anyway. He could still fight when he was happy or otherwise emotionally fine. It was good training, after all. Claire liked talking about feelings, and ignoring the girly aspect of it, he did like it better than getting drunk and fighting. No unnecessary bruises, no hangover, no awkward apologies when he or another person went too far in the fight.

She actually liked his babies.

No one liked his babies. He did, but no one else did. His 'gift' and affinity for them is what cost him his relationship with his family, and he loved his babies enough to sacrifice all his relationships for them. Even if he was isolated from other humans for the rest of his life, he would be happy with his babies. No one has ever understood that, but he stopped caring what other people thought the day his parents kicked him out. Isolation was hard but it was worth it.

It crossed his mind that she could be pretending to like his souls, but even if that were the case, that meant she was going the extra mile for his benefit. He watched her interactions with his babies carefully, and she never looked disgusted or weirded out by them. She was a bit nervous and apprehensive at first, but she warmed up to them after he explained them to her.

His babies wanted them to get married.

He smiled at the idea, but then frowned, remembering his own parents. They fought loudly and frequently when he was a kid. Whenever they fought he would hide out in the attic and talk to the local ghosts, chatting and laughing with them over the loud noises. Sharon, his sister, was the one that caught him talking to souls (or 'ghosts') and ratted him out to his parents. Only 6 years old, the resulting fight was by far the worst he had ever experienced, and was the only one where his parents got violent with him.

The only normal and healthy married couple he knew of was Biska and Alzack, and he still couldn't wrap his head around that. Married with a kid no less. A lot had changed in 7 years.

Kids.

Despite the circumstances, he was glad that Sam, Michael, and Nathan were home with their mothers. The only reason he agreed to watch them was because of the shock regarding his parents, and that was a dirty trick on his sisters' part.

They had tried to charge him with child abduction, and that shit could go on his permanent record. Hell, it still might.

He had an extensive record of bar fights and other violent outbursts, as every Fairy Tail wizard does, but he was okay with those. Kidnapping a kid and beating up their parents was a different story.

Sighing, he reached his hand up to her face and gently touched her cheek, watching her face stir slightly at the contact.

"I dun' wanna wake up…" She mumbled, and turned over on her side.

Chuckling, he decided it was time to try and sleep as well. Scooting over to her and wrapping his arms around her, he placed another few kisses along her exposed shoulder. With the heat she was giving off they didn't need a blanket, so they fell back to sleep spooning.


	8. Chapter 8

**Walking Cliché 8**

 _Whose Soul?_

"So why do you wear the same clothes everyday? Even at the beach you wore the same shorts and shirt." Evergreen asked over breakfast, talking to the woman next to her as the men talked about something else.

"My fire magic burned all my clothes, so I had to ask Natsu to let me borrow his. Until I can get enough money to buy fabric from the place he bought his clothes, I'm stuck with these."

"That's terrible! I can't even imagine having to wear Natsu's clothes. I'm taking you shopping this afternoon."

"Two problems with that. 1. I'll just burn anything we buy. 2. I can barely afford food, nonetheless clothing."

"I never said we'd go shopping for you." The brunette said, causing the checker woman to laugh.

"Hey, do you guys know why there's so many people in pirate costumes?" Bickslow asked the pair, turning to face them as the others did the same.

"Yeah, there's a pirate festival happening over the next few days." Evergreen said, and Claire turned abruptly in her seat, smiling at the woman.

"They have pirate festivals in this world?" Claire asked, absolutely beaming.

"Uh, yes?"

"Where is it?"

"Just a couple blocks from here, by that weird bird statue." Evergreen replied, blinking in surprise as the woman excitedly jumped out of her seat.

"See you guys later!"

"Hey, if you wait a minute, we'll go with you!" Bickslow called after her, but she'd already bolted out of the lobby and almost knocked into a pirate couple on the way out. The Thunder Legion watched after her confused, having never seen her act that way.

"Does she usually do that?" Evergreen asked him.

"No, I didn't even know she liked pirates."

"How long have you known her?"

"I, uh… I guess two and half months?" He said, scratching his head as he debated whether to run after her. Since she was from another world he had no idea if the pirates here would be the same as in her world, and it worried him to have her running around alone. Pirates weren't exactly the nicest bunch, and he'd heard of girls going missing at the festivals. "… do you guys think I should run after her?"

They all shrugged, going back to their food.

After a moment of getting no answer from them, he sighed and stood up, summoning his babies. "Come on, let's go find Claire."

"Claire time!"

1.

She's only been there for 10 minutes and she somehow had more money than she arrived, attained a jingly belt, drink, and at the moment was being hoisted into the air by a bunch of guys yelling that they were 'wild'.

"What are we?"

"WILD!" They cheered exuberantly.

Apparently she'd wandered onto a platform of sorts, and upon her arrival the four men grabbed the handles on it and held her up in the air. The platform was only 2x2 feet, and was just enough for her to stand, but nothing else. Her belt jingled with the movement and she barely kept herself from dropping the beer in her hand.

Going with it, she blew a small pillar of fire into the air, causing some of the passerby to stop and clap their hands for her. The guys were carrying her down the street, and since she was planning to go that direction anyway, it worked out.

"What are we?"

"WILD!" They cheered again, this time adding howls to it. Finally remembering where she heard that phrase before, she looked closer at the men to see their guild emblem: Quatro Cerberus, or as she remembered them, 'Quatro Puppy'.

When she looked up again, she was greeted by the familiar totem of one of Bickslow's souls. "Hey Poppo,"

"I'm Pappa."

"Sorry! How's it going?"

"Daddy is looking for you!"

"Where is he?" She asked, looking around the crowd.

"What is that up there?" One of the guys carrying her asked.

She looked down with a grin. "It's my boyfriend's soul."

"WHAT!?"

"Dude, she's got the Fairy Tail emblem! She must be the mage that steals people's souls!" One of the other men exclaimed, and the pair quickly let go of the platform and ran, soon followed by the other two.

Not expecting them to bolt like that, she grabbed the nearest object to her, in this case Pappa, and screamed as she held on. He surprisingly held her weight, and her free drink along with the platform tumbled to the ground. Given her recent training she was able to keep her grip on the small wooden totem, hanging on for dear life despite only being 6 feet from the ground.

"Thanks Pappa! I'm surprised you can hold my weight!" She said, looking up at him with a grin.

"Do you want to go higher?" He asked, and her smile fell.

"No!" She said, but the soul was already flying higher into the air against her wishes. "Put me down!" She yelled when they were getting higher than the rooftops. Eyes wide and heart racing, she really held on for dear life now, being well above 30 feet in the air. "Pappa put me down!"

"Weeeeeee!" The soul squealed as he zoomed through the air, carrying her along with him.

Bickslow stood at the edge of the festival, in a part that was relatively sparse of people. He waited patiently for his souls to return with word from Claire, and was quietly wondering why Pappa was draining so much of his magic. If he kept this up he'd have to cut off his magic supply to him, and he really didn't want to do that until he found out what he was doing. He'd been draining Bickslow's magic for almost twenty minutes now.

Both the sense that he was returning and the sound of screaming caused him to look up, his eyes widening.

"Put me down put me down put me down!" Claire screamed at the little soul some 50 feet in the air, all the while his baby giggled and said 'weee!' over and over again. Bickslow face palmed.

 _So much for her liking my babies…_

"Pappa get down here!" Bickslow ordered, and sensing that the soul wasn't going to come back on his own, had to use his magic to rope him in. It was a considerable drain on him, and as he roped in Pappa he also ordered his souls across the festival to return to him so that he could unbind their souls for the time being.

As he came to the ground Claire wobbled on her feet and then fell to the ground, laying down on her back. People were giving both of them with strange looks, both for the way they were acting and Bickslow's exposed face and hair. He wore a simple t-shirt and swim trunks.

The seith mage looked down at his girlfriend, feeling bad for the miserable expression on her face. Her wide eyes were glued to the sky and her breathing was erratic, to the point that he wondered if he'd have to use soul possession on her. Her hands were also gripping the grass she lay on, probably thankful to be back on the ground.

"What happened to Claire?" Poppo asked when he returned, and the other two were close behind.

"Ask Pappa. He scared the hell out of her." He told them, and they 'aaw'ed. "And since he drained my magic, I have to unbind you guys for the rest of the day. Sorry."

"We love Mommy Claire and Daddy Bickslow!" They said in unison just before he made their vessels disappear. A blush appeared on his cheeks at their name for Claire, and he wondered if she overheard or not.

Judging by her labored breathing and still staring wide-eyed at the sky, he guessed not.

He walked over to her and crouched down next to her.

"Do you want me to use soul possession on you to regulate your breathing?" He asked, watching her continue to struggle to breathe. Considering what Pappa had just done, he really didn't want to use his magic on her without her permission, but if her breathing got much shallower he would have to.

To his relief she finally nodded, and he temporarily took control over her. Unlike last time when the parasite was eating her magic, he only felt her magic. It was pure fire and extremely unique compared to the previous souls he had taken control of. Possessing her soul was strange to say the least.

As he slowed her breathing he took a seat next to her, watching her slowly return to normal. Physically at least. Using soul possession made him more aware of the person's emotions, so he could sense that she was still freaked out.

"Do you want to go back to the hotel?" He asked once she'd calmed enough, and she nodded. "Want me to give you a piggy back ride? I promise not to do any flying."

She looked at him with a blank expression, while he smiled awkwardly back.

"I'm sorry Pappa got carried away with you. I don't think he meant to be mean, he was just really excited." Bickslow said, wishing that she would show some sign of emotion. The feelings he felt with his soul possession hadn't really changed despite his efforts, so he wasn't sure what to say or do.

Unfortunately, a few feet away a man threw up in a trashcan, causing the couple to scrunch up their noses in disgust.

"Piggy back ride?" She asked with a grin, regaining his attention. At the foul smell and sounds he gladly stood and crouched down facing away from her, simultaneously using his soul possession on her to make her crawl onto his back.

Extending his legs and grabbing her thighs, he shifted so that he was more comfortable, and then started walking back to the hotel.

"Thanks for fixing my breathing." She said after a while.

"Do you think you're okay for me to stop my soul possession on you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, just then noticing the weird stares they'd been getting. Soul possession made his eyes to glow green, so they'd been getting quite a few looks.

"What does it feel like when I use soul possession on you?" Bickslow asked curiously. He had asked a few people in past when he used it on them, but most of the time they didn't answer or gave him a vague response.

"Hmm…" She hummed in his ear. "It's kind of like being wrapped up in a blanket. A really tight blanket that controls what my body does."

"That doesn't sound too bad." He said thoughtfully.

"It's not exactly pleasant…" She said awkwardly, and he chuckled. "It's like a really heavy wool blanket that's itchy."

"Is that all? Other people are such babies. You'd be surprised how many people cry whenever I possess their soul, as if I'm murdering them in cold blood." He scoffed, recalling the people he'd possessed in the past.

"Did you tell them what you were going to do, or did you just do it?"

"Most of the time I use it in battle, so… no, I don't really warn them. I warned Lucy when I fought her a couple months ago, but that was because I wanted to go easy on her. Plus her expression when I told her that I was going to steal her soul was priceless." He snickered, recalling the memory.

When they entered the building again, they crossed paths with his team. They were all dressed in swimwear, and looked ready for the beach.

"You guys are done with the Pirate Festival so soon?" Evergreen asked in surprise.

"Pappa drained my magic by scaring the hell out of Claire. We're going to go take a break." Bickslow explained.

"What'd he do?" Fried asked curiously. "You seemed to be getting along with them yesterday."

"He flew me around the festival."

"What's so bad about that?"

"Dangling 50 feet in the air by a tiny piece of wood is not my idea of a good time." Claire told him, and the others nodded sympathetically.

"We're heading to the beach. When you guys feel better, you can find us at the same spot as yesterday." Evergreen said with a smile, and after a few more goodbyes, the groups went their separate ways.

2.

"So what do you guys think?" Evergreen asked the pair, helping them set up their supplies.

"About what?" Fried asked.

"Bickslow and his girlfriend. It's weird, right?"

"I like Claire." Laxus said with a shrug, recalling their conversation during their jog the other day. So far they've gone on a few jogs together with little to no conversation, and he enjoyed having her as a running partner. She was a little slow for his pace, but she didn't try to force conversation on him, and the powerful magic was actually a nice change for him. While the Thunder Legion was a powerful force to be reckoned with, their magic power was just short of S-Class, and he did miss being around people that were closer to his magical power.

"That's not what I meant. She's nice and all, it's just weird to see Bickslow with… anybody. I mean I'm glad, he's like a little brother to me and I'm glad he's happy, but it's still… weird. I'd always figured that anyone he fell for he'd have to give up his babies, or at least become a little less attached to them to make anything work."

"It is fortunate that he found someone who appreciates his souls. He told me once that he would give up anything for his babies, and that included friends, family, and girlfriends." Fried spoke, earning a surprised look from the others.

"He's that dedicated to them, huh?" Laxus commented, looking back in the direction of the hotel, despite being unable to see it.

"I got the impression that his parents abandoned him for his seith magic, so it makes sense that he would be overprotective of them."

"I don't really get why he needs to use seith magic of all things, considering his skill level, but I guess it is admirable that he's so loyal to them." Evergreen commented, and as they finished setting up their camp, grabbed a bag of chips. "But it's like she just dropped out of the sky… does anyone really know anything about Claire? Other than she's a pyro?"

"And she was briefly in a mental hospital." Fried added with a small smile.

"She uses dragon magic." Laxus added.

"She likes pirate festivals."

"Good with kids."

"… likes Bickslow." Fried said, unable to think of anything else he'd noticed about her. "Oh, she's well versed in Fiore Law." He said, and then looked to Laxus to see if he could come up with anything else.

"Uh… she likes fire?"

"I already said that one." Evergreen said.

"She likes reading." The word mage said.

"Jogging." Laxus added.

"So overall, she's a fire dragon magic user who likes pirate festivals, is good with kids, likes reading, and jogging? Is that really all that we know about her?" The Fairy Woman asked, and took a seat on the blanket she had laid out for herself.

"Actually, only half of that is true." Claire spoke as she approached them with Bickslow at her side. Evergreen choked on the chip she had just popped into her mouth, having not sensed her approaching. The others snickered at her embarrassed expression, and she coughed up the chip as her face turned brighter and brighter red. "My younger brother likes pirate festivals, so I got a little excited that he might be there. Reading and jogging are part of my training, but I'm not really fond of either."

"We weren't- I just-" Evergreen stammered awkwardly as she waved her hands animatedly.

"It's alright, don't worry about it. Do you still want to do shopping?"

"I- uh- well- OF COURSE!" She screeched at the end, jumping to her feet and laughing awkwardly.

"We don't have to leave right now. We can hang out here for a while."

"Yeah, she promised to put sunscreen on me." Bickslow said with a grin and holding up a small bottle. "We can leave if you guys want to keep gossiping about Checkers, though."

"We weren't- I mean-" Evergreen stammered, and her awkwardness turned into anger when he snickered, realizing that he was just teasing her. She started hitting him with her hands, causing him to erupt into full blown laughter at her girly retaliation, utterly amused by her reaction.

Unsure what to do, Claire smiled awkwardly and waited for their little spat to end. She couldn't help but be reminded of her sister rivalry with Carol, and the full blown fights she'd get into with her. Punches, scratching, broken limbs- you name it and they did it to each other.

After a while of continued teasing from Bickslow and overreacting on Evergreen's part, they eventually settled down. Bickslow took a seat on the blanket and handed the bottle of sunscreen to Claire, who sat down behind him with her legs folded beneath her. Before she could start he leaned back and tilted his head to look at her upside down, amused by the new perspective.

"Haha, I can see up your nose." He snickered.

In retaliation she licked the tattoo on his forehead, and not a cute little lick, but laying her tongue flat against the surface of his forehead and dragging it along his skin. After her textured tongue left the tip of his nose, she placed a small kiss on it, smiling at his grossed out expression.

"You're weird."

"You're one to talk. Now sit up so that I can get your back, and then you can go swimming." She said, watching his eyes light up and grin tug at the corners of his lips again. He quickly leaned up and kissed her, and then sat up straight so that she could have access to his back.

Squirting the white liquid into her hand, she then started lathering it on his back, laughing when he flinched at how cool it was. She heated up her hands slightly so that it wouldn't be quite as chilling, much to his appreciation.

As she lathered on the sunscreen, she paused at the scar on the center of his back, now able to see it much clearer than before. Some of the scars were curved, almost in the shape of a bottle, and most of the scars were centered to that one spot.

"How'd you get these scars?" She asked curiously, continuing to cover his back but looking at that spot.

"… When I was six, my parents found out that I talked to ghosts. It was the first and only time they got violent with me."

She paused, her heart sinking at the implication. The others had similar reactions, stopping and staring at him in surprise. "You got these when you were six years old?"

"I thought you said it was a training accident?" Fried asked nearby.

He shrugged. "I lied. It's not something that I like talking about."

"Bixy," Claire said, pulling him into her and hugging him at a weird angle.

"Maybe I should tell that story more often if it gets me hugs from cute girls?" He said with a grin and letting his tongue hang out. He would have tried to lick her face or something like she had to him, but at the angle, he didn't have any access to her. Most of his back was leaned against her front, and his upper body was at a weird 45 degree angle, her face above and to the left of his own.

Bickslow blinked in surprise when Fried and Evergreen jumped on him as well, hugging him with teary eyes.

"That's so terrible!" They cried, and the seith mage couldn't help but blush at the sudden attention. Laxus didn't jump on him, but he did reach over and put his hand on his shoulder, giving a sympathetic stare that said a thousand words of its own.

"I didn't tell you guys that to get your sympathy. I was just answering a question." Bickslow said indignantly.

"We're your friends, Bickslow. Of course you're going to get our sympathy." Evergreen told him, causing his blush to deepen.

"I- oi, let's go swimming! Look, there's a cuddly shark to play with in the water!" Bickslow yelled, feeling incredibly awkward at the sudden attention.

"We love you, Bickslow!"

"You guys are embarrassing yourselves!"

3.

That night, they all enjoyed the communal baths at the hotel. Because of the Pirate Festival it was a little crowded, but the baths were big enough that it wasn't a huge issue.

Evergreen and Claire found a corner where they could soak in peace, carefully avoiding the drunken 'wenches' splashing and stumbling around with giant hoop earrings. They both sighed contentedly as they submerged into the warm water, soft smiles on their faces.

"So… why Bickslow?" Evergreen asked after a few minutes of silence. Claire looked over at her, trying to decide how to answer the question, when she realized that she didn't really understand it.

"What do you mean?"

"He's like a little brother to me, and I'm not discouraging the relationship, but I mean… it's _Bickslow_. He makes crude jokes, he does the tongue thing, his magic is hardly attractive, he's got a face tattoo, crazy blue hair, and compared to some of the other guys at the guild he's really not that strong. Aside from your hair and pyro tendencies you're quite the catch, so I don't really get it." She explained, out of breath by the end. "And he's just… annoying."

"He's also the biggest sweetheart I know." Claire told her, chuckling at the surprised look on her face. "You can't tell me you haven't noticed. 5 years of working with him and you had to know that he's just a softie on the inside."

"I, uh…" Evergreen muttered, and then looked up at the ceiling, pondering her words. "Now that I think about it, I guess you're right. I'd say that about my entire team, though. Even Laxus is a giant teddy bear on the inside. Bickslow masks it so well that I forget it sometimes."

"He's a good guy, and has helped me out so much that I hate to think about where I'd be without him. When I first came here I was trapped in a world I didn't understand, family and friends gone and potentially dead, with nowhere to go and nothing to call my own. Bickslow didn't know just how bad my situation was, but he offered to let me stay in his home, he cheered me up when I was sad, introduced me to his babies…. He was the first person to actually talk to me. Not just the polite crap, but actually talk to me. If anything I see myself lucky to date him, not the other way around." She spoke, and suddenly looked back to Evergreen, blushing when she realized just how much she'd said. "Sorry, I guess I rambled."

"It's fine. I'm glad you did." She said with a smile. "I'm just glad that the relationship isn't one-sided. From the way he's been describing you, I've been worried that he'd get his heart broken."

"So, speaking of relationships… what's up with you and Elfman?" Claire asked with a smirk, watching the brunette's cheeks flare up.

"I, uh… Nothing. I barely know the guy."

"So one-night stands are your thing. That's cool."

"What!? O-of course not!" She stammered.

"Then why was he in your room when Erza went hardcore on the no boys rule?" She asked, chuckling as she continued to stammer and blush. "I promise not to tell anyone, especially not Fried or Bixy."

Evergreen eyed her for a moment, mentally debating whether she could trust the woman or not. "He just randomly showed up and started taking his clothes off. Nothing happened, I swear."

"' _Nothing'?_ Really?" Claire asked smiling, watching the woman crack under her stare.

"Okay we made out." She said, blushing. "But it was just kissing! Nothing else!"

"Uh-huh."

"… but it would have been more if Erza hadn't interrupted."

4.

In the men's communal bath, the three men awkwardly maneuvered through the crowded room, trying to avoid the mostly overweight 'pirates' stumbling drunkenly around them. They eventually found a small corner to claim, all the while giving annoyed glares at the loud and obnoxious men.

"Bad timing with the Pirate Festival. This sucks." Bickslow said, sticking his tongue out. The other two nodded, and then climbed into the warm water. After settling in, a comfortable silence fell over them as they soaked.

Someone bumped into Fried, resulting in the most scathing glare he could manage.

"So… how are you and Claire?" Laxus asked the seith mage.

"Pretty good."

"Cool."

"Do you guys really want to stay here?" Fried asked, and they shook their heads.

"Let's go."

"Yep."

5.

About an hour later, Claire returned to the room she shared with Bickslow, smile on her face. She hadn't had the opportunity for much 'girl talk' in a long time, and even though she used to not like it, the familiarity of it was nice. It was also refreshing to talk about her boyfriend with someone that knew him so well, and gave her a better idea of him. After her conversation with Mirajane she'd been hoping to find someone else to either confirm or correct the information, and the more she learned, the more it made her sad.

From what they told her, she gathered that he's been alone for most of his life. He truly was the lonely, misunderstood guy that was secretly a teddy bear. He has friends, but he's so self-conscious he doesn't realize just how much he means to them. People don't like him because of his magic, and because of how his parents treated him, he never bothered to tell people what his magic actually is. They don't ask him, so he doesn't tell them.

Despite all of that, he kept a smile on his face. He made jokes (albeit not always appropriate for the situation), he made an effort to be friendly, and most of all, he stayed by his babies side.

"Have a good time?" Bickslow asked her from the bed, looking up from a magazine he'd been reading. He was clad in just boxers, back propped up on the head board and legs extended in front of him. His eyes lit up as she entered the room, and his babies hummed excitedly from their spots on him. Two of them were on his legs while the other two were on his shoulder and head.

"Yeah, actually. We did girl talk."

"Good. Evergreen has been complaining for years at having no one to 'girl talk' with, so it's nice she finally got the opportunity." He told her, watching her hop onto the twin bed next to his. "Oh, and Pappa has something to tell you."

One of the small totems floated from his leg and levitated towards her, slow compared to usual, and she almost wondered if he was nervous. As of late they would cheer and zoom towards her whenever she entered the room, so the fact that they were so tame was odd.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Bickslow asked sternly.

"Sorry for carrying you around the city without your permission."

"Apology accepted. Thanks for catching me when those guys dropped me." She said with a grin, recalling the event, but then frowned. "Actually, why did they drop me…"

"What guys?" Bickslow asked, eyebrows raised.

"I stepped on a weird platform thing, and then four guys randomly grabbed the handles and hoisted me in the air, carrying me down the street. They kept yelling that they were 'wild'." She told him, smiling. "But then Pappa showed up, and they freaked out saying that I would steal their souls, and dropped me. That's when I grabbed Pappa."

"How'd they know that Pappa was a soul?"

"Uh…" She said, and then laughed, realizing the miscommunication that occurred. "I told them that he was my boyfriend's soul." The seith mage laughed as well, inwardly feeling rather prideful at knowing that she was telling people about him. Even though they were trying to keep their relationship low key, it was oddly exciting to hear her refer to him as her boyfriend to other people.

As Pappa returned to his previous spot on his 'dad', Claire jumped over as well, slipping under his arms and cuddling into his side. She rested her head on the shoulder that wasn't occupied by the soul and looked up at him, unwittingly absolutely adorable to him.

"How was your bath with the guys?" She asked as he tossed his magazine to the side.

"It was full of drunken pirates. We left after two minutes."

"How long have you been waiting for me?"

"We stopped by the bar for a little while, but I've been here for about a half hour. I used the time to discipline my babies."

"So that's why they're so tame right now." She commented, snuggling closer to him as his arms wrapped around her.

"Yeah, they've been getting a little too rowdy lately, so I had a long talk with them. What did you and Ever talk about?"

"Girl stuff."

"… boys?"

"Yeah. She and I don't really have anything in common other than our sexual orientation." She said, and he chuckled.

"Did she talk about Elfman?"

"Sorry, but I promised not to disclose any sensitive information to you regarding her love life. I can tell you what I said, though."

"Noooo, you have to tell me about Elfman. Did they do it? Is she secretly a freak?" He asked excitedly, looking down at her annoyed expression.

"Sorry honey, can't talk about it."

"But you have toooo. Please?"

"Nope. I can tell you what I told her, but not the other way around."

"What if I pouted for the rest of the night?"

"I would still say no." She told him, hearing him groan and grumble, but finally sigh in defeat.

"This isn't over, but I am curious what you said about me."

"I said that you're awesome and I really really like you."

"No juicy details? Like how I'm awesome in bed?"

"I make it a habit not to gossip about my sex life to others. But you are awesome in bed." She said, and leaned over to kiss his neck. "How late do you want to stay up?"

"I'm pretty tired, actually. This morning drained almost all my magic, and I never really recovered." He added a glare to Pappa, who hummed louder and snuggled into his thigh.

"We can sleep. I'm tired too."

Bickslow tensed slightly, wondering if he should ask her ask her the big question, or save it for another day. So much of their relationship had evolved on his impulsiveness, but the more he thought about how to go about this, the more nervous he got. If it was too soon he could scare her off, or she could take it the wrong way and think he was a pervert. After a few seconds of debating and her curious blue eyes staring up at him, waiting patiently to find out what was on his mind, he finally caved. "Do you mind if my babies sleep with us? Th-they don't have to, I just… you seemed okay with it the other day, and I like being close to them at night."

"Doesn't it drain your magic?"

"Yeah, but not very much. It actually increases my magic stamina by leaving them bound for so long, especially when my magic is low like it is now." He explained, his heart beating rapidly as he waited for her to respond. "We don't have to, it was just an idea, and they like you, and I like you, and-"

"It sounds nice. I just hope that I don't accidentally kick them in my sleep or something."

He paused, blinking at her smiling face, and then grinned wildly.

"It's not like I haven't fallen asleep with your babies before. Why were you so nervous about asking me?" She asked, giggling when he reached down and planted a kiss on her lips, and then placing a flurry of others along her face. "You're so happy." Giggling at his overly excited response, she started lowering herself on the bed so that she was laying down. "… when you said sleeping you did mean actual sleeping, right?"

"Yeah. Poppo, can you turn out the light?" He asked the soul, who zoomed away from him to flip the light switch.

"Why were you so nervous before?"

"I wasn't nervous." He said, and pulled his shirt over his head to toss it on the floor somewhere.

"Yeah you were. You even stuttered." She also sat up to pull her bra and shirt off, and then shimmy out of her shorts while Bickslow did the same.

"Nuh-uh. You must have imagined it."

"Why won't you just tell meeeeee." She whined, and once they were both down to their underwear, she pulled him down roughly to lay next to her. "I wanna knooooow."

"Look at you all curious. I'll tell you if you tell me what Ever said about Elfman."

"Nope. You're gonna tell me why you were nervous." She snuggled into his side and lay her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as he wrapped his arms around her. As they got comfortable under the blankets, his babies rested on various parts of them, humming happily at the contact.

"That's hardly fair."

"But I told you what I told Ever."

"Maybe you shouldn't have given away that information for free." He said with a grin, looking down to meet her gaze when she looked up at him. At her current angle she managed an adorable pout, and even in the darkness, it caused his chest to tighten. He groaned, already feeling his resolve weaken. "Don't do that."

Stare.

"Stop it. Stop pouting."

Stare.

Lower lip quiver.

Eyes water.

"Stop that."

He looked away, but even as he locked eyes with the curtain across the room, could feel her eyes boring into him like a drill. Groaning again, he looked back at her, suddenly feeling sympathetic to the guys he used make fun of for caving under that same look from their girlfriends.

"Fine."

The pout instantly turned into a grin, and she scooted her face closer to his, nuzzling their noses together while keeping their eyes locked.

"That was a dirty trick." He said, slightly nerved by the proximity and expectant stare he was getting. At the same time he couldn't help but feel a little special by the attention he was receiving from the cute girl.

"I only did that after you tried to make me tell Evergreen's secrets. You played dirty first." She said, gaze wandering to the small curly tattoos on the corners of his eyes.

"That was just fair negotiation. I wanted to know something, and you wanted to know something, so I offered a trade."

"Well I don't like that. I don't want to create a value system for what I know in order to get things from you, because it feels dishonest and it'll stress me out. When it comes to what you and I feel I want to be perfectly honest with you and vice versa. When it's information regarding other people's privacy, it becomes an entirely different matter and crosses lines. I don't disclose information entrusted to me to others unless given direction permission, and that includes things that you tell me."

"Alright, I'm sorry. I didn't know it would bug you that much. I want us to be honest too and I'll try not to step out of line again." He said, sighing and rolling his eyes. When he saw that she still wasn't happy, he leaned in and pecked her on the lips, hoping that his cheesy grin would soften her expression. After a few seconds of no change, he kissed her again. "Do you still want to know why I was nervous?"

Her expression did a 180, instantly smiling and nuzzling their noses together again, as if nothing had just happened. "Yeah. So long as you don't start throwing glasses across the room again." She said, causing him to roll his eyes again.

"I'm going to be getting shit for that for a long time, huh?"

"Maybe." She kissed him, continuing to rub her nose back and forth along the tip of his, noticing that he seemed to be getting nervous again. "I'm not mad about it. A little concerned maybe, but I'll drop it if it really annoys you." Her hand trailed along his skin from his abdomen to his face, and she gently rested her palm against the side of his jaw, caressing his cheek with her thumb.

He briefly closed his eyes at the action, enjoying the sparks that danced along his skin when she touched him. A flurry of tingly, warm, and happy butterflies fluttered through him. "You're too perfect." He said after a while.

Her eyebrows raised, confused by the statement. She shifted so that she was slightly more comfortable and still facing him, surprised at how quickly he'd relaxed under her touch.

"You're nice, you're cute, you're strong, you're kind, you put up with me, you like my babies, you get along with my friends… you put up with my family. And you don't make fun of me when I cry." As he spoke, she couldn't help but remember earlier that day, when they walked in on Evergreen listing off random characteristics about her. It felt weird to be talked about, but she also liked knowing what people thought about her.

"I'm also good for roasting marshmallows and heating up chocolate." She added, her eyes wandering to the black tattoo that looked like a person, looking at the crisp lines and how it moved with his eyebrows.

"I'm nervous that I'm going to say something that'll make you leave."

"Where do you think I'd go?" She asked, watching his eyes blink open at her. She sighed, trying to pick the right words as she continued staring at the tattoo between his eyes. "Perfect has never been a word to describe me. I'm an awkward pyro trapped on an alien planet who fell for the first guy that befriended her. I like you, and I'm really not in a position to be picky about the guys I date."

"… so you're dating me because you have low self-esteeem?"

She chewed on her cheek, knowing that she wasn't saying what she wanted to say accurately.

"Bickslow, you're a major upgrade in terms of guys and girls that I've dated. If anything I don't see why a great guy like you would want to date someone like me. You're funny, you're kind, you're cute, you're great in bed, you father lost souls and take care of them until they move on, which that in itself is ridiculously adorable and I don't know why you're not a girl magnet just for that. I half expected you to book it after the first time we had sex, since I'm such an easy target right now."

He frowned, trying to absorb everything that she was telling him. "What do you mean 'easy target'? Magically speaking you're almost S-Class."

"Magic I don't know how to use, on a planet I've been on for only a few months, with no friends or family to speak of. You or anyone else could have taken advantage of me when I first got here and I wouldn't have been able to defend myself, nor would there have been any consequences." As she spoke, especially for the last half of her explanation, she could feel his muscles tense beneath her again. This was the first time that she'd been so blunt about her situation, and although he already knew all of it, she silently wondered if he'd really connected the dots on just how vulnerable she was.

His arms tightened around her and pulled her back into him, so that she had to snuggle back into his side. Large hands caressed her bare skin, and she could hear his heart racing in his chest.

He held her close, trying to regulate his breathing. The idea of someone taking advantage of her made his blood boil, and he tried to push the images out of his mind.

"I didn't pressure you into anything you didn't want to do… right?" He asked, suddenly terrified at the thought and thinking back to when they first started being physical with each other. _We did that one day of cuddling, and then on the ship when she burned me, and then we got caught our first time, but we were also technically dating, and I made sure that she knew she could say 'no'…._

"Of course not. You've been nothing but great to me."

"Because if you didn't want to do anything physical, I would still want to be friends with you and hang out and stuff."

"That's part of why I like you so much."

"I'll kill anyone that tries to hurt you." He gritted, his babies humming in agreement.

"That's a little overboard, but I appreciate the sentiment. Don't forget that I've gotten a lot stronger than when I first got here."

"Doesn't matter how strong you are. You're my girl and as such, it's my job to brutally murder anyone that lays a hand on you." He told her, causing her to chuckle. "Good night, Checkers."

"Night, Bixy. Night, babies."

"Goodnight Mommy and Daddy~" They hummed. Bickslow groaned at the nicknames, but was happy when Claire at least laughed it off.

"What did I tell you guys about calling Claire your mom?"

"… don't do it?"

"Let's just sleep. You can lecture them in the morning." Claire said, snuggling and nuzzling further into him.

With a wonderful man in her arms and comforting 'babies' on her hip and waist, she couldn't help but feel like she was home for the first time since she got there. She was warm, safe, and most of all, felt loved.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:** If you're confused or annoyed at the ooc aspect of the female characters in this chapter, I wrote an explanation for my reasoning at the bottom of the chapter.

Thanks for reading!

 **Warning:** If you're sensitive or disapproving over marijuana… you may want to skip this chapter, or stop reading, or simply skim over the pot smoking scene in this chapter. I tried to be vague when describing it, but I understand that some people are more sensitive than others regarding the topic. I'm not against people smoking weed on occasion, and think that it can be healthy, but I have met people that have legitimately gotten brain damage from smoking it 24/7 for 40+ years. Like any substance it can be abused if not moderated accordingly.

 **Walking Cliché 9**

 _Happy Thoughts_

After returning to Magnolia, Bickslow had been undecided on how to go about his sisters again. In their absence everyone at Fairy Tail had been questioned about the incident, and even though everyone was a witness, it did leave negative impression about the seith mage. In the interviews they had questioned his character, questioned whether it was possible for him to do what his sisters claimed he did, and even though everyone stood by him, it did plant the seeds of doubt.

He really wanted to help Sam, Nathan, and especially Michael; but he also didn't want to completely destroy his reputation as a mage in the process, and he couldn't tell if his relationship with his fellow Fairy Tail comrades had been too damaged or not. He'd been putting himself out there ever since the 'Battle of Fairy Tail' to try and be friendly to them, and in one fail swoop, all of his work had been compromised.

He looked creepy. He said perverted things. Now he was accused of child abduction.

To avoid the awkward eyes of the guild, he'd did almost anything but go to the Guild Hall. Having enough money saved up from before the time skip, he didn't need to work for the next few months, so there was no need to visit there anyway.

For the next week he trained.

Worked out.

Hung out with Claire when she got home from work.

Occasionally had a beer with Fried.

Reverted to his natural sleep rhythm, which involved sleeping in past noon.

A week had passed before his teammates encouraged him to visit the Guild Hall again to have a drink with them, and after further encouragement from Claire, finally caved.

So here he was, drinking a beer with Fried and Evergreen, trying to pretend like he wasn't being stared at by half the room. The only person he would enjoy being stared by was currently reading a book and writing in her _secret_ notebook, in her _secret_ code that she _secretly_ planned everything in. She said that she wrote down not only notes from books but also events that happen from her visions, and thusly wouldn't let him read it.

Not that he hadn't tried to read her secret notebooks about the future.

Once while she was sleeping, he had sneaked a peek in one of the 5 notebooks she'd filled, only to realize it was gibberish to him. He skimmed the others to find them just as incomprehensible. There were a few words here and there that he recognized, but for the most part it was a messy code that only she could decipher.

She was a mystery.

Evergreen had a point that they knew little nothing about her. Even though she opened up to Bickslow, she still held things back and avoided key topics. When he really thought about it, he knew some things about her, but really not that much.

Ironically, as his popularity declined, hers did the opposite. The others started getting along with her more, being slightly more at ease with her intimidating magic, and starting more conversations with her. She was still a loner most of the time but now when people talked to her, they weren't masking their fear for her.

They were surprisingly good at keeping their relationship under wraps. The only people that knew anything were his team, and while the others suspected something more intimate between the pair, they ultimately didn't care enough to investigate. Mira of course did, but she was actively trying to pair random people up all the time.

"Looks like someone is eyeing Claire." Evergreen commented, getting the man's attention. He'd been chatting with them for some time now and pretended to be as carefree as he always was, but he wasn't all there. The stares kept him from truly feeling comfortable, and he'd rather be snuggled up with his girlfriend eating pizza.

His gaze moved to where she'd pointed, his eyebrows furrowing under his visor. "Who the hell is that guy?" He asked, and the other two shrugged.

1.

Claire paid no mind to the brawl taking place, since it sounded like the typical bar fight. She was further researching Fiore Law and specifically child abuse laws in hopes to help Bickslow's family. It surprised her how similar it was to the laws on her home world, at least on paper. Whenever she skimmed through the book she couldn't help but wonder just how close the police force in this world followed it, and whether this information would be helpful or not.

She tried to ignore the comments made about Bickslow. Rage swelled within her whenever the others would badmouth him, but she tried to keep a cool head. Literally, because there were barely enough chairs for people sit on already, with the rate that wizards here destroyed furniture. For the most part someone would interject and speak up for Bickslow almost every time, so there was no need for her to get involved, but it still irked her that so many of their 'comrades' were doubting him.

It didn't help that he'd avoided the Guild Hall for the week. His disappearance only helped fuel the rumor mill so that when he did finally return, the stares were blatantly obvious.

Even as she busied herself with notes, she could hear and see in the corner of her eye what they were doing. Unfortunately with all of her senses being heightened, since the parasite was taken out of her, she could head practically everything in the Guild Hall. Whenever someone said Bickslow's name she'd automatically listen in without thinking.

She frowned, sighing as she reached over and took a sip of her drink.

She took a small break from her notes to watch the fight, surprised to find that Bickslow had joined it. In fact he was the most active of the group and was fighting a particular person that she didn't recognize. They both seemed overly violent, and even from her seat across the room, could see that they weren't holding punches like wizards usually did in bar fights. Both of them already had bloody noses.

The guy he was fighting looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't place him. He had a giant red tattoo on his back and instead of a traditional shirt, wore only purple sleeves on his upper body. His pants were baggy capris with an orange cloth belt, and his black hair was tied back in a small white bonnet, which was falling off.

Noticing that the fight was more than just a friendly scuffle, the other Fairy Tail wizards tried to stop it. Fried and Macao tried to restrain Bickslow while Gray and Max tried to hold the strange man back.

"You know that they were fighting about you, right?" Claire looked up at the unexpected voice, seeing that Mira was standing next to her.

"What?" Claire asked, confused.

"They're fighting for you. I didn't hear the details, but somehow you're involved."

"… they're fighting for me?"

"Well, this _is_ Fairy Tail. I think every girl here has had a fight break out for them at some point or another."

"But I don't even know the guy with the purple sleeves." Claire said, staring the strange man struggling against the other mages. Elfman was helping restrain Bickslow now, and a few others had joined to help hold back the other guy. "What do I do?"

"You should probably go over there and try to calm them down. Seeing you might smooth things out a bit." She said with a smile, giggled at the annoyed look on her face. The checker woman stood up awkwardly and walked over to the group, sitting on a vacant table in between the two.

"So whatchya guys fighting about?" She asked casually, raising her eyebrows at the two men.

They both stopped struggling, stopping to stare at her.

" _I_ was defending your honor." Bickslow stated.

"No, I was." The other man said, smirking as the seith mage pulled against the arms holding him back.

"Bickslow calm down, this guy is just messing with you." Claire told him, trying to make eye contact from beneath his visor. She couldn't see his eyes but judging by his body language, he was still glaring at the other man. "Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"Name's Bacchus."

"He occasionally stops by and drinks with Kana." Macao stated. "Actually, he's been looking for a woman with black and white chess board hair for a long time now, haven't you?"

Claire looked back to the strange man, and she suddenly recognized him.

"You're part of that Quatro Puppy group, right?" She asked with a smile.

"It's Quatro Cerberus!" He corrected angrily, glaring at her. "And we're a wizard guild!"

"Cute." She said, causing him to pull against the men holding him back. In the corner of her eye she saw Bickslow smirking at the man's reaction. "So why have you been looking for me? Or do I just have the same hairstyle as your friend?"

Bacchus passed, staring into her eyes. The gaze was intense, and it unnerved her the way he looked at her.

"Search your feelings, you know it be true." He said, and she raised her eyebrows at the Star Wars quote.

"… you've been looking for me to exchange Star Wars quotes?"

Bacchus rolled his eyes, and likely would have face palmed if men weren't still holding him back.

"Not to interrupt this conversation, but can we let these guys go without them trying to kill each other?" Macao spoke, getting tired from holding the large man back. Bickslow was no Natsu in terms of strength, but he did have muscle.

"If he doesn't attack me, I promise not to attack him." Bickslow said, still eyeing the man.

"Same here, whatever. Are you really that fucking dense? Did the Arkam Asylum mess up your brain so much?" Bacchus asked the girl, his intense stare still locked on her face even as he was released from the grasp of her colleagues.

She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to understand what he was trying to tell her. "… Cory?"

He smirked.

Claire smiled, hopping off of her seat to approach him. "You little shit. You didn't have to beat up my boyfriend to get my attention." She said, and roughly pulled him into a hug, laughing. The others stared in confusion, surprised at the sudden affection between the two. However, since most of Fairy Tail was used to hugs followed by brutal fights, they went back to their original seats to continue their conversation.

"Eh. He bugged me." He told her, and after a moment they pulled away, smiling at each other.

"Shit, you're so old. How long have you been on this world?"

"Close to 16 years now." He said, causing her heart to sink.

"So how do you two know each other?" Bickslow asked, standing especially close to Claire. If they weren't at the Guild Hall he would have put his arm around her.

"Bickslow, this is my brother, Cory. Cory, this is Bickslow." She introduced, laughing awkwardly at their non-verbal exchange. They both grunted and glared at each other.

"I go by Bacchus, now." He corrected. "How about we have a drink and catch up?" He asked, turning back to Claire.

"Sounds great. I've got a table in the back." She said, pointing to the table with her notebook, backpack, and drink. He nodded, and they both made their way to the table, leaving the seith mage awkwardly standing there.

Fried walked over and pat him on the back. "Let's go back to our table, huh?" He asked with a smile, having overheard the entire exchange that just took place. His friend grunted and made his way back to the table that Evergreen sat at, looking at him worriedly.

"So you've been here for 16 years?" Claire asked as she put her notebook away, once again looking at her –now- older brother's face. He had small triangle tattoos along the bottoms of his eyes, and looked so different that she didn't even recognize him. While she was putting her stuff away he had pulled out a hankerchief to press it against his bleeding nose. "Wait, you're not going to try and kill me, are you?" She asked, suddenly remembering her last encounter with a sibling.

He laughed loudly, the sound bellowing from deep in his belly. "Sounds like you met Kelsey. No, I'm not going to kill you. How long have you been here?"

"Only a few months. I got here a couple months before the 7 year time jump." She explained, and took a sip of her drink.

"So you got here during the anime timeline?" He asked, and she nodded. "You're lucky. When I got here I tried to join Fairy Tail, but it was so different from the anime that I decided against it."

"Is Kale with you?" She asked hopefully, but he frowned. Her heart sunk again, and she took another sip of her drink.

"I was hoping that he was with one of you guys. Carol and dad are still unaccounted for, so there's a chance that he'll show up with them."

"No, they're not." She corrected with a sigh.

"So you're Claire's brother?" Mira interrupted, smiling down at him. He turned to the white-haired mage, still stunned by his sister's information, and nodded. "I never would have guessed. You two look nothing alike."

"If her hair wasn't a chess board, we'd probably look more alike." He said, trying to sound light hearted. "Could I get a drink?"

"Sure, what would you like?"

"The strongest drink you have." He replied.

"I'm going to need a refill on this pretty soon, too." Claire added, sipping away at her drink down to the ice. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

"Oh… well, I'll get started on your drinks. If you need anything else, let me know."

"Thanks Mira." Claire said with an appreciative smile, feeling bad for making her so awkward. She was just trying to be friendly, but her timing could have been better.

"So you found Carol and Dad? Where are they?" Bacchus asked once she was out of earshot. They were relatively secluded from the rest of the Guild, since most of it was empty and she had purposely claimed the empty corner for privacy.

"Carol is the reason we reason we were sent to this world. Well, part of it, at least." She said, causing his eyes to widen. "Turns out, she and I are the human counterparts to dragons on this world. When her counterpart died, her dragon mate got love sick and tried to summon her human version from our world. Consequently our entire family was dragged here."

"Are you fucking serious? We were transported here because of a stupid dragon's boyfriend couldn't handle his shit?"

She nodded, sighing. "A few weeks after arriving, I found her in jail, and bailed her out. That night the dragon took her, and I haven't seen her since."

"What about dad?"

"Dead. Appeared on this world 30 years ago. To my knowledge, neither of them had Kale with them." She explained, watching her brother's face fall at the information.

Mira returned with their drinks, but neither of them looked at her. Sensing that it was a sensitive moment, she simply dropped off the glasses and went back to the bar, watching the pair with a worried expression.

"So you've met Kelsey and Carl?" She asked, watching him nod numbly.

"I met mom, too, before she killed herself." He said softly, and she frowned.

Claire picked up her glass and held it up. "To family, however fucked up it is." She said, and with a wry smile, he grabbed his glass and clinked it with hers. After taking a sip of her drink, she watched her brother chug the entire beverage in one go. "It's not a contest."

"I have a high tolerance. This is nothing." He said after slamming the glass back down, and shook his head abruptly.

"So… in summary: mom killed herself, dad died from not having his meds, Kelsey and Carl turned into assassins, Carol was kidnapped by a dragon, and our two month old Kale is likely dead. Am I missing anything?"

"I'm an alcoholic and you're a pyro." He said with a shrug. "Could be worse."

"I would ask how, but I know that that's just asking for trouble." She said, and he laughed, cheeks pink from the alcohol. "So tell me about your life on this world. What have you been doing for the last 16 years."

"Oh, you know. The wizard thing. Drinking, fighting, fucking, working. I didn't find any of our family until 5 years of being here, so I was alone for the most part."

"What did you do in that time?"

"I was put in an orphanage." He said, looking away from the sympathetic look she gave him. "It wasn't too bad. At first I actually really like it here. A world of magic and wonder." He said, smiling fondly at the ceiling. "But then it sunk in that I was alone, and it was pretty tough for a while. I learned martial arts and took up drinking. Turns out that I legitimately get exponentially stronger when I drink."

"Oh yeah, I remember that from the show."

"I was in the show?" He asked, blinking.

"Yeah, don't you remember? In the show, Bacchus fought Elfman in the Grand Magic Games."

"It's been so long since I've seen it, I honestly don't remember much from the show. I wasn't the biggest fan of it when I was 12, so it wasn't too helpful when I got here. My boy scout skills, on the other hand,"

"I figured that out of anyone in our family, you'd survive best."

"I dunno, you seem to be doing pretty well. What were you reading earlier?"

"Fiore Law. Bickslow has some family in a bad situation, so I'm hoping to find something to help."

"Bickslow?"

"The guy you punched earlier." She said, irked by the proud grin on his face. "You could at least act a little guilty about fighting him."

"I don't remember much from the anime, but I do remember him." He said, looking over at the seith mage that was pretending to not be watching them. "He's the creepy soul guy. I've also run into him a couple of times over the years."

"He's a good guy."

"So you actually like him?" He asked, turning back to her.

"Yeah. I like him a lot."

"You could do better." He snorted, and she chuckled.

"You've never approved of anyone I date."

"Because you date losers."

"So do you have a girlfriend?"

"… I have a few."

"Playing the player card, huh?" She asked, watching the cocky grin form on his face.

"Hell yeah, but I'm not ready to settle down. You, on the other hand, always got way too attached to the people you dated."

She shrugged, taking another sip of her drink.

"That Brandon guy was a piece of shit."

"Yeah, he was." She replied with a sigh.

2.

Claire found herself huddled in the corner of her room, realizing dimly that she'd been there for several hours now.

Her curtains were closed. Soft light managed to get through the tiny, minuscule pockets in the threaded fabric, but it was mostly dark.

She was alone.

It felt oddly comforting to be wedged between the wall and her nightstand, the small space making her feel protected from the world. The side of her head rested on the wall, and every once in a while, she would lift and then hit it against the hard surface.

Bacchus had other plans in the city and couldn't stay longer than last night, but promised to visit when he could. He appeared fine by the time they had departed the night before, but just like her, she knew that he was just as rattled. After 16 years he finally had closure, finally had answers to questions that had haunted him for so long, and now he didn't know what to do. He finally knew why his world had been turned upside down and what happened to his family. He'd been holding onto a small glimmer of hope for the past 16 years, and now that light was extinguished.

She felt like a failure.

She'd been hoping and searching for her family, thinking that they were lost and confused, and she had to help them before they got hurt. That they were defenseless and scared, trapped in a world they didn't understand, and she had to find them before something bad happened.

But she was too late.

Bad things already happened to them.

She was 37 years, 30 years, and 16 years too late.

She was beyond happy that Cory/Bacchus was alive. Despite his faults he was still strong, successful, and making a pretty good life for himself. They exchanged nerdy jokes and references from their homeland, and their joyous laughter filled the small Guild Hall. From what he told her he had created a wizard guild that was like family to him, and they were all very close.

But their reunion was bittersweet. It turned out that their mom killed herself just a few years before Claire arrived, and Cory – _Bacchus_ \- told her where her grave was. She could never truly adjust to the change, just like their siblings, but the added heartbreak of their father's separation pushed her over the edge.

Just a few more years and she could have seen her mom one last time.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting like that when she heard a faint tapping on her window.

"You can come in." She said automatically, not even thinking before she spoke. She barely even registered saying anything at all until the man stumbled into her apartment, just as he always did. He could balance himself on flagpoles fine but could never enter her room without tripping on the windowsill.

It took him a minute to locate her, since she was in such an unusual place. When he did he walked over to her and crouched down, taking his visor off in the process. A bruise covered the side of his face from the fight last night.

"What are you doing over here? Did something happen?" He asked, looking into her utterly blank face.

She wanted so speak, but nothing comprehensible formed in her mind, nor could it be translated to her mouth.

"You seemed so happy last night. I thought you would have been spending the day with your brother." As he spoke, his babies appeared behind him.

"What's wrong with Claire?" His babies asked.

"Are you mad at me for fighting your brother last night?" No answer. "Because he was saying some pretty mean things about you, and I had no way of knowing he was your brother."

No answer.

He reached up and touched the side of her forehead, noticing that it was red. "Remember that whole 'honesty' thing we've been trying out? How you keep bugging me to share my feelings? It would be nice if that worked both ways."

 _I'm a failure._

 _Too late._

His long tongue licked one of her exposed knees, watching her face carefully. She didn't appear to be hearing anything he said, and he honestly had no idea how to go about the situation. Last time she shut down like this she at least spoke to him, and he'd been able to talk her into a meal and cheer her up. But she didn't say anything now. If she was crying he could at least pull her into a hug and comfort her, like she had done for him. But she wasn't crying. She could have been royally pissed at him and he'd have no idea.

Women are so weird.

He shifted so that he was sitting on his knees, and leaned over so that his arms wrapped around her bent legs and chin rested on her knees. Her legs were unusually cold for her. Wide green eyes stared into her blue half-lidded ones, searching for any indication of what was going on in her head.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" He asked after a while, watching as her gaze moved to his shoulder, and then to the wall behind him.

Her head suddenly hit the wall in the same place where the red mark was.

"Honey, don't do that. Just tell me what's wrong." The sound had made him jump and the implications terrified him. He'd never dealt with someone directly hurting themselves other than in fistfights, but in those cases the solution was simple: hit them until they came to their senses. The idea of her hurting herself chilled him to the bone, and he didn't know what to do. As he spoke to Claire he tried to speak softly, reaching up to hold the side of her head, hoping that if she tried it again, he could at least soften the blow. "It hurts my feelings that you'd rather hurt yourself than talk to me."

Nothing.

"Honey?"

He stopped her from hitting her head again.

"If you don't talk soon, I'm going to use soul possession on you. You're really freaking me out right now."

Her eyes closed as she moved in his palm, head moving to nuzzle part of his arm. He reached his free hand over to hold hers, glad when her small fingers intertwined with his large ones.

"I won't judge you, whatever is going on in your head. I mean, I talk to dead people on a daily basis. Pretty sure whatever you're going through can't top that." He said, glad when she finally cracked a small smile.

"Is mommy sad because daddy got in a fight last night?" Poppo asked, landing on his head.

"I told you guys not to call her that."

"Is she sad because you masturbated this morning?" Pippi asked next to his ear, causing the man to glare at him.

"She didn't need to know that." He retorted, but then heard Claire chuckle. "Actually, how the hell did _you_ know that?"

The soul giggled and flew a little ways away, spinning giddily.

Two of the other souls nuzzled into Claire's leg and cheek, humming softly.

"Kale wasn't with Bacchus." She said softly, her voice so low that Bickslow almost didn't catch it. Her eyes were still closed. "I'm 37 years too late to help anyone."

"That doesn't mean anything. There's still a chance that Kale is somewhere out there."

"Even if he survived, he could be an old man now. Just like Cory, growing up alone."

"What's with all this negativity? You found Cory, and you two seemed to really hit it off last night. Granted, he's kind of a douche, but he's not a crazy assassin like your other siblings. All considering he turned out alright."

"But I'm his older sister, and I should have been there for him."

"By that logic, your parents should have been there for you. In fact all three of your older siblings should have been there for you, and instead they royally screwed you over. They even stabbed you; several times actually, if I recall. You can't feel guilty over something you had no control over."

"But I do."

"Well… don't. Stop it." He said, causing her to chuckle again.

"It's not that easy."

"Then make it that easy. Stop being all mopey and love meeeee." He whined, moving and grabbing both of her hands, trying to pull her up. "I wanna loooove you. And kiiiiss you. And do stuuuuff with you." He sang in a silly fashion, loving the smile that eventually broke out on her face. "I wanna huuuuug you. And huuuump you. And make sweet loooove to you."

"You're so weird." She said, and rubbed her tired blue eyes.

"Let's go get food. I'm starving." He said, letting his babies start playing with her and further cheer her up. As he pulled her around the room trying to get dressed, he also acted overly obnoxious and talking in his sing song voice, getting as many laughs and smiles from her as possible.

3.

Bickslow had insisted that after their little lunch date, she should go down to the communal baths and further relax for a while. Afterwards they would go into town and do a little shopping, namely to replace the armor that he had lost in the fire at camp.

She'd hoped that no one would be in the baths, but she wasn't that lucky. Without enough jobs to go around they'd been hanging out at the dormitories more and more, mainly to whine about not having enough jobs.

Or gossip about boys and crushes, which is what they were doing today.

Claire silently groaned as she took a seat on the farthest spot from the others, lowering herself into the warm soothing waters. She was surprised to see Lucy with the others, since she technically didn't live there, but she supposed it would have been easy enough to get her in. Guys were the only ones not allowed, after all.

"Claire!" Lucy called out, effectively announcing the checker woman's arrival. She awkwardly waved back.

"Hi."

"So Bacchus is your brother, huh?" Kana asked with a smile.

"Do you know him?"

"We've had a few drinking contests over the years. I always win." She said with a smirk.

"No you don't." Levy countered, causing the smirk to falter.

"Okay, he's the only person to ever beat me in a drinking contest. He is fun, though. I can't believe you two are related."

"Are you saying that Claire's not fun?" Lucy asked, and the brunette shrugged.

"I'm not sure I want to be Kana's definition of 'fun'." Claire said, laughing with the others at the confused and offended expression on her face.

"In all seriousness, I'm glad that you and your brother found each other." Erza said nearby, causing the checker woman to turn and look at her, having not noticed her before. "It sounds like it's all coming together."

"Yeah. In terms of finding family, I've found all of them, pretty much."

"What about Kale?"

"He wasn't with anyone when he crossed over, so I'm not holding out on him being alive. I'm just happy that Cory is safe and sound."

"Who's Cory?" Lucy asked curiously.

"It's Bacchus's real name."

"His real name is Cory!?" Kana snorted nearby, and burst into hysterical laughter.

"I wouldn't give up on Kale just yet, Claire." Erza said, causing the woman to give her an inquisitive look.

"Do you know something that I don't?"

"No, but I have a gut feeling that he's still out there."

"Who's Kale?" Lucy asked, and before she knew it, Claire found herself thoroughly surrounded by the other women and their curious gazes.

"My most likely dead baby brother. Erza my parents didn't even survive on this planet I highly doubt that a 2 month old could have. You said he wasn't with my dad, and Bacchus said that he was the most likely candidate for being here with him."

"Planet? Are you from another world?" Kana asked curiously.

"I came here to relax, not be interrogated. Either leave me alone or I'm leaving."

"Is someone in a hurry to get back to Bickslow?" Evergreen asked nearby, furthering her frown.

"So you two are dating?" Lisanna asked.

 _Of all the days for them to be interested in my personal life…._

"That's none of your business."

"You should have seen how lovey dovey they were on our beach trip. It was adorable." Evergreen spoke up nearby, and when Claire tried to leave, Erza grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back down.

"You have a boyfriend?" The red head asked, a glint in her eye that unnerved the checker woman.

"She looooves him." Ever teased.

"Not as much as you love Elfman."

"We're talking about you first. Then we'll get to Evergreen's love interest." Erza said sternly, shifting her gaze briefly to the brunette and making her eyes widen. "Now, tell me about you and Bickslow. Has he taken advantage of you?"

"No."

"Have you guys kissed yet?" Levy asked.

"Can we not gossip about my love life?"

"You have to give us details." Erza said, pulling her back down when she tried to leave again. "How long have you two been dating?"

"None of your business."

"Have you guys made love yet?" Biska asked nearby.

"None of your business, and are all of the girls in Fairy Tail here today?" She asked, knowing that Biska didn't live in the dorms either.

"Yeah, we thought we'd have a girls day. We would have invited you, but you didn't show up at the Guild Hall today." Mira said nearby, and Claire realized with a sinking feeling that half the guild really was in that large room.

The checker woman took a deep breath, mentally readying herself for the barrage of questions preparing to bare down on her like a tidal wave. She could see the curious glints in their hungry eyes and knew this was just the beginning.

"Why Bickslow, of all people?" Lisanna asked.

"Because why not?" She countered.

"Doesn't his weird dolls creep you out?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Doesn't he steal souls?" Lucy asked, remembering back to her fight with the seith mage.

"No."

"Come ooon, give us details. We wanna know." Lisanna said. "Last time we talked, you said he was your 'best friend in the world'."

"He is."

"She loooooves him." Evergreen teased nearby.

"So why Bickslow?"

The questions kept coming, and she eventually just stopped answering, instead glaring at all of them. Erza would sometimes hit or pinch her into saying something, but it was easy enough to burn her and get out of her grasp. It took her over an hour before they finally gave up and let her leave, but not before trying to pressure her into staying with them for the rest of the day. Under threat of burning them with her fire they really couldn't do much else to make her stay.

"How was your bath? You were down there for a long time." Bickslow asked when she walked in, turning down the volume on the lacrima screen and looking at her. Without saying anything, she sat down next to him and cuddled into his side, burying her face in his chest. "… you okay?"

After another minute of silence, he sighed.

"… And back to square one."

4.

"Were you in the communal bath yesterday?" Bickslow asked the brunette, sitting across from her in the Guild Hall. He was tired and pissed off, having tried to cheer Claire up again the previous day with limited success. He hated seeing her like that. Instead of shopping they stayed home and ordered pizza, cuddling and watching movies. The only thing she would tell him is that the guild now knows about their relationship, but other than that, she wouldn't say a word.

"I bathe everyday." She said indignantly, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I mean with Claire."

"Oh… yeah, the girls in Fairy Tail had a 'girls day' yesterday, so we all saw her there."

"So you know what happened?" He asked, his babies echoing his question behind him.

"… know _what_ happened?"

"Whatever the hell happened to make Claire so upset yesterday."

"All we did was ask her a few questions. We didn't do anything to her."

"And by 'ask a few questions' you mean interrogate her, I'm guessing. What the hell is wrong with you guys?" He snapped. Ever paused from filing her nails, knitting her perfect eyebrows together in confusion.

"We just asked her a few questions about your little _love affair_. She didn't say anything incriminating about you, unfortunately… if you're worried about that. We also invited her to spend the day with us and go into town, but she insisted she had other plans. I'm guessing with you."

"We did have plans…. And then you guys made her so depressed again that she wouldn't talk anymore. Do you have any idea how long it took me just to make her start talking that morning? It took me hours to finally start cheering her up, and then you guys fucked all of that up."

"Woah, dude, calm down. She didn't seem that upset when she left. We really did just ask her about you, it was harmless."

"So instead of comforting her, since she just found out half her family is dead or missing, you interrogated her about dating me, which you know that we've been trying to be quiet about. Did you even try to help her, or did you spearhead it? Fucking ironic considering that she wouldn't tell me shit about you and Elfman. She cared too much about your privacy and friendship that we almost had a fight about it."

She sat there stunned, having never seen him so upset before. Sure they'd had squabbles over the years and once in a while they crossed a line with each other, but there was always a playfulness behind it. Bickslow would stick his tongue out and throw food at her, or retaliate with some kind of juvenile prank. But now, he wasn't sticking his tongue out or making stupid jokes about how terrible she was, he was just glaring at her with his babies glowing eerily behind him.

Before she could articulate a response he got up and left, babies in tow and ignoring the people trying to talk to him.

"What was that about?" Mira asked as she approached the three wizards, having only heard part of the conversation.

"Apparently you guys upset Claire yesterday. Bickslow was confronting Evergreen about it." Fried spoke when the brunette stayed quiet, still shocked at what just transpired.

"She didn't seem that upset when she left. A little annoyed, maybe, but it was just harmless fun." Mira said. "If they are dating, it could be that Bickslow is just overreacting to something she said. I wouldn't put too much thought into it, Evergreen."

"Did you guys know about her family?" Ever asked Fried and Laxus. "That they're dead or missing?"

"Shortly after Bickslow's sisters dropped their children off with us, she did say that she lost a lot of family. Perhaps seeing Bacchus the other day brought back painful memories for her." Fried surmised, watching as the two women frown and ponder the previous day.

"I had no idea about her family. Her and Bacchus did seem awfully tense when I was bringing them their drinks."

"Have you guys ever seen Bickslow so upset before?" Evergreen asked her team.

"A couple of times." Laxus shrugged. "He only gets that upset when someone messes with his babies. I don't think I've ever seen him act that way for a girl, though. Maybe you guys really did rattle her."

5.

"Special delivery for Checkers~" Bickslow said, knocking on her open window. After she muttered an invitation, the enchantment allowed him to enter, and he immediately hopped onto her bed. She was still laying where he had left her, hiding under the blankets and hugging one of her pillows. He had his babies carry the food into the living room while he crawled over to the woman, gently pulling the blanket from her face.

She turned her face into the pillow, away from him. "Are you going to break up with me?"

He paused, both surprised by the question and by the fact that she actually talked. "No. Do you want to?"

"I'm sorry for being so 'mopey'."

"Hey, don't worry about it. We all have our off days. I just want you to feel better." He placed a small kiss on her cheek, wrapping his arms around her and feeling her shiver. "When was the last time you ate fire?"

The lack of response was hardly surprising, but he took it as a sign that she probably hadn't in a while.

"I got some fire lacrima while I was out. Let's go eat and watch some cheesy movies I picked up at the store."

"Why are you so nice to me?"

"Cuz you've got a cute butt." He said, smiling when he saw that grin finally appear on her face. She looked up at him, their faces only separated by the noses that gently touched each other. Shifting so that she could look at him better, he noticed that she seemed to be feeling tons better than the previous day. Instead of that blank and empty face it was sad and curious, with a dash of affection mixed in. "You're also my girlfriend, and I want you to be happy. I take my boyfriend duties very seriously. Why all the questions about my motives?"

"I guess I'm afraid that you're going to disappear."

"I'm not going anywhere. Now come on, my babies are waiting for us in the living room."

"We have food and happy things to cheer Claire up!" His babies said loudly from the other room, and he internally groaned, having forgotten to recast the silencing charm.

"Actually before we go in there, I have a question for you." Bickslow said, watching her eyebrow raise cutely. "So, you mentioned having weed in your world…. Did you ever smoke it?"

"… On occasion. Why?"

"Since you were feeling down, I may have bought some… extra goodies. Not that I'm pressuring you in the slightest but, you know, if you felt like some giggles, we've got it. I also got some alcohol, munchies, chocolate, lunch, dinner,"

"Just how much stuff did you get?" She asked curiously, smiling up at his awkward expression.

"Anything that might cheer you up. The lady at the store said that chocolate is a for sure remedy for sad girlfriends. You also mentioned once that you were from pot land, so I figured a little bit of something from home might make you feel better."

"You didn't have to do all of that for me."

"Oh okay, I guess I'll leave then." He said, pretending to leave. To his relief she pulled him back, bringing his lips down to hers.

"Thank you for being so thoughtful."

"Thank you for smiling again."

"What's taking you guys so long?" Poppo asked as he entered the room.

"Shhhh, mommy and daddy are having a moment." Pippi said as he bonked into the other soul, beginning an argument between the two.

"I don't know how people can dislike your babies so much." Claire commented, watching them bicker and rope in the other souls into it.

"It doesn't matter what other people think." He said, and then hopped off the bed and held out a hand to her, pulling her to her feet.

6.

"Do we have all the ingredients?"

"Do you guys really think this is a good idea? I'm not sure that baking will make her feel better…" Lucy said awkwardly.

"Who the hell is going to turn down free food?" Kana asked, munching away at the bag of chocolate chips. Lisanna snatched the bag from her and put it back on the counter.

"I think it's a great idea." Michelle offered, standing next to the blond. "I'm sure she'll appreciate the thought."

"Assuming we don't burn down the entire building…."

7.

"Duuuude… this stuff is sooo much stronger than on my planet." She giggled, watching Bickslow's babies bounce around the air, giggle, and spin animatedly while glowing on and off. "Am I floating right now?"

"Maybe we should slow down a bit." He said, slowly taking the pipe from her and setting it on the table. The woman didn't even notice, continuing to watch with wide eyes as his babies entertained her, who were absolutely ecstatic at having her complete and utmost attention. He had to admit, they were pretty fun to watch when stoned. Especially with the lights off, it was basically a light show.

"We're moving?"

"Definitely taking a break." He said with a smile, glad to see her finally cheering up. Seeing her upset had been stressing him out, and with him his babies as well, so he was beyond thrilled that she was getting back to normal. After a day of drinking, smoking, and eating junk food, he figured she would probably be back to working the next day, or at the latest the day after.

But then there was a knock on the door, and he groaned loudly.

"Shit."

"Hey Claire, it's Evergreen. The girls and I wanted to apologize for yesterday. Can we come in?"

"Evergreen turned into a door?" Claire asked, giggling.

Bickslow looked over at his girlfriend, and then back to the door, wishing that he could kick Evergreen's ass right then. "At least it's not a 'surprise inspection'. Maybe they'll go away if we ignore them."

"Who?" Claire asked, turning to look at him. Her pupils were the size of saucers, and it actually startled him to see that they'd changed so drastically.

"… are you okay?"

"We baked you cupcakes. And brownies. And a cake." Another female voice spoke, and he watched his girlfriend's eyes light up. As she turned to go to the door, he instantly grabbed her, pulling her back to the couch and into his arms.

"We already have brownies, remember? And chips, and dip, and we haven't even touched lunch yet." He whispered softly in her ear, feeling her melt against his chest.

"Maybe she's not home?" One of them spoke.

The door handle jiggled.

"The enchantment is up, which means that she's inside." Erza announced.

"How the hell does she know about that?" Bickslow quietly asked, watching the door as Claire held his hand and stared at it, her small warm hands poking and turning it. "Tch, Evergreen probably spilled about it."

"Maybe she's sleeping?" Another asked, and he heard them whispering about what to do. A _very_ loud knocking sound caused him to jump, and he knew it had to be Erza.

"Maybe she's hammered and doesn't want us to see her." Kana spoke up.

"Just because that's how you deal with your family issues, doesn't mean that's how she does."

"I wonder how well Fried's enchantment will hold up against my blades."

"We're here to apologize, not destroy half of the building." Another wizard spoke, beginning a barrage of bickering and arguing.

Bickslow groaned again, trying to stay focused as he felt the effects kicking in. He had a higher tolerance and he didn't smoke as much as Claire, but he was starting to feel a bit toasty. If they had just come 10 minutes earlier, this wouldn't be an issue. The woman in his arms already had a hard enough time getting along with them, he really didn't want them to see her high. And with him, nonetheless.

"Claire, open this door or we're going to be testing how strong Fried's enchantment is." Erza announced.

Bickslow cursed and carefully pulled Claire to her feet, realizing that she could barely stand on her own. "Can you open the door?"

"You have a tattoo on your face." She said, reaching up and touching it with a grin. One of his souls somehow managed to locate a pair of sunglasses for her to wear, and brought them over to her. He quickly put them on her face.

"Poppo, you're going to help Claire get to the door and I'm going to speak through you to them. The rest of you are going to hide in the bedroom with me."

"Maybe you should let me do the talking." Poppo offered, but was ignored. As Bickslow carefully stepped away from Claire she grabbed onto the little totem, who started guiding her to the door. Meanwhile the rest went to hide.

"The silence charm." Puppu reminded him, and he quickly ducked out to undo the charm before hiding again.

"You have until the count of 5 to open this door. 1… 2…" Erza spoke, and stopped when the door unlocked. It slowly opened, and Claire leaned heavily against it, smiling at them with the totem floating next to her.

"Bixy asked me to watch Claire. Is there something we can help you with?" The small totem spoke to the group, acting rather proper. Bickslow really hoped that he was making the right call to let his soul do all the talking. This would be a terrible time for one of their little 'pranks'.

"Men are not allowed in this building."

"I'm not a man. I don't even have genitals." The little soul replied, earning a round of giggles.

"Can we come in?" Erza asked, peering into the small apartment.

"Erza, we're here to apologize, not interrogate her. Again." Kana told her, and grabbed the basket of baked goods from Lisanna and handed it to Claire. "I added a little treat." She said with a wink, and was surprised when the little soul scooped up the basket for her.

"We're sorry for yesterday." Lisanna said.

"We didn't know about your family." Lucy added. "I know what it's like to lose people close to you… If you need to talk, we-"

"Goodbye." Claire said in a sing song voice, and awkwardly closed the door.

"Thanks for the food!" Poppo yelled, and at that, Bickslow came back into the room and recast the silencing charm. He barely caught her before she fell over, giggling and laughing hysterically.

"Do you think they bought it?" He asked his soul, picking her up and carrying her back over to the couch. Whispers and voices could still be heard from the hallway, but hopefully they wouldn't keep bothering them.

"Nope. But I don't think they think you're here." Poppo said, and the others helped him set down the basket on an empty spot on the coffee table.

Another knock came from the door.

Bickslow took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to think of a way to get them to leave. It was incredibly distracting when Claire took off her shirt, claiming that she was hot.

"Claire, are you okay?" Lucy asked.

"I like your face." Claire giggled, crawled over to him, and started pushing him back into the couch.

"I like your face." He replied, smiling as she straddling his waist.

"Erza is threatening to break down the door again, daddy…"

8.

Claire woke up to a pounding headache and the feel of something warm under her head. Voices quieted down as she started moving, and she froze, realizing that she had no idea what happened. Her head was foggy, and as she tried to blink her eyes open, the light stung her eyes.

"She's coming around."

"Anyone got a fire extinguisher on hand?" Kana spoke. "I have a feeling she's not going to be too happy."

"How are you feeling?" A feminine voice asked above her, and when her eyes finally cleared, she could see a pair of blue eyes looking down at her. _When did Bixy's eyes turn blue…?_ "You hit your head pretty hard. Wendy healed you, but you won't be up to top speed for another day. She said there were drugs in your system, and was able to hurry them out of your… system."

"What happened?" She asked, looking around and noticing that there were a lot of faces looking at her.

… In her apartment.

None of them were Bickslow.

And she was using Lucy's lap as a pillow.

"Do you not remember?" Lucy asked.

"She did hit her head pretty hard." Wendy spoke up.

"Erza had Levy break the enchantment to get in. When she saw you and Bickslow going at it she kicked him out not so kindly." Kana explained, and took a swig from her drink. Still trying to clear her head and look around, Claire noticed that her coffee table was broken and there were slashes in the walls.

"Is Bickslow okay?"

"He'll survive." Erza spoke, standing off to the side with her arms crossed. Claire sat up, briefly closing her eyes at the spinning in her head.

"We were just worried about you, please don't be angry." Lucy told her, reaching her hand out to touch her shoulder. She gave a surprised gasp and pulled it back, nursing the small burn on her finger.

"We just wanted to apologize for yesterday, and since you were acting weird, got… concerned." Evergreen said, laughing awkwardly as she saw the flames dance erratically on her skin, and burn part of the blanket that she pushed off of herself. "Erza's the one that broke the door down."

"You seemed drugged, and with the presence of his doll, I was concerned that he was taking advantage of you. And I was right."

"No one got a fire extinguisher? Really?" Kana asked, looking around at the women. There were only 7 other women in the room, all of whom were just standing around and staring. The others had left after the chaos, either not wanting to face the dragon's wrath or bored from waiting for her to wake up.

For a moment, Claire did nothing but stare at Erza. Their cold glares were enough to send a shiver down everyone's spines, and the ones standing took a hesitant step back. The air smelled like stale weed and food, including the muffins they baked her on the counter.

Claire stood up and walked to Erza, looking up into her brown eyes and stopping just in front of her. Clad in only pajama pants and a sports bra, she stared down the red head, meeting her gaze head on.

"I understand that I broke the rules, and I'll take responsibly for it. But if you hurt Bickslow or accuse him of that bullshit again I will burn you to the ground."

"I'm not going to apologize for what I did. I saw a member of Fairy Tail in help so I intervened."

"Help that I did not need nor ask for. Erza, you already know what I've lost. I'm telling you what I'll do to protect what I have left."

"I know what it's like to lose family, and I know that you're probably vulnerable right now. But you don't need to sleep with someone to get attention or help." Erza's eyes softened and she placed her hands on the woman's forearms, only to retract them when they burned.

"I'll be out by the end of the month. Just add the damage you did to my bill." She said, and then turned to Kana. "Do you know where Bickslow went?"

"No clue." She said, putting her hands up.

"If not the Guild Hall, then probably Fried's." Evergreen spoke up, feeling the wrath of yet a second pair of angry eyes on her that day.

"You don't need to move out." Erza said, her voice strong and steady. "I'll have Levy fix the enchantment so that he can't come back in here. There's no need for you to leave."

"Yes there is. If the only reason you people feel like talking to me is because I'm fucking some guy at our guild, then there is definitely something wrong with you and I do not want to live under the same roof as you."

She silently walked away from the group to go back to her room, finding more damage from Erza's blades on the walls and to her bed. After grabbing a shirt she walked back into the living room and to the hallway, ignoring Wendy's voice telling her to stay and rest.

She didn't care that she was still in her pajamas, and given the fire dancing along her exposed arms, none of the girls wanted to follow her. Lucy made an attempt, but was held back by Kana.

9.

"So… how's Claire doing?" Evergreen asked awkwardly, breaking the silence that had befallen the group. It was now the morning after, and they'd been sitting there for some 10 minutes without speaking.

"I haven't seen her. Hasn't she been with you guys?" Bickslow asked with a frown. He took another sip of his hot tea, trying to keep his anger down as he looked at her. He felt more embarrassed than anything, and of all days, he was glad for his visor to shield most of his red face at the awkward glares.

"As soon as she woke up, she stormed out saying that she was going to find you, and I told her that you'd probably either be here or at Fried's place."

"I went to both of those places, but she didn't show."

"I peeked in her apartment this morning and it didn't seem touched since yesterday, so I figured she was with you."

Bickslow groaned, reaching his hand under his visor and gently rubbing his temples.

"We really were just trying to apologize. We destroyed half the kitchen making that food, and then… Erza got carried away…."

"So now Claire is missing, and you guys are probably going to blame me for that too, right?"

"Of course not. Maybe she went to Lucy and Michelle's apartment for the night?" She suggested hopefully, unsuccessfully hiding her guilty expression. "Since she threatened to kill Erza, it makes sense that she wouldn't want to go back to Fairy Hills."

"She threatened _Erza_?" Both Fried and Bickslow asked in unison.

"She told Erza that if she attacked you again, she'd burn her alive. Also that she would be moving out by the end of the month."

"Which, of course, she's broke with nowhere else to go. I try to cheer her up and I end up making her homeless and more isolated than ever." Bickslow sulked, staring at the brunette in front of him. As he watched her he could tell that she felt bad about the entire situation, and didn't doubt that she had good intentions the previous day. Evergreen had always been a bit awkward and never really got along with other wizards in the guild, much like the rest of Thunder Legion, and as a result she wasn't good at talking to people. Knowing her, she easily could have been trying to tease Claire about their relationship the other day, oblivious to how much it bothered the checkerboard woman.

"… Should we go look for her?" Fried asked after a while, but then was instantly sidetracked when Laxus walked into the guild. "Laxus!"

The Thunder Legion looked up at the blonde, but Fried was the only one enthused by his presence.

"How are you today, Laxus?"

"I'm not too bad. Just stopped by to let you guys know that Claire stayed at my house last night." He spoke. Both Bickslow and Evergreen snapped their attention to him.

"Is she okay?"

"Why did she stay at your house?"

"You let someone outside the Thunder Legion in your home?" Fried whimpered to the side.

"I found her wandering around the woods last night, so I let her crash on my couch. She was pretty out of it and barely said anything. Did something happen?" He asked, looking between the two guilty looking mages.

"The entire female population of Fairy Tail walked in on us getting high and making out… so Erza destroyed her apartment and hit her head pretty hard."

"Wendy healed her, but she still needs to rest for a few days." Evergreen added.

"I'm a fucking saint compared to you right now." Laxus smirked at the seith mage, who stuck his tongue out at him and glared.

"Whatever, dude. How is she doing?"

He shrugged. "I think you guys broke her. She's barely said a word."

"Is she still at your house?"

"She was still sleeping when I got up."

"Speak of the devil." Fried spoke, looking behind them and getting their attention. All three wizards turned to look in the direction he was facing, surprised by the checker woman entering the Guild Hall. She went straight to the job board and started looking at the flyers, completely ignoring the other people in the room.

"How the hell did she move so fast?" Laxus quietly asked, scratching the back of his head and looking at her. "She was still sleeping when I left…"

"She appears to be okay." Fried commented, noting that she was showered, overall well groomed, and even donned a new outfit he hadn't seen before. She wore a pair of black skinny jeans with a black and white sleeveless shirt, and her belt had several small chains hanging from it that gave her a very 'punk' look. She also wore earrings, which surprised the sieth mage, since he never noticed they were pierced before. "I thought her fire magic burned through her clothes?"

"Natsu's clothes haven't been holding up, so she's been thinking of switching back to normal clothes." Bickslow answered, still staring at her. There were only two jobs on the board, both of which were shit jobs, so he understood her hesitance in picking one. One of them was working with the black smith, which she had done once before, while the other was help with a construction site, the employer just as mean –if not worse- than the blacksmith. Both of them were hard work for little pay, if the employer decided to pay at all.

She eventually picked up the flyer for the construction job, and walked over to the bar.

"You should go talk to her." Bickslow told Evergreen.

"What, why me?"

"Because I'm afraid Erza is going to start a war if I go anywhere near her, and you better catch her before she bolts." He said, and looked back over at the checker woman, noticing that she was having a conversation with the barmaid. Judging by the white-haired mage's expression, it wasn't a pleasant one. "And I have a feeling that Claire's going to be burning a lot of bridges if someone doesn't talk to her… literally and figuratively."

Before Evergreen could build up the courage to approach her, Claire was already walking swiftly out the door.

1.

"Bacchus?" Claire asked, pausing with a stack of 3 pieces of limber on her shoulder. The drunken man, walking down the path haphazardly, smiled up at the woman on the construction site.

"Sup, sis?"

"Working, you?"

"Just heading home." He said with a shrug. "Want to go grab a drink?"

"I can't now, but maybe tonight? I head home at 5."

"Oi, why the hell aren't you working? Get the fuck out of here." Her employer yelled at her, and took the pieces of lumber from her. "I'm not paying you to talk."

"You're barely paying me at all." She countered, glaring at him. "If you don't want me to continue, at least pay me for the past 5 hours of hard labor."

"Fuck no." He said, his eyes widening when a stray flame dances along her jaw and cheek.

"You see that entire section over there? The section I have been working all day on?" She asked, pointing to a section of the construction site. "I will burn it to the ground unless you pay me for the hours I worked."

"If you burn this site, I'll just charge your guild for it."

"If you really don't mind redoing all of that…" She said with a shrug, and started walking towards it, lightning her hand on fire.

"Okay, okay!" He yelled, running over to her and carefully setting the lumber on the ground. He pulled out his wallet and gave her $50.

"Thank you, good sir." She said with a smile, and walked over to her laughing brother on the sidelines. She tossed her workers helmet to the edge of the site, where a bunch of other supplies were. Bacchus was currently doubled over and holding his stomach, still laughing hysterically when she finally reached him. "Still want to grab that drink?"

"Oh man, sorry for getting you fired, but that was awesome. You've really changed." He said, wiping away the tears that had formed on his face. "We are so related."

He slung an arm around her shoulders, and she was caught off guard by how strong he was. He placed a sloppy kiss on her cheek, and she made an exaggerated 'ew' sound as she wiped away the saliva.

"So why the hell were you doing construction? I thought you were part of a wizard guild?" He asked, removing his arm and regaining his balance. "And nice wardrobe change."

"Thanks… Fairy Tail is pretty desperate for jobs right now. It was either this or work for a cranky blacksmith. Since I'm moving out of my apartment in a week, I need all the money I can get."

"Why are you moving out?"

"The other tenants suck." She replied, hooking her thumbs into her pockets. Briefly she looked down at herself, checking for burn holes, and was happy to find none.

"Do you have another apartment lined up?"

"Nope. I'm dead broke, and soon I'll be homeless again."

"What the hell did your tenants do to make you that pissed off?" He asked with a smirk, looking at his sister curiously.

"When they're not terrified of me, they're interrogating me about my boyfriend. Yesterday they barged in guns blazing when Bickslow and I were hanging out, and destroyed my apartment trying to chase him out. My head got hit pretty hard, so I don't even remember any of it."

"Shit. I'm guessing that Erza led the assault?"

"Yeah."

"You mentioned people being terrified of you? What, did you burn down their Guild Hall or something?"

"When I first got here, I had not only my dragon magic but a parasite inside me messing with my magic. Almost everyone I've come into contact with on this world has been terrified of me because of the magic I give off."

"Could be worse. You could have actually worked for that magic." He said with a smirk.

"Losing everyone I ever knew and all of my family except for you isn't enough 'work'?" She asked, and he frowned. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. You had it worse than I did and it's not fair of me to complain to you."

"No, you're right. I didn't have power when I came here, but people were sympathetic because of my age. I was put in an orphanage but there were a lot of nice people there. There's nothing fair about what happened to us." He spoke, staring off into the horizon thoughtfully. They were now nearing the town again, and headed straight for the nearest bar. Claire followed close behind, chuckling at the familiar greetings and threats that her brother received.

"How did you cope when you first came here?" She asked after they ordered their drinks.

He shrugged. "I thought this place was awesome, and I loved it at first. Magic, fighting, wizards- what more could a 12 year old nerd ask for? But then once the initial euphoric aspect was over, and I couldn't find anyone from our world, it started to set in. I didn't find our siblings until I was… 19, maybe? And by that time I'd just created Quatro Cerberus." He paused for a while, not really answering her question and lost in thought.

"So do you drink to cope with it, or is it just a fun hobby?" She asked after a few minutes, bringing him back to reality.

"Both." He said with a grin. "Sure I miss my home world, but I don't let it drag me down. I gotta keep moving forward, and if I need a drink to keep going, I'll have a bottle. How have you been coping with it?"

"Until a couple days ago, I trained and worked my ass off so that I could find and help my family. Now that I know you're the only one left, and you've already been here for 16 years, I don't really know what to do."

"Huh." He muttered, barely noticing the woman that gave them there drinks, and watching his sister with a thoughtful expression for a moment. "That's kind of funny." He said with a chuckle, and grabbed his drink.

"Thanks for the sympathy, bro." She said sarcastically, reaching for her own bottle.

"No, I mean, when I first got here I whined and wished someone would take care of me. I was the complete opposite of you. It took me years before I even thought to send out a missing persons report for Kale, and would have for the rest of you if you weren't so old."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

"Pffft, there was no way in hell you could have helped me. If anything I should be sorry for not finding you when you first got here. I was a self absorbed asshole 7 years ago." He said with a smirk. "Hell, I'm still a self absorbed asshole, just slightly less of one."

"You do give off the vibe." She agreed, chuckling when he made a face at her. "So I'm thinking about leaving Fairy Tail."

"Why don't you temporarily work at Quatro Cerberus?" He asked, causing her to blink at him in surprise. "Don't quit Fairy Tail, but simply help us out on some jobs. You can be on loan to us until Fairy Tail gets its shit together, and pay off your bills. Ask if you can keep your apartment until you've got enough money to actually move out."

"… You'd really do that?" She asked after a moment, still trying to grasp the situation.

"I'm the bigger brother now, remember?" He asked with a smirk, and leaned back in his chair. "What kind of asshole would I be to not help my _little_ sister? I'll make a formal request to your Guild Master tonight, and you can head back to my guild with me to find a job."

"I… thank you. I really appreciate it."

2.

"You're leaving?" Bickslow asked with a pout, looking down at his girlfriend. They were currently outside the Guild Hall while Bacchus was making the request, standing by a picnic table and holding hands.

"It's not permanent. I'm just going to be working with my brother for a few weeks… maybe months, depending on the pay. It also depends on the jobs here, and whether Fairy Tail starts getting any good work."

The tall man pulled off his visor and hood, making his pout more effective. "But I'm going to miss you. And I'm moving into my new place in just two weeks."

"I'm sorry, but I really need the money and I really need a break from the people at Fairy Tail. I like you and I appreciate what you tried to do for me, but I am sick of people walking in on us and talking shit about both of us. I also want to get out of debt and it's a good opportunity to spend time with my brother."

"I'm sorry for being a bad boyfriend." He said, sighing and pulling her into a hug.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Bixy. And once I get back we'll have our own apartments to do what we want, without the threat of Erza trying to kill you."

"Speaking of which, I heard that you threatened to kill her if she tried to hurt me?" He asked, smiling and pulling back slightly, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"That is not an excuse for you to taunt her. I don't even think I would win in a fight with her."

"You underestimate yourself." He said, and tilted her head so that he could kiss her forehead softly. Next, he rubbed his face against her soft short hair, feeling rather catlike while doing so, and felt the woman laugh in his arms. "Be safe. I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too." She said, and then pulled back slightly to reach up to his chin, guiding his lips to hers for a short kiss.

"Yuck, you two are going to make me barf." The voice of her brother interrupted, making a grossed out face at them.

"You ready to go?" Claire asked, still holding hands with the seith mage.

"Yep. Are you?"

She turned to look at Bickslow again, glad when he was now sporting a smile instead of a pout. "Have fun, and don't worry about me. Let me know how it goes." He said, and gave her one last hug.

"Thank you. Good luck." She said, hugging him back and placing a small kiss on his cheek, then pulling away to walk over to her brother.

"Keep her safe." Bickslow told the man, who rolled his eyes at him.

"She's my sister, of course I will." He said, not bothering to look at the mage as he waved him off, walking down the dirt road with his sister next to him.

"So what kind of jobs do you usually do?" Claire asked her brother curiously, suddenly realizing that she had no idea what kind of work she had just signed up for.

"I'm the only S-Ranked wizard in my guild at the moment, so I only do S-Ranked jobs. You can handle yourself in a fight, right?"

"I, uh, yeah." She said awkwardly, suddenly wondering if she made the right decision.

 **Author's Note:** Regarding my portrayal of the Fairy Tail women in this chapter, I didn't want or try to portray them as 'bitchy'. For the bath scene, Fairy Tail girls have been portrayed gossiping about boys and teasing each other about crushes in the show, so it makes sense that they could get carried away questioning one of their friends, especially with the large group mentality. Since Claire has continuously been misinterpreted as a powerful mage because of her magic, and has been with Fairy Tail for a while now, they didn't consider that their questioning could be considered as hostile or make her so uncomfortable.

If Bickslow hadn't mentioned anything to Evergreen about the bath scene, Claire would have confronted some of the girls later on about the incident one-on-one, but would have ultimately gotten over it in a couple of days with no hard feelings.

Evergreen teased her about Bickslow because she's awkward and doesn't know boundaries very well. (not that many Fairy Tail wizards in general know boundaries) She also actually likes Claire, and given that they have nothing else in common, it was the only thing she knew of to talk to her about. Both the bath scene and Claire getting caught with Bickslow are ultimately her fault, but neither were out of malice or ill-intent.

Erza initially cracked down on the 'no boys' rule namely because she was stressed about the time skip. The downgrade in appearance with the girls dormitory and added having her apartment broken in to made her self-conscious about her abilities to run the dormitory. Chasing the boys around the building was a stress reliever, and made her feel like she was actively making the dormitories a safer place.

Erza knows more about Claire's situation than anyone else in the guild, aside from Bickslow. She's also extremely awkward, more than Evergreen, and is extremely protective of her friends. Not to mention violent. In the show she's shown protecting her friends with her fists and swords on more than one occasion. More than anyone (Bickslow is even oblivious to this) she knows that Claire is extremely vulnerable, and since tact is not her forte, tried to protect her to the best of her abilities.

None of the other girls wanted to barge into Claire's apartment, and Kana can relate to Claire more than anyone. Lucy is also empathetic, but is much more innocent and oblivious to sex and drug use.

All of this is going to blow over. Fairy Tail isn't known to hold grudges, and no one's feelings were hurt too much, mostly just awkward embarrassment and guilt. The only grudge held is Claire against Erza for a while, since she's still sore about having her apartment destroyed and barged into without her permission.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:** Again, sorry this is late. I've had a ridiculously hectic few weeks. -_- I hope that you enjoy this chapter, and have a fantastic evening!

 **Walking Cliché 10**

 _Love Me Please?_

"Stop moping." Evergreen chastised, and hit her teammate with rolled up magazine she'd just finished reading. He made no movement, instead just continued slouching forward with his head on his folded arms, staring off into the distance at the rolling hills. "We finally got our first actual job in forever, and you're ruining it."

"We've already finished the job, Ever. And he just misses his girlfriend." Fried said, and patted his friend sympathetically on the back. His babies were sitting around and on him, appearing to be in similar depressed states.

"It's not like she broke up with him or anything. She's just working with her brother for a while, and it's only been two weeks. He didn't even cheer up when Laxus was reinstated into the guild yesterday."

"It's a shame that Laxus couldn't join us today." Fried said with a frown, missing his blonde friend.

"We miss Claire…" Bickslow's babies whined. Both of the other wizards looked at them sympathetically, having never seen them so sad before; they were always so well behaved or happy, so it was weird to see them so down.

"You guys are so depressing. I miss her too, but this is probably great experience for her. She gets to spend time with her brother and reconnect with him, and pay back her debt at the same time. I wish I could do that." She said, and decided to hit Bickslow again with her magazine. "Be happy for your girlfriend and stop being so mopey."

"I can't help it. I miss her."

"What if we did s'mores tonight?" Fried asked.

"That just reminds me of when I had them with Claire…"

"You're turning down s'mores? Fried, check if he has a fever." Evergreen told him, now concerned for his friend. "Bickslow, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"How many am I?" He asked, flipping her the bird.

"With manners like that, how do you even have a girlfriend?" She asked, hitting him on the head again.

1.

"Makarov, is there anyway you can get Claire to come back early?" Evergreen asked the Guild Master, who looked up at her with a tired expression. He had a full glass of beer in his hands, and had just finished a mountain of paperwork he'd been procrastinating since his reappointment as the 6th Guild Master. He loved his children, but energy to do anything other than just sit there was out of his grasp.

"Why? I heard that she successfully finished her first S-Class mission yesterday." He asked, and took a sip of the cool liquid as he looked up at the pair. After the reinstatement of Laxus to the guild, he would have thought that he'd be seeing less of them.

"Bickslow is depressed and useless without her." Evergreen said, blatantly pointing to the slouched over man at their usual table. Makarov peered over at the young man, chuckling at his depressed disposition.

"Love sick, eh?"

"Very." Fried said solemnly. "Even s'mores won't cheer him up. And he loves s'mores."

"He's driving me insane. Please get Claire back." Evergreen pleaded. "I'm not above begging."

"I'm sorry, but it was Claire's choice to leave, and I would be a bad Guild Master to bring her back just because her boyfriend misses her... However sympathetic I am to his situation." He added, recalling his first heartbreak as a teenager. "Why don't you two try to take his mind off of her?"

"We've tried. Nothing works." Fried said dejectedly. "Even his babies are depressed."

"Hmmm… how about I go talk to him, and see if I can get him to shape up." The Guild Master said, and hopped off of the bar stool to join the young seith mage. Fried and Evergreen watched with hopeful eyes, wondering what the old man would say to cheer their friend up.

Upon seeing the guild master he sat up, straightening his posture for the older man. "H-hey Guild Master…" He stuttered. He'd been nervous around him ever since the Battle of Fairy Tail, and his sudden presence temporarily snapped him out of his melancholy.

"I hear you have girl troubles?" He asked, watching the young man's shoulders slump again.

"We miss Claire." Bickslow's babies said.

"We're not having troubles… we just miss her." Bickslow said sadly, adding a tired sigh.

"We're also worried about her." Another of his babies spoke.

"Bacchus is a very capable wizard. I'm sure she's fine." Makarov comforted. "How did you sneak into the girls dormitory, by the way?" He asked curiously, having heard what happened just over two weeks ago. While everyone had felt awkward about what happened with Claire, many of the guys had either congratulated Bickslow or tried to beat him up with limited success.

Bickslow smirked rather proudly, having been the only man (aside from Fried) to enter the girls dormitory successfully since the time skip, all without getting the shit beaten out of him by Erza. When she had busted into the apartment he was able to dodge her attacks and escape unscathed, and the fact he was high while doing it boosted his ego considerably. "Fried's the one that did the security, and I've been on the same team as him for over 5 years. It wasn't too hard to get past his enchantments."

"So you bribed him?" He asked, knowing very well that he wasn't smart enough to actually get passed the enchantments without help. The man nodded cheekily.

"He needed the money and I needed a place to crash. Back when Claire was homeless I let her stay at my place, so it was only fair that she let me sleep on hers."

"How long have you two known each other?"

"Only a couple of months, but it feels like forever." He said with a grin.

"Young love." Makarov chuckled, knowing that behind his visor Bickslow had the telltale look in his eye. "It's not the end of the world that she's working at the other guild. She'll be back before you know it."

"I know." He said with a sigh. "It's great that she's spending time with her brother… doesn't make it any easier, though."

"Aaw, are you missing your girlfriend?" Mira asked, pausing by their table.

"Yeah…." He replied sadly.

"Poor thing. I'll go make you a milkshake." She said with a smile. Bickslow watched her walk away, confused by the sudden offer.

"… did I just miss something?" He asked, turning back to Makarov.

"Almost 90 years and I still haven't figured women out." He said, shaking his head.

"Stop complaining about your girlfriend. It's not MANLY!" Elfman yelled nearby, pumping his arms into the air and flexing.

"It's not manly to be a peeping tom, either. _Elfman._ " Bickslow glared, smirking when the man turned beat red and sat back down. He turned back to Makarov, continuing to think about Claire in the back of his mind. "I'll bet Claire is having an awesome time right now."

Meanwhile, half way across the country…..

"Bacchus, Bacchus! Wake the hell up!" She screamed at the man, who was also tied up. Both of them were now dangling dangerously from a 100 ft cliff, and her brother was busy… sleeping. Not unconscious from a blow to the head or a fight, but he just drank too much. "Why the hell are all of my siblings trying to get me killed!? Bacchus, wake the fuck up or WE'RE DEAD! BACCHUS!"

Back at Fairy Tail…

"I'm sure she is." Makarov agreed.

2.

"How was your experience at Quattro Cerberus?" Makarov asked the young woman, noticing that she'd visibly changed considerably during her absence. Not only did she seem much more confident in her stature, but she seemed to have upgraded her clothes. Instead of wearing the clothes Natsu had given her, she was now wearing a much more elegant and tasteful outfit. Her orange long-sleeved shirt was adorned in beautiful embroidery and designs that he'd never seen before, and she had a fancy brown and red rope tied around her waist. It was very loose on her, but combined with her tight black capris, it looked great on her.

Her hair had also changed slightly from its usual checkerboard appearance. Instead of the 1x1 inch squares, they were now closer to .75x.75 inch squares, and the white ones were forming smiley faces on the sides and back of her head, giving a classic videogame look. Since there were no video games in this world it would be an inside joke between the siblings, but still looked cool nonetheless.

"Nearly died more times than I can count, but it was good pay."

"I heard you did an S-Ranked mission?"

"Several. None of them were very long, but we successfully accomplished… well, most of them."

"Haven't you only been gone a month?" He asked, surprised. Most missions of that rank took at least a few weeks, so the fact she finished so many either meant they were efficient, or they weren't true s-class.

"Since Bacchus is one of three s-class wizards in his guild, and the other two are currently on 5 year long missions, he's the only one that can pull up the slack. As a result we had to finish them fast and move on to the next job without a break."

"Sounds like you learned a lot. Will you be going back?"

"Yeah. We're both taking a break from work for a few days, so I'll be in town. Did anything happen while I was gone?"

"Religious conspiracy, world almost ended, Michelle turned out to be a doll. So nothing much."

"I did hear something about the church… huh. Is everyone okay?"

"Yep. Enjoy your few days off." The old man said with a smile, and she returned the grin, bowing slightly to him before walking to the bar. She looked around the Guild Hall for the familiar black and purple form, frowning when she realized the Thunder Legion was empty from their usual place.

"Hey Mira, is the Thunder Legion out on a job?" She asked the white-haired mage, glad that she was greeted with a smile instead of a slap. Ever since the 'incident' she'd been nervous about talking to anyone at the guild, especially Mira and Erza.

"No, I don't know where they are. If you're looking for Bickslow, I can give you his new address." She said, and Claire grinned.

"That would be great, Mira." As the woman pulled out a large binder to find his address, Claire looked apprehensively at her. "Look… are you guys mad at me? Are _you_ mad at me?"

Their matching blue eyes met for a moment, and Claire couldn't find a hint of malice in her kind eyes. "I was a little shocked at first, I think all of us were, but we understand. Sometimes we forget that you haven't been with us for very long, and we just got excited and carried away when we heard about you and Bickslow. Erza may not have gone about the situation the right way, but she does care about you, and she was just looking out for you. In our own way, we all were. Are you still mad at us?"

"A little, but I'll get over it. I think I'll be a lot happier once I get my own place." She said with a smile, and Mira nodded sympathetically. Going back to finding his address, she wrote it down on a notepad nearby and handed it to her. "Thanks Mira."

"Anytime. If you need to talk, hopefully when we're not too busy, I'll be glad to listen."

"Thanks." Claire said again, nodding to her. She then turned to look around the room again, her eyes locking with the loud man on the side of the building. Walking up to Team Natsu, she smiled at them and handed Natsu the leather bag on her shoulder she'd been carrying. "Thanks for letting me borrow your stuff."

He grinned. "No problem! Did you get those at the store I mentioned?"

"Actually, your clothes weren't fire resistant enough for me. I had to get these somewhere else, and they actually hold up a ton better, both in terms of fire and durability in a fight."

"Wait, you burned my clothes?"

"I can replace them, I just -"

"YOUR FIRE IS HOTTER THAN MY FIRE!?" He screamed, grabbing her by the front of her shirt and shaking her. "Are you sure you didn't just tear the fabric?! It's durable and fire resistant, but it can be torn in a fight or scuffle!"

"Natsu, look. They're burn holes alright." Happy said, having pulled out the green shirt from the bag he had tossed on the table. His wide brown eyes locked with the shirt and he quickly grabbed it, letting go of the checker woman in the process, staring at the small burn holes.

"I can replace those with my next paycheck, but it'll be another month." Claire said awkwardly, a little worried by his exuberant response.

"Let me eat your fire!" Natsu suddenly yelled, turning back to her and roughly grabbing her shoulder. "Your hottest fire! Let me eat it!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" She asked awkwardly, unsure how to deal with the pink-haired man. Without warning he blew a pillar of fire at her, startling the wizards surrounding them.

Claire easily ate up the flames, although Lucy screamed when it almost burned her.

"Fine." She muttered, and heated up the fire in her belly to maybe half the highest temperature she could get, and blew it at the dragonslayer. He sucked up the flames easily, and let go of her, breathing the fire back out and almost catching the ceiling on fire.

"Your fire is hot!"

"Natsu, you're going to burn the place down, you dolt!" Gray yelled, punching him in the face.

"Your fire actually burned Natsu!?" Lucy asked, shocked.

"Hey Natsu, didn't the person you bought this from guarantee they were fire proof?" Happy asked, looking over at his friend on the ground, who paused before jumping back to his feet to hit the ice wizard. "Pretty sure you could trade these for new ones if you took them back to the merchant and said they were faulty in design. He advertizes them as the 'most fireproof in the world', after all."

Natsu stared at the blue cat for a moment, and then smiled darkly.

Claire looked at him curiously, both hoping that she hadn't hurt him and wondering what that look was for.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Happy?"

"Yes… if you were thinking of fish."

"No, we can have a fire duo act now!" Natsu said happily and jumping to his feet.

"… or you could have Claire burn a few holes in all your clothes and get a new wardrobe. Didn't you say you haven't gone shopping in years?" Lucy asked, and the two pondered the idea.

3.

Claire felt exhausted just by talking to Team Natsu.

However, when she finally made it to Bixy's apartment, she couldn't help but be giddy. When she got there, she stopped herself just before she knocked on the apartment door. With her heightened hearing she was able to hear his soft snores, and soft hum of his babies on him. It was almost 1 in the afternoon, so she was surprised that the man was still sleeping.

She tried opening the door, but found it locked.

Remembering that he used to hide the key under the doormat, like at his old apartment, she stepped to the side and checked. Smiling at his obvious hiding place, she grabbed the key and quietly unlocked the door, silently listening to his breathing as she did so. When his breathing didn't change, she put the key under the mat again and fixed it.

Sneaking into his apartment, she felt her heart beating wildly against her chest. She'd never broken into someone's house before, and even though she knew the owner, she hoped that he didn't attack her out of instinct.

It was dark, but the light streaming from the cracks in the curtains gave her enough light to navigate. To her immediate left was a kitchen, in front of her was a messy living room with little to none furniture, and to the right was an open door leading to the bedroom.

Silently tip-toeing to the door, she peaked inside, holding her finger up to her lips at the souls that noticed her presence. They barely contained themselves, but nonetheless stayed quiet and still.

Bickslow was still sleeping, sprawled out on his queen sized bed and half covered in a bed sheet. His lips were parted, bare chest rising and falling with each inhale and exhale.

She slowly crawled into the bed, making her way to the sleeping man, and then started placing kisses along his chest. He grunted and turned onto his side, muttering that he 'didn't wanna get up'.

 _De javu…_

She continued her flurry of kisses, placing them along his neck and side of his face, grinning at him when his eyes finally creaked open at her. "Morning, sleepy head." She giggled, squealing when the man suddenly turned and flipped them. Now with her back against the mattress and a man hovering over her, warm butterflies through her at the change in pace.

"Did you miss me?"

"Only every single day of every single minute or every single second." He told her, his fresh dark green eyes searching her face for both the familiar and unfamiliar. The urge to close the gap between them was strong, but he held back, wanting to take in all of her features.

"I missed you, too. You realize it's almost 1 in the afternoon, right?" She asked, happy to finally be so close to him. Her body felt alive with sparks, as if he was shocking her with electricity just by looking at her. Temporarily stunned by his beautiful eyes, she just lay there, smiling like an idiot.

"Evergreen and Fried have temporarily kicked me off the team, so I haven't had to wake up early with them."

"Kicked you off the team? What happened?"

"We missed you!" His babies said happily, floating nearby and nuzzling her cheek.

"I got sad and drove everyone nuts, so they told me to stay home. But I've been enjoying the extra sleep and time to myself, so stop looking so worried at me."

"Why were you sad? I don't like you being sad." She said with a pout, reaching up and gently stroking his hair.

"Well now that you're here, I'm not sad. Problem solved."

"But I'm only here for a few days, and then I'll be gone for another month or so."

He made a small whining sound as he dipped his face down to her neck, breathing in her scent. It smelled different, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. While he stayed still for a moment, she played with his blue locks of hair with one hand and the other slowly rubbed circles on his back. "This is a new shirt." He stated, noticing the orange fabric.

"Yeah. I got new clothes while I was gone." She replied, and suddenly felt a rather hard object poke her thigh. Wondering if he was going to act on it or simply stay close in that position, she let him decide their pace. "So, I figure that since I'll only be here a few days, we should make the most of it."

"Mmmhmm~" He hummed, still breathing in her scent as he trailed the tip of his nose along her neck, sending chills down her skin.

"What do you want to do while I'm here?"

"Well, one thing in particular is on my mind, but we don't have to." He whispered in her ear, gently nudging his member against her thigh. She shifted slightly and then ground her hips into him, drawing out a low groan from the man. Their lips finally locked in a heated kiss, and as his babies giggled, he sent them away with a wave of his hand.

4.

She sighed happily, loving the feel of Bickslow in her arms.

Since their arrival they had already done two rounds, and although they were emotionally ready for another one, forced their bodies to rest and slow down. Bickslow could help but nip at her still perky nipple before settling down, wrapping his arm around her and laying his head on her shoulder, while her arms wrapped around him.

"You really did miss me." She said breathed, and he chuckled.

"Not that I'm not loving this, but I am getting pretty hungry. I haven't had breakfast yet."

"Do you want to eat here, or go out?"

"You wouldn't like anything I have here. Let's go out."

"I think we're both going to need a shower."

"We haven't done it in the shower yet." He said with a grin, and she giggled. Shifting slightly so that he could prop his head up on his arm, he found himself lost in her eyes again, wishing they could stay like this forever. "Would you hate me if I said something really stupid?"

"Honey, if I was upset by your 'stupid comments', I wouldn't be in your bed right now."

"But this one is really, really stupid. I don't even think I should say it it's so bad." He said, looking away and sighing exaggeratedly.

"You are totally building this up so that I'll be curious and just ask you what it was." She said, watching his façade melt in an instant and turn into a mischievous grin.

"Did it work?"

"Were you going to say that I have a cute butt again?" Claire asked.

"No… _but_ it's true you have a fabulous butt." He paused, his gaze moving to her shoulder, suddenly feeling indecisive about whether to speak his thoughts. As he debated whether to say it out loud, she slowly pulled him into a soft kiss, completely derailing his train of thought. Once she pulled away, smiling all the while, he just blurted it out. "I love you."

"Hmm…" She hummed, inching back slightly and taking a good look at his face as she absorbed the information. His eyebrows raised cutely at her, and with it the arms of his soul tattoo raised in the air as if cheering.

"Well take your time." He scoffed, tired of the anxiety wracking through him in the silence, even though only a few seconds had passed.

"Didn't I say I love you, too? I guess I just said it in my head. Did you know that when you raise your eyebrows like that, it makes the little dude on your forehead look like he's cheering? It's the cutest thing ever."

"I, wait, you love me?"

"Yeah, duh. I guess we're both kind of stupid like that." She said with a shrug, and giggled when he grabbed her wrists and pinned them over her head.

"You little…"

"You can't be mad at me. You loooooove me~"

"I can feel two things at once."

"Don't hate me." She pouted, looking up at him with her big blue eyes.

"Maybe you should make it up to me, hmmm?" He hummed, smirking down at her.

4.

The next day, Claire tore herself away from Bickslow to get her stuff at her apartment. Before leaving she had asked Erza to give her more time to move out, and she'd granted it. Now that Bickslow had an apartment again, he was willing to hold her stuff until she got her own place, so that she wouldn't have to continue paying rent here. (or having it added to her debt, anyway)

At the rate Bickslow and her were going, she wondered if she would be living with him by the time she returned. Until they actually had a conversation she would assume otherwise, but it seemed to be heading that way.

When she made it to her apartment, it was just as damaged as she left it. She'd have to talk to Erza about the repairs, and since Claire really didn't want to spend her days off fixing up the room, figured she would end up paying extra to have it fixed up.

As she made her way through the small apartment, she frowned at all the damage, but it made her feel better that someone had helped her clean in her absence. Glass wasn't covering the living room floor anymore, the carpet looked vacuumed, and the stains on it from spilling drinks were gone.

She continued to her bedroom, looking around for her belongings. The majority of stuff in her apartment was there when she got there, so looking for things she actually owned was a bit of a scavenger hunt. As she went around the room putting her stuff into her backpack, she realized that she'd accumulated more in her month with Bacchus than in her 3 months with Fairy Tail. Granted having an income helped, but most of the things she got were small keepsakes from her travels that were little to no cost, not to mention her fireproof clothes, which cost nothing.

When Fairy Tail starts getting good jobs again, she'd secretly hoped that Bickslow and the others would let her join the Thunder Legion, or the Guild Master would let her do the S-Ranked missions on her own. Now that she'd started doing the more dangerous missions she couldn't imagine going back to the 'shit jobs', and Bacchus had made her do a considerable amount of work to prepare her for them.

After getting her belongings, she made her way back downstairs, looking for the red head. She'd knocked on her door but had no answer, so she hoped that she was somewhere in the building on and not on a job somewhere.

"Evergreen, how's it going?" She asked, noticing the brunette sitting comfortably in the lobby. She'd been reading a book, which she had no idea what it was about, and looked up with an awkward smile at her presence.

"Pretty good, just catching up on a book I've been meaning to read. Since Bickslow is taking a break from the Thunder Legion, I have a surprising amount of time on my hands."

"What you reading?"

"It's a cheesy romance novel someone recommended a while back."

"It's not _Twilight_ , is it?"

" _Twilight_?" She asked, confused.

"Sorry, it's a book from my home world. Since I've been spending so much time with my brother, I forget where I am sometimes."

"'Home world'? So you _are_ from another world?" She asked, having expected it for some time now. With how often the woman accidentally called her 'hometown' a 'home world', it wasn't too hard to figure out.

"Yeah, I am. Bacchus is pretty open with his alien heritage, so I figure I might as well be, too."

"Are you from Edolas?"

"No, but it's similar. Do you by chance know where Erza is?"

"I think she's on a mission with Gray." She said, watching the woman make a face and look away. "Why do you need to see her?"

"I just cleaned out my apartment, but I need to talk to her about the damage. It would be nice to know how much I'll need to pay for it."

"I have a feeling that she's going to be paying for the damage that she caused. Look, I've been meaning to talk to you about that, actually…" Evergreen spoke, and closed her book, keeping it on her lap as she pushed her glasses back up her nose. "I'm sorry about that. In the bath I was just trying to be silly and tease you, and I guess I forgot that you two were being quiet about your relationship at the time. Since Bickslow and I make fun of each other all the time for people we like, I just… I don't know. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted."

"I also was the one that suggested we all apologize to you, and somehow it morphed into baking and destroying half the kitchen, and then Erza went overboard and destroyed your apartment…"

"That _was_ pretty awkward…" Claire muttered, looking out a window as she scratched the back of her head.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't blame you for that, but thank you for telling me. Baking was a nice gesture, and I'm sure I would have loved the food if I'd gotten to eat it." Claire said with a smile, noticing that the woman let out a sigh of relief at her words. "I'm still new to this world, and I'm still trying to adapt to it. Traveling with my brother has helped a lot, but in terms of making friends, I haven't had much luck."

"I'll be your friend." Evergreen said awkwardly, and the two exchanged a smile. "I've lived on this planet my entire life, and I haven't had much luck making friends, either. Are you busy right now?"

"Actually, kind of. I've got to get back to Bickslow. Why?"

"Oh… well, if you want, maybe we could lunch together when you're not busy?" The brunette asked, and Claire nodded.

"Totally, I'd love to. I'm only in town for a few days and I have a feeling that Bickslow will hog up my time, but after I'm done working at my bro's guild we should hang out."

"I heard that you've been doing S-Class missions with him?"

"Yeah. Almost died more times than I can count." She said with a laugh.

"The Thunder Legion mostly does S-Class missions. Maybe you could join us when we start doing those again?"

"If it's okay with the rest of your team, sure. I'd love to." Claire said with a wide grin, internally cheering at the convenient invitation.

5.

When Claire returned to Bickslow's apartment, she was surprised at the quantity of grocery bags on his kitchen counter. Upon her arrival he looked up at her with a wide grin, and his babies all cheered and bounced around happily.

"Are you hibernating soon?" She asked, closing the door behind her and leaning against the edge of the counter, looking at the bags of food.

"… yes?" He said sheepishly, removing his hood and visor.

"Do you usually buy this much food for yourself?" She asked, absently grabbing of the souls floating around her and hugging it to her stomach, lightly petting it.

"I may have splurged a little since you're here, but I do eat a lot of food, so it works out. Do you like Lasagna?"

"Love it. Do you want help putting stuff away?"

"Nah, me and my babies got it covered. Just hang out and relax." He said amid putting objects away, and with that his babies flew away from her, zooming around the kitchen putting supplies away. They seemed to have a pretty efficient system, so she didn't argue with it. "How'd your talk with Erza go?"

"Apparently she's on a job with Gray, so I didn't get to talk to her. I did talk with Evergreen, though."

"Did you two patch things up?"

"Yeah, we're good. She also brought up something that I was hoping to talk to you about." She said awkwardly, still leaning on the counter while they moved automatically through the kitchen. She was a little nervous about bringing it up, hoping that the topic wouldn't be moving too fast for them. They did just admit that they loved each other that morning, which was a huge step.

"What's that?"

"She invited me to join your team for jobs in the future." She spoke, watching him pause and almost get hit by Puppu in the process. "I understand if it would be too weird with us dating and everything, since you've been a team with them for so long. I don't want to push boundaries or anything."

"I, uh," He stood there for a moment holding a block of cheese, simply staring at her.

"It's no big deal if you'd rather I not work with you and your friends. They-"

"No, it's not that. You just caught me off guard. I'd love for you to work with us, but we do pretty dangerous missions."

"What do you think I've been doing for the past month?" She asked with a chuckle.

"But I mean, S-Ranked missions, which are more dangerous than the average job."

"As I said: what do you think I've been doing for the past month?" She asked, and he suddenly frowned.

"Bacchus has been taking you on _S-Ranked missions_? You've only been on this planet for a few months, and using magic for less than that. What the hell is he thinking?"

"Relax, he's kept me safe… for the most part. I've been learning more in this past month than I have my entire time in Fairy Tail. It's basically been a crash course on how to survive as a powerful mage, and I'm hoping to continue doing S-Ranked missions once I stop working at Quattro Cerberus." She explained, but his worried expression still plagued his face. He nonetheless went back to putting food away, moving slower and more awkward than before. "The pay is great. It's hard and dangerous work, but I like it. I've already paid off more than half of my debt from just a month, not to mention new clothes that won't burn even with my hottest flames."

He remained silent, avoiding looking at her.

"… are you mad at me?"

"What the hell is wrong with your brother? S-Ranked missions?" He asked, pausing before putting another piece of food in the fridge.

"Don't be too harsh on him. I mean, we are the last relatively sane survivors of our planet. Letting me die would leave him more alone than ever, so if anything he's been overprotective… kind of."

"But… still. You've only been on this planet for a few months and he's taking you on _S-Ranked missions_. To put it in perspective, we don't even let Natsu and his group go on jobs of that magnitude, and they've been using their magic for their entire lives."

"They've gone on a couple of S-Ranked jobs."

"By accident or because they were stupid enough to steal the job. Still, that's their entire group of man power and looking after each other. With just you and your brother-"

"We're less likely to get into extra trouble. Stop worrying about it, sweetie. I'll be fine." She interrupted, walking up to him as his babies put away the last of the supplies. The man was still frowning, looking into her amused eyes as she got closer and placed her hands on his waist. "I loooove you~"

"Your brother should know better." He said, looking away.

"You're worried about me. That's adorable."

He grunted, and his babies giggled happily around them.

The next few days went by all too quickly for them. Only three days until her brother stumbled back into the Guild Hall, drink in hand and announcing that they were leaving for yet another dangerous mission.

1.

Their mission only took a week to accomplish, and although it was relatively easy, the one after it sucked.

As soon as they entered the small town, they were assaulted by an array of merchants and children trying to sell them things. It wasn't a particularly rich town, but it was a port and got a considerable amount of traffic with tourists passing through to other destinations.

An old woman somehow convinced them to enter her small shop, and Bacchus and Claire exchanged a confused look when they realized that they were sitting in the small space. Their chairs weren't particularly comfortable, and the strong conflicting smells of incense burned Claire's sensitive nose. Upon further inspection the siblings realized that it was a small tent, and in front of them was a small round table with a crystal ball in the middle, along with every stereotypical fortune teller object they could imagine.

The woman looked to be in her late fifties with way too much make up, along with an assortment of rings and other jewelry covering her skin, and beautiful exotic cloth draping across her body.

"You two are not from this world." She said with a smile, watching the siblings shift uncomfortably in their folding chairs. They squeaked loudly with each movement.

"And how do you know that?" Bacchus asked curiously, sighing as he crossed his arms and leaned back, trying to come off as relaxed and bored.

"I know many things." She replied with a wink. "I know that you're on a dangerous mission. The last you two will be doing as a team for a long time."

"Do you have information on the people we're hired to take down?" Bacchus asked, and she laughed, head falling back in her cackles.

"What I see is I do not choose. Only few things are shown to me. I'm sorry, by the way. It must be very difficult for you." She said, suddenly turning to look at Claire.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but then she chuckled and sat forward with her elbows on her knees. "About what?"

"Your infertility. You lose so much family coming here, and then you find out you can't have any family in the future."

"Good thing I never planned on having kids." Claire replied easily, smirking at her sympathetic expression.

"Seriously?" Bacchus asked, and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"About having kids?"

"Being sterile."

"I never heard about it until now." She said with a shrug, and he rolled his eyes, now realizing that she wasn't taking the woman seriously. He wasn't either, but over the past few weeks he'd found it becoming more and more difficult to tell when she was joking; her deadpan look was way too good. That woman could probably clean him out in poker if he ever got stupid enough to challenge her. "So why'd you pull us in here?" Claire asked, turning back to the old woman.

"Honestly? I've never met someone from another world." She said, giggling. "You end up with 4 beautiful children." She said, turning back to Bacchus. He snorted.

"Yeah. Right." He replied, chuckling at the idea of having kids. Since he'd been in the orphanage and ended up in such a dangerous career, he'd given up on the idea a long time ago.

"One of them you've already had." She said with a smirk, and his amused grin fell.

"Ha ha, you're a daddy." Claire teased, grinning at his annoyed glare.

"Two years ago, you slept with a certain blue-haired girl in Hargeon…" The fortune teller spoke, and the woman watched his eyes widen in fear. "Owned a bookstore, married-"

"We're out of here." He stated, pushing himself to his feet and cursing at the lamp that scratched his forehead.

"Come again any time." The fortune teller said with a carefree grin, nodding to the siblings as they stood and left. Claire followed her brother close behind, quietly smirking at his red and terrified expression. As they reentered the busy and bustling street, they walked side by side in silence, occasionally bumping into passerby and avoiding eye contact with the venders. Once they got to a slightly less crowded area, Claire bumped his shoulder with his, getting his attention and grinning at him.

"What's the kids name?"

"She's lying." He said curtly, keeping his gaze in front of him.

"You seemed pretty freaked by it. Any chance she was right?"

"Any chance she was right about you?" He asked, and after a moment of silence, he glanced back at his sister. She was suddenly lost in thought, staring off into the distance. "… I was just joking, you know. Don't let what she said psych you out."

"Hmm? Oh, it's not that. I just realized that I haven't had a thorough check-up since I came to this planet. I can't cry or sweat, which could be nothing or couldn't be symptoms of something worse." She said, and shrugged.

"So it doesn't bother you what she said?"

"No. If I do end up wanting kids in the future, I might become a seith mage like Bickslow instead. Well, if it's possible. All the joy of being around kids without the gross parts."

"I still don't get why you like that guy."

"You and everyone else." She said, and with that, they were done talking.

2.

Bacchus and Claire stood in the mayor's office, standing with matching bored expressions as they waited for the meeting to start. Both of them had arrived on time, maybe a few minutes late, but apparently they were 'early' at the same time. The mayor apparently had a history of mages showing up late to his meetings, so he set the actual meeting for a half hour later.

Not only did he think they would be late, but he insisted that they stand in the middle of the room for the entire wait. Apparently the meeting would include not only some of the active citizens of the town, but also some of the local police force and a select few from the military hand-picked by the magic counsel.

So they had to stand there for thirty minutes in utter silence while the mayor did paperwork and the secretary typed away at her typewriter nearby, both of whom hushed the mages when they tried to talk about something to pass the time.

By the time the meeting started, both siblings were ready to get it over with.

"I'm glad all of you could make it." The mayor said with a politician's grin, beaming at the 20 or so people in the room. The citizens were the only ones sitting, and the rest all stood around the siblings, who were awkwardly smack dab in the middle of the room.

"Has everyone been briefed on the situation?"

"We're going to do that now." The mayor continued with a chuckle. "A dangerous group by the name of 'Chaos Cats' are threatening to destroy this town. Using the lava-" _Magma_ , Claire corrected in her mind. "-channel beneath the town, they plan to somehow destroy the town unless we give them 5 million dollars. Our intel suggests that they're going to destroy it with or without money, and since we've heard the demands yesterday, they have taken 5 people hostage. I've requested the presence of…" As he further explained the situation, the people involved exchanged curious glances at the new faces.

3.

Claire hated politicians.

In that moment, she decided to kill the mayor if she ever saw him again. _Burn him to the ground._

But she couldn't think about that right now.

How he had set them up to die, along with the 1,000+ people in the small town. They'd already killed the rest of the police force and military personal that had entered the vicinity, and now all that was left were the terrorists and two siblings. It had been a slaughter, and the only reason Bacchus and Claire survived was their resistance to heat related magic.

Bacchus was across the room with magic enforced rope keeping him in place, while Claire was in a similar situation, but closer to the group. Currently a man near her had a gun pointed at Bacchus, and even though there was some 50 yards between them, he'd proven to be an excellent shot. Nearby was also the controls to activate whatever device they were planning to use to destroy the town.

"We've heard of your fire magic capabilities." The man holding the gun said, still pointing it at her brother. "If you attack us, I'll kill your brother."

"Not to mention the other hostages." Another man stated nearby.

The checker woman wasn't a huge fan of being the center of attention, and the fact that she'd been put smack dab in the middle of a circle _again_ peeved her. She was surrounded by hostages being held at gun point, and behind some of them were the scientists activating the device. They were using the hostages as human shields, and they only felt threatened (rightly so) because her fire magic obviously outmatched theirs. Although they'd mistaken her for the infamous Salamander, they weren't far off in terms of power.

It suddenly felt oddly reminiscent of old spy movies she used to watch as a kid.

And, just like old spy movies, the bad guys were unusually talkative.

Did that make her James Bond?

If Bacchus was a character in the show, couldn't she be the sexy spy saving the day?

Scenarios were running through her mind for a non-lethal way to take them out and save the day; unfortunately, these guys were basically telling her that the only way to prevent innocent deaths was to kill them all at once. All of them having had experience with fire magic, they made false assumptions about the limitations in her magic.

Time was running out. She'd have to resort to killing them if something didn't change soon. Luckily they'd already gotten the order to capture them 'dead or alive', so consequences for their demise would be limited for her.

"It's not too late to give up, guys." She offered, knowing that they wouldn't accept, but figured she'd try anyway. "It's no reason to get yourselves killed."

"We must have hit your head pretty hard in the fight." One of them laughed.

"Tried to warn you." She mumbled, and then turned to the man currently pointing his weapon at Bacchus, locking eyes with him. "What's your favorite animal?"

He furrowed his eyebrows at her, confused.

"Tiger, probably. Why?"

His guard lowered.

She sent out a pillar of fire to all the cat-costumed bad guys, causing their heads to melt and hostages to scream as the headless bodies fell. As her fire left her body it had latched onto the body parts, burning them beyond recognition.

The way it burned, there was no blood.

No screams.

Just ashes.

Claire easily undid her binds and looked over to the device, noticing that it seemed un-activated. Although she was slightly concerned that one of the hostages could have been part of the gang, simply posing as the hostage, she figured that they would be too traumatized by the decapitation to do anything behind her back.

Making her way over to Bacchus, she easily undid his binds and helped him up, leading him over to the other citizens.

"You okay?" She asked him, and he nodded numbly, staring at her. Noticing the unusual look, she raised an eyebrow at him. "You sure you didn't hit your head?"

"Yeah, I uh… are _you_ okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. Let's get these guys to safety and have the military take care of this." She said, nodding to the device.

Bacchus nodded, not saying anything else, but eyeing her unusually calm demeanor.

4.

After a grueling day and a half of interviews with both the military and news, they finally got to leave.

They were both exhausted as they walked down the darkening path, their backpacks feeling much heavier than the previous days. It would be another two hours until they reached the next town, where they had planned to get a hotel room for the night and take a train the next morning. Bacchus was wearing a full shirt, a very rare sight, and otherwise normal clothing. Light purple t-shirt and jeans, with his hair pulled back in a single braid. After what happened recently he didn't really feel like wearing his fighting uniform.

Bacchus kept glancing at her from time to time, unnerved by her unusually quiet and relaxed walk. It was too… normal. Sure, they walked like this all the time, but after what happened he'd expected _some_ kind of change. The woman had just brutally decapitated 9 people.

It occurred to him that she was just good at hiding her distress, or maybe it hadn't really hit her yet. After a good hour of walking in awkward silence, he finally spoke up.

"So, uh…" He said, causing her to glance at him. "How are you, uh… handling it?"

"Handling what?" She asked, eerily normal.

"Have you killed anyone before?" He asked, watching her crystal clear eyes carefully.

"Uh… no. I guess that was my first time." She replied, and suddenly looked worried at him. "I didn't see any other way out of the situation. Did I miss something? Am I going to be in trouble with our guild masters?"

"No, you were in the right. Anything short would have resulted in the death of an innocent person. If I had your abilities I would have done the same thing."

"Will our guild masters be upset?"

"I doubt it. S-Ranked missions are ranked that way because they're extremely dangerous. Sometimes people die." He said with a shrug, and she seemed relieved. "But most people… myself included… get pretty freaked out after the first time. Some wizards quit their profession because they can't deal with it."

Her gaze returned to the dark path ahead of them, the last of the sun light disappearing in a haze of pinks and oranges. The trees lining the path made the shadows much more ominous, and both of them kept an eye out for any burglars in the woods, since they frequented the area.

"I guess… I'm wondering… how are you handling it?" He repeated, unable to think of a better way to ask the question.

"I feel fine."

"Just… 'fine'?"

"Well, we're not getting paid for the job, which is annoying, but otherwise yeah. We saved the lives of over a thousand people." She said, her voice even and still too normal for him.

"You don't feel… remorse? Any guilt?"

"I didn't enjoy it, and I would have avoided it if I could. But no, I don't feel guilty or sad over the death of mercenaries, who I have no doubt were murderers themselves."

"… no guilt whatsoever?" He asked, still eyeing her suspiciously.

"… should I?" She countered after a moment.

After staring at her for another few minutes, her mostly blank face quirking upwards in silent confusion, he finally shrugged and looked back down the dark path. "I suppose we all deal with shit in our own way."

"How did you deal with it?"

"Booze, and talking to my friends about it. I never really got over it."

"How'd you kill them?" She asked, and yet again, her voice was way too normal for him. Not a quiver, a stutter, just… normal. As if she was talking about the weather.

"Stabbed him. I later found out that he had 2 kids I made orphans."

"Did you have a good reason for killing him?"

"I overestimated his abilities. He had stolen something from my client."

"So killing him was an accident?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah. As most bad guys do, he was boasting about how powerful he was, and showed off his abilities to make him seem bigger than he was. It only took one throw of my knife to take him out. I thought that his shield was stronger."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Thanks, but it's not quite as brutal as torching someone's head off."

"I've never been squeamish around burning flesh. Remember those burns on my legs?" She asked, and he frowned, recalling it. As a kid she used to try and 'eat' fire, which although it was explained now, was pretty creepy back then. Her thighs were covered in scars from her burning her flesh. "It's possible that I'd be getting the 'normal' reaction if there was blood involved, or if it was an accident. Since I killed them with an element I have so much control over, and it was on purpose, I feel less guilt."

"Maybe." He muttered, unable to keep from making the connection between Claire and their older siblings. His dark eyes lingered to her calm face once again, hoping he was wrong.

5.

Claire wasn't a huge fan of Bacchus's comrades, but she liked that they seemed protective of each other, and looked out for her little brother. They weren't particularly strong, but they were fun, and enjoyed partying whenever Bacchus returned from a mission.

It worried her a little that the guild master had requested to speak with Bacchus alone, leaving Claire on her own with his excited and drunk friends. They knew better than to mess with her when he left the room, since their S-Ranked friend would kick their asses, but they did try and be nice to her. She shared a drink with them, laughing at their antics and stories, trying to be social with them.

One of them used tear magic, which he was notorious to use when he was drunk, and frequently started brawls in their Guild Hall. Even though he started the most fights, he was also the most sensitive, and Claire was surprised but happy to see that the group did get serious sometimes. Whenever a comrade was sad or upset they would talk and listen to each other, use effective language, and be supportive of them.

As she sat on the sidelines, staying out of the brawl, she occasionally eyed the Guild Master's office door, wondering what they were talking about. There were silent charms inside so that she couldn't use her heightened hearing, but the way they had looked at her before walking away together had her on edge.

Bacchus's earlier questioning also had her nervous. There was something that he was keeping from her, and his insistence at what she should have been 'feeling' was unnerving. She had seen him kill people on previous missions, and he said that he would have done the same thing in her position, yet he seemed so weird around her ever since they left.

The fortune teller's voice suddenly echoed in her mind, reminding her of the prediction. ' _I know that you're on a dangerous mission. The last you two will be doing as a team for a long time.'_

 _Maybe the Guild Master is going to kick me out._ Claire thought tiredly, taking another sip from her bottle. This arrangement was hardly permanent, and since it was getting closer to the Grand Magic Games, it was just a matter of time before she went back to Fairy Tail. She'd made enough to pay off her debt and a little extra, but she'd hoped to get a little more before getting kicked out.

As her gaze moved back to the fight, she watched the door in the corner of her eye. She sometimes joined the brawls here, but given Bacchus's 'older brother' mentality, it more than often ended with his friends in crutches.

The door finally opened after a half hour, and she looked over to see her brother silently tell her to go inside.

She took another sip of her drink before hopping off of her bar stool, chuckling as he howled and jumped into the fight. With the door still open she strolled right in, smiling at the blonde man behind the desk. He wore his typical black and studded hat, sunglasses on the desk next to him.

"Hi, Guild Master." She greeted, and he nodded.

"Please close the door." He requested, and she quietly complied.

The charms in the room prevented any sound from entering or leaving, making the room oddly quiet. Goldmine, the Guild Master, indicated for her to take a seat in front of him. She did so, keeping a calm smile on her face despite the nerves gnawing away at her insides.

"Am I in trouble?" She asked, and he shook his head.

"From what I hear, you did excellent on your last mission. You seem to have improved significantly since you started working with Bacchus, and if you were part of this guild, I would have you take our S-Class exam. I'm glad that Bacchus has had someone to work with the past two months." He said with a soft smile on his face. For being in such a 'macho' guild, it always surprised Claire at how kind-hearted the members were. "Honestly I hate sending him on so many missions alone, since they are so dangerous, and hope that we can do an 'exchange program' of sorts in the future."

"But it's time for me to go back to Fairy Tail?" She asked, and he nodded. "Is it because of the last mission, or were you planning to talk to me anyway?"

"Although death is part of the job description… I'd prefer that when it happens, it happens with people that are part of my guild. I know Bacchus, I know his character, and he is part of this guild- when he kills people I can stand by his actions. You're part of Fairy Tail, but when you go with Bacchus, you represent my guild, too. The Grand Magic Games are also coming up, so I think it would be best if you went back to your guild."

"I understand, Goldmine. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to work with my brother." She said, and stood up to shake his hand.

6.

Bacchus went with his sister back to Magnolia, but when they reached it, they went their separate ways. Claire went to see Porlyusica while her brother went to the Fairy Tail Guild Hall.

"Bacchus?" Bickslow asked, turning to the man. Instead of verbally acknowledging him, he just nodded, continuing through the room to Makarov. The shorter man looked up at him with his drink in hand, surprised by the man's presence.

Bickslow watched curiously from the other side of the room, and looked around the room for Claire, who was oddly absent. Usually when he saw the drunk, Claire would accompany him, or vice versa, so it was weird to see him alone. He seemed to have a serious expression on his face as he talked, and lightened up towards the end, but still seemed tense. The man was in his usual fighting outfit, which was a pair of pants and purple metal sleeves.

"I wonder where Claire is?" Ever asked next to him, and he shrugged.

"I dunno. Usually Bacchus is only here when Claire is." He muttered, still eyeing the mage.

"Sounds like Claire got kicked out of their guild." Laxus commented, gaining his group's attention. The seith mage grinned, remembering the dragonslayer's heightened hearing.

"Do you know why?" Evergreen asked, watching her leader but also glancing back to the purple-sleeved man.

"They want to prepare for some 'Magic Game' coming up, and don't want her around for their training. Also…" He spoke, but trailed off, frowning.

"What?" Bickslow asked, his babies repeating his question.

"They're moving to finish their conversation in the Guild Master's office. He's set up silence charms in there, so I won't be able to hear anymore." He explained, and a matching frown appeared on his team's faces. They all watched as the two men disappeared behind the door, suddenly even more curious about what happened.

"I hope she's okay." The blue-haired mage commented, worried about the woman's lack of presence.

"From the way he was talking, I didn't get that impression." Laxus commented.

After another 20 or so minutes of anxiously waiting, the group finally saw the martial artist leave the small room, laughing loudly at something the Guild Master had said. He made a beeline for the Thunder legion, briefly winking at Kana on his way.

"Where's Claire?" Evergreen asked.

"She's getting a check up with your healer. A stupid fortune teller rattled her." He said with a roll of his eyes.

"So why are you here?" Bickslow asked, not bothering to hide his dislike for him. The dislike was mutual, as the brunette's smirk faltered into a frown at him.

"I needed to debrief your Guild Master over our last mission. She won't be doing missions with me for a while."

"What happened on your last mission?"

"My sister can tell you… if she wants to." He replied, narrowing his eyes at the seith mage. "Look, you guys are her friends or something, right? Just… keep an eye on her while I'm gone. If anything happens to her I'll hold you responsible." The last part he made eye contact with the seith mage, still glaring at the stupid visor.

"I'd protect her with my life." He replied easily, and for a moment, there was an awkward staring contest between them.

7.

Claire knocked on Porlyusica's door, feeling rather awkward for visiting her home. Apparently it was fairly common for Fairy Tail mages to visit her home, so she wouldn't be too upset, but her notorious 'anti-human' sentiments would make her appear extra scary.

When the door opened, her deep red eyes locked with her blue ones, setting her on edge. Claire smiled awkwardly at the woman, keeping her hands relaxed in her pockets. "Are you busy?"

"Are you injured?"

"Well, it's physically impossible for me to sweat or cry, and I haven't had a check up since I arrived on this world…"

"How long have those symptoms been happening?"

"Since the parasite was taken out." She said, and the old woman nodded, finally opening the door further to let her enter the space.

As the older woman started asking her a myriad of questions, she had her sit down on a bed and undergo a series of medical tests. Most of them were non-invasive and basic, such as checking her blood pressure and such.

It was an hour until the older woman would tell her any of her findings, and by that time, Claire was anxious to leave and regretting her decision. The woman was good at what she did and thorough, but her bed side manner sucked, and she just wanted to go back to the Guild Hall and be with her boyfriend.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this…" She spoke, causing her to turn back to the pink-haired healer. "I think the parasite wanted to isolate you as much as possible, by not only altering your magic to scare people, but… it damaged your reproductive organs."

"I'm infertile?" Claire asked, smiling wryly as she recalled the conversation with the fortune teller. "Just as the Gypsy Woman said."

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, nothing. A fortune teller on my last job said that I was infertile. Guess she was the real deal."

"You seem to be taking this rather well." Porlyusica commented, eyeing her suspiciously.

"I never intended to have kids, and if I change my mind later on, I'll just adopt. Did the parasite do any other damage?"

"Not that I can find. I believe the inability to secrete water other than urinating is a result of your dragon magic. I think you'll be fine, but let me know if any other symptoms occur. We were never supposed to come to this world, so there's no telling how our bodies will react to being here."

"Speaking of which… can I ask you something kind of personal?" Claire asked, looking the old woman in the eye. When she didn't say anything, she took it as a 'yes'. "You're very 'anti-human'. I was wondering if you feel bad when someone dies under your care."

She seemed unfazed by the question, continuing to stare at her for a moment. "Humans are violent and stupid creatures. If I have a personal connection to one I'll feel bad, but otherwise I don't feel remorse."

"So it's a dragon thing." Claire asked, letting out a small sigh of relief. "I was worried I might be a psychopath."

"Did you kill someone?"

"Yeah, and my brother was weirded out when I said I didn't feel anything one way or another about it. Apparently people usually get upset by it."

"Is there anything else you need?" Porlyusica asked, keeping an indifferent stare on the woman's calm features.

"Nope. Thanks for the help." Claire said with a grin, and hopped off the bed.

8.

It was dark by the time she returned to the Guild Hall, and she just wanted to hang out and chill with the Thunder Legion. Hopefully they would be there, and if not, she'd go to Bickslow's apartment and see if he was there. After the increasingly awkward glances she was getting from her brother, and then accusatory glare from Porlyusica for an hour, she couldn't wait to be with her non-judgmental boyfriend.

There was a party happening when she arrived, and she couldn't help but feel at ease when the sound of laughter met her ears. Despite her misgivings with Fairy Tail, she'd grown to love it, and had missed it. Sure she loved working with her brother and his guild, but somehow Fairy Tail had wormed into her heart.

She found that the Thunder Legion was having fun on the corner of the room, overlooking the chaotic fun taking place. Each of them had a drink in hand and smile on their face, and upon her arrival, their smiles brightened.

Making her way over to the group, she was accompanied by two of the souls that flew over to her, babbling incoherently in excitement. She pulled one of them into a hug as the other nuzzled her neck, the familiar vibrations making her feel further at home.

"So you got kicked out of Quattro Cerberus, huh?" Laxus asked with a smirk, and she grinned in response.

"Kinda." She replied, and took the empty seat next to Fried. "How have you guys been?"

"Got back from a mission a few hours ago." Evergreen answered. "So what did you do to get kicked out?" She leaned forward with a smirk dancing along her lips, and a matching curiosity glinting in everyone's eyes.

"Nothing as exciting as you're probably thinking." Claire replied, looking around at the wizards. Poppo and Pappa left her to rejoin Bickslow's other babies, and she was surprised to count 5 instead of 4. "You have a new Peppe?"

"Don't change the subject." He chastised. "But yes."

"Claire," The Guild Master spoke, his presence surprising the group. He had jumped onto the table next to Laxus, his gaze immediately landing on the checker woman. "Bacchus told me what happened."

"Nice to see you, too." Claire told him pointedly, but his face stayed blank. "Am I in trouble?" She asked, fully aware of her overly curious colleagues watching.

"I just wanted to make sure you realize that that level of force is only to be used when absolutely necessary. We're not mercenaries, nor a dark guild."

"Yes, sir." She replied, wondering if he was acting this way because of her older sister, or if he did that speech with every wizard that resorted to lethal action. _So that's why Bacchus was acting so weird… he's afraid that I'll turn out like Kelsey or Carl._

The old man's gaze suddenly softened. "Now that we've got that out of the way… how are you feeling?"

"Glad to be home." She said with a smile. After the conversation with Bacchus she planned to avoid telling people her real reaction, and hoped that either avoiding or deflecting would be enough to avoid suspicion.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you guys." The Guild Master apologized to the group.

"No problem." Evergreen spoke with a smile, and with that, the Guild Master was going back to the bar.

"So you killed a guy." Laxus stated calmly, and the group gave her a knowing look, making her uncomfortable.

She shrugged, suddenly wishing that she had a drink to distract herself.

"Death can be unavoidable on S-Ranked missions. Everyone here has had to kill at some point or another." Fried told her.

"Was that your first time killing someone?" Evergreen asked, and she nodded.

"Any other option would put innocent lives at risk." She said nonchalantly, looking over at Bickslow for any reaction from him. It just occurred to him that he may be extra sensitive to the subject, especially his babies. "I met a fortune teller on my trip. She knew that Bacchus and I were aliens." She grinned, and waved over Mira when she was close enough.

"The usual?" The white-haired mage asked, and Claire nodded.

"Don't change the subject. Give us details." Evergreen chastised as the mage walked away to get her drink. "How'd you do it?"

"Fire magic." Claire said simply.

"You could give more detail than that." Bickslow said with a smirk. "I'm not sure if Bacchus told you, but it's pretty common for wizards to quit or have a breakdown when they kill someone for the first time. Talking about it tends to help process, so at Fairy Tail, we get a bit pushy for our members to talk after it happens." He explained, watching the frown tug at her lips. "I know you don't like big group talks, but it really helps."

"So you guys aren't going to leave me alone on the matter?" She asked, and they all nodded. Claire thanked Mira when she brought her a mojito.

"The first person I killed was a woman, and her name was Mary. I threw a rock that hit her head with just enough force to kill her." Evergreen spoke, probably trying to make it easier for Claire to talk.

After a few sips of her drink, the checker woman sighed, hoping that no one else would get as mushy. "I-I don't know the names of the 9 people I killed." She said, locking eyes with the fairy woman. "They threatened the lives of over a thousand people, including my brother, so I used my fire magic to torch their heads off. I increased the speed of my fire magic to burn through their skull and tissue within seconds, so that they wouldn't have time to kill anyone. Quick and relatively painless. No blood, no screams."

Recalling the scared expressions of her guild mates when she first came to Fairy Tail, she figured that faking sympathy may be the best option in this case. If they thought she was a psychopath because she didn't feel sympathetic for their deaths, it would be back to day 1 and would take forever to regain their trust. Too bad she couldn't bring on the waterworks to make it more convincing.

She took a deep breath, as if processing the information, and avoided eye contact. Fried patted her back sympathetically.

To her relief, a body slammed into the table and caused the group to stand, being brought into the brawl that had started to take place. Luckily she avoided further conversation with Bickslow's team for the evening, as everyone got caught up in the festivities.

9.

Once Bickslow and Claire finally left the Guild Hall, they were quiet. His babies babbled happily around her, but when they were a couple blocks away, he made them disappear.

Claire looked over to him, curious by the action.

"You were lying in there." He stated, not looking at her as they walked. With his visor on she could only see his mouth, which was pursed in a taught line.

"About what?" She asked, even though she knew what he was talking about. He knew her better than anyone, so she wasn't surprised that he saw right through her. Not that she hadn't intended to talk to him about it anyway, since the performance was more for his team than him.

"Killing those guys. If you were really upset you wouldn't have said anything and avoided talking about it. Actually, you wouldn't have even come to the Guild Hall."

"People at Fairy Tail were scared of my magic when I first came here. I didn't want them scared of me again just because I don't feel sympathetic for killing murderers." She told him, keeping her voice even. "There's another woman on this world that is the human counterpart to a dragon. She has the same feelings I have when it comes to human life, so I figure it's a dragon thing."

"So you just… don't feel anything when it comes to killing people?"

"I probably would if I knew the person. Everyone dies at one point or another." She said with a shrug, eyeing the taller man while she spoke. Given his daily interactions with death, she had no idea what was running through his head, but she hoped that he didn't think less of her now. Last time they saw each other they were professing their love, so it made her a bit nervous how tense he was. "… does it really upset you that much?"

"A little." He admitted.

"It's not like I enjoyed it. It needed to be done, or else over a thousand people and several hostages, including my brother, would have been killed around me. Bacchus said that he would have done the same in my position." She told him, and reached out to hold his hand, interlacing their fingers together. "I haven't changed, Bixy."

He brought her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it softly.

"Sorry, it's been hard to be away from you so often, and I've been worried about you."

"Well, if you've changed your mind about me joining your team for a job, we won't be apart as often." She said with a smile, and he chuckled.

"My team likes you, and apparently you can handle yourself."

"Soooo…"

"You can join my team for a job and we'll see how it goes." He said, finally cracking a grin and looking at her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note 1:** Updates are heeere!

 **Author's Note 2:** So… the timeline gets a little messed up with the anime. I'm going off of a timeline I found online, and it doesn't quite make sense… so I had to fudge some of the dates a little. For the sake of the story, the Tenrou group came back exactly 7 years later, not 7 years + 5 months, like the timeline on the wiki page says. I actually think that it's more accurate….

So this chapter starts early March.

 **Chapter 11**

 _First Job with the Thunder Legion_

"I thought all dragonslayers got motion sick?" Claire asked Laxus, noticing that he seemed fine after 5 minutes of sitting on the train.

"I have meds for it." He said with a glare, keeping his gaze on the rolling hills outside. The compartment barely fit the 5 wizards, with both Fried and Laxus sitting on one side while the others on the other. Claire sat between Evergreen and Bickslow.

"Neat." She said with a smile.

"Natsu doesn't use them because he used them all at once, and built up a tolerance at a young age. Laxus is smart enough to not use them all the time." Fried explained. The checker woman nodded, glad that he cleared that up for her. She'd wanted to ask earlier, but since she only knew about Natsu's sickness from the anime, she was apprehensive to question it.

"Hey, since you have dragon magic, shouldn't you be sick too?" Bickslow asked from her side.

"I don't know if it applies to me or not, since I'm technically not a dragonslayer. Sometimes motion sickness takes years to kick in for dragonslayers, though, so it could randomly kick in without warning."

"How do you know that? Even I was unaware of that fact." Fried asked curiously.

"Read it in a book somewhere." She said with a shrug. "Gajeel also mentioned that he doesn't get motion sick, so I figure it's just a matter of time for him."

"Should we talk about the mission?" Fried asked the group, namely looking at Laxus for confirmation.

"Sure." The blonde spoke, watching the green-haired mage pull out the flyer from the board, passing it around.

"Mysterious disappearances in a small village, at the Phoenix Mountains. It'll be a three day hiking trip just to reach the village." He explained. "Everyone brought hiking gear, yes?"

"You could have mentioned that yesterday." Evergreen glared, and the rest of her team sighed.

"It's not like you ever bring it when we tell you to." Fried commented. "However, I brought a pair of hiking shoes that are your size. In case you get tired of wearing your heels."

"You brought heels for hiking?" Claire asked curiously, then apologizing when the woman turned her glare to her.

"Hiking boots are ugly." Evergreen defended.

"So are blisters."

"Don't fight her on this, Checkers. You're not going to win." Bickslow whispered to her.

"You just don't understand the power of fashion."

"Do we know how they disappeared?" Claire asked, turning back to Fried. After growing up with two sisters, she knew better than to continue a battle about fashion.

"The villagers claim that ghosts did it. Hence why our team was chosen." He spoke, briefly turning back to Bickslow. "Since the surrounding forests are haunted, they tend to blame everything on them, so this isn't the first mission we've had in the area."

"Usually it's not the local ghosts causing trouble, but a monster or demon, or sometimes kids pulling some pranks." Bickslow explained, smirking when he noticed the woman next to him tense up. "Oh yeah, I forgot you're afraid of ghosts."

"Am not." She said defensively, crossing her arms. "So the villagers claim that ghosts took them. Did they say how they took them? Like, did they disappear before their eyes, go into the woods only to never appear again…?" She asked, looking back to Fried and ignore her boyfriend's amused stare.

"They didn't go into specifics. They said that they would fill us in when we got there." He told her, and after the flyer made its way back to him, he put it back into his backpack. "Have you gone through the 'Death Forest' before?"

"… no?" She asked, trying to think back to her research and missions with her brother. They hadn't taken any missions in that area before, so she was completely clueless about it.

"You're going to hate it." Bickslow said with a grin, causing his girlfriend to frown at his tone in voice.

"Death Forest is a particularly haunted section of Phoenix Mountains, and is extremely lethal. The only way to go through it and survive is having a guide or a seith mage." He explained, holding back a chuckle at her attempt to hide her obvious anxiety. "There are graves along the trail, and if you step on them, the owner of the grave will attack. The only people that can see these are seith mages, and since new ones appear every year, you can't really map out or mark where all the graves are."

"The dangerous part is only a mile long, but it'll take most of the day to travel. I'll be leading the group to watch out for the ghost landmines, and if any ghosts decide to attack anyway, my babies will protect us." Bickslow further explained.

"'Landmines'?" She asked, trying to keep her voice level and failing.

"It's what I call the graves, since when you step on them, you get attacked."

"It's actually pretty boring, and not as scary as they make it seem." Evergreen spoke up. "Out of all the times we've traveled, we've never run into any trouble. Sure it's a little creepy feeling like people are watching us, but other than that, it's not too bad."

"She's right. Bickslow does most of the work, so we just follow his lead." Fried added, not failing to see the irony of her fear of ghosts.

The rest of the trip was rather boring, and most of the group resorted to either reading or staring out the window.

1.

Claire frowned, suddenly hating her heightened senses. "So those whispers and voices in the forest…" She asked, frowning at the trees ahead of them. It was close to noon and they were readying their backpacks and supplies, making sure they had everything before starting on the trail.

"You have heightened hearing?" Laxus asked, and she nodded. "Yep. You'll get used to it after a while."

"The dangerous part won't be for another few miles, and we're not going to travel it until tomorrow morning. It'll take most of tomorrow to travel." Bickslow told her, coming up from behind and slinging an arm around her shoulders. He placed a kiss on her temple, ruffling her short hair afterwards.

"But I'm going to be hearing that background sound for the entire trip?" She asked Laxus, and he nodded. _I hear dead people, literally. Wonderful._

"You're not having second thoughts about this mission, are you?" Bickslow teased, smirking at the glare she gave him.

"No. Of course not."

"Good!" His babies cheered around her, causing her to jump at the sound. Bickslow laughed loudly, still having his arm around her.

"Is everyone ready?" Fried asked, and they all nodded. "You okay, Claire?"

"Just dandy." She said sarcastically, glaring again at the snickering man that removed his arm from her. He bent over to pick up his hiking pack, and she did the same, following after the others into the forest.

2.

When they started losing light, they found the best looking campsite to stop. After getting their tents set up Fried made dinner for everyone, and afterwards, Claire made the fire.

Bickslow had relented on his teasing of her, and had instead turned his attention to Evergreen, who he enjoyed picking on from time to time. Her crush on Elfman was the easiest way to get amusing reactions from her, along with her choice in outfit for the trip. Of course he would never win either argument with her, but they were fun nonetheless.

At the beginning of his journey he couldn't help but be disappointed at the information from Claire. He'd planned to tease and pick on her through the trip, but since she was already tense from hearing the voices in the woods, he didn't want to push her over the edge. It also ruled out any 'extra' activities on the trip, since hearing dead people whisper in the woods wasn't exactly sexy.

Laxus was especially anti-social on the trip, like he usually was when they traveled this forest. He wasn't scared of ghosts like Claire, but it did unnerve him to hear all of the sounds, and it set him on edge. Trying to talk to him usually ended in getting electrocuted.

Fried and Checkers managed to have fun talking about… well, boring things. Every once in a while he'd catch a few words he recognized, but they might as well have been speaking another language. He had apparently started recommending books to her, and being the bookworm she was (even if she denied it), it gave them plenty to talk about.

"Oh, in case I forget to mention it tomorrow," Bickslow spoke to the woman next to him, interrupting her conversation with Fried. They were currently sitting around the campfire, and the sparks flew up and reached to the starry night sky. "Tomorrow, when we're traveling 'Death Forest', sometimes they'll tug or snag on our clothes. If that happens just ignore them."

"What happens if I don't ignore them?"

"They'll realize you can see them and attack."

"If that happens, his babies will fire off a warning shot and they'll go away." Laxus added, speaking from experience. Out of the entire group Laxus had probably been attacked more than any of them, since his heightened senses allow him to know where they are but not see them, and he would instinctually look in the direction that he heard sounds, initiating an attack. As a result he usually walked directly behind Bickslow, since he was attacked the most.

"Will my fire do anything to them?" She asked, turning back to the seith mage.

"Doubtful. It would probably piss them off, actually." He said, smiling sympathetically at her. "Sorry babe. On the plus side, once we clear Death Forest, we'll be home free for the rest of the trip. Then we'll just have to worry about whoever, or whatever, is kidnapping people."

"Can't wait." Claire said with a strained smile.

3.

She tried to focus on her breathing as they slowly walked through Death Forest, having to occasionally wander off of the path to avoid a 'landmine', and somehow found herself at the back of the group.

Bickslow's babies hovered above them in a line, ready to defend the group if they needed to.

It wasn't long after they started on the trail that she felt the presence of what she assumed were the violent souls. The feel of them against her was all too familiar, as they had a similar hum to Bickslow's babies, but the vibrations felt more… menacing. She couldn't really describe the feeling, and if she hadn't been around souls so often the past few months, probably wouldn't have recognized the sensation.

Evergreen wasn't kidding when she said it felt like eyes were on her.

She was painfully aware of them around her, and how they would occasionally brush against her, walk with her for a few minutes, and then disappear. At the moment she could feel five of them surrounding her, and felt more than a few tugs at her clothing.

 _Don't look. Don't look._ She repeated in her head, trying to ignore it. The pounding of her heart in her ears didn't help. _Keep looking at Evergreen's stupid flower in her hair. How stupid is that? So… green… and… stupid. Like these dead people._

A stinging sensation had started appearing on her arms, and she could only guess that they were scratches. Whenever they happened, she saw Bickslow's souls turn to face her in the corner of her eye. She felt a hand grip her upper arm painfully, and she paused, trying to pull herself from its grasp without drawing too much attention to her.

Suddenly a green burst erupted from one of the souls, and Evergreen's resulting scream caused everyone to jump. The energy blast hit whatever had grabbed her arm, and she took a few hurried steps closer to Evergreen, holding her arm.

The entire group paused to look back at Claire and the direction of the blast.

"Remember how we said to ignore them?" She asked, trying to catch her breath. "Scared me half to death."

"You okay?" Bickslow asked from the front of the group, his gaze hidden by his visor. Claire suddenly wondered if that was one of the reasons he wore that piece of metal on his face- so that ghosts, or humans for that matter, wouldn't be able to see him looking at the dead.

"Arm hurts a little, but I'll be fine." She replied, mentally cursing when her voice cracked.

"Will you be okay for the next few hours, Checkers?" He asked, and she nodded. "Let's keep moving."

4.

Bickslow tried to hide his concern for the woman, knowing that he couldn't do anything about it now. The entire group staring at her, and indirectly _them_ , would make it worse. So he told them to keep moving while he tried to think of a better plan.

When he had turned to look at where his soul had shot at, he'd been utterly shocked by the attention Claire was getting. Usually dead souls would occasionally drift close to the group, maybe once or twice an hour, but they never stayed close to them before. Ghosts were notoriously drawn towards people that had 'the gift' to see them, or people that were around… ghosts… regularly….

He cursed in his head, realizing that he should have given her some charms to make them less drawn to her. He had plenty of them at home, and she clearly needed them. Being around him and his babies so often was making her a giant beacon for souls. Bringing her to the front of the group would let him protect her a little better, but it would put the group at bigger risk. Having her in the back made them less likely to give attention to the rest of the group.

There were at least four souls absolutely fascinated by his girlfriend, staring and clamoring to her. At the moment they seemed harmless, and his babies were ready to intervene if the situation changed, but he had no doubt that she could sense them. He was actually proud of her for not screaming yet.

"Hey, Bicks… is it just me, or is it extra… active, this year?" Laxus asked from behind him.

"I'll explain it later." The seith mage informed him. Another blast came from Poppo, and with it another scream from Ever. "Ever, will you stop screaming?"

"Once Claire stops attracting attention!" She screamed.

Bickslow groaned, stopping to turn and look to the back of the group, feeling guilty at the terrified expression on his girlfriend's face. Considering the five souls around her, she was holding up considerably well.

"Claire is doing great, and you should stop screaming every time Poppo protects her." He said, looking to the brunette. As his gaze moved to each of his teammates, he could tell that all of them looked tense, likely sensing the souls attaching themselves to Claire. _If she doesn't break up with me by the end of this, I'm definitely going to be in the doghouse…._

"She's worse than Laxus right now." Evergreen said with a pout.

"If you come to the front will you stop screaming? We really need to keep moving." He informed her, keeping an eye on Claire in the corner of his eye. One soul in particular was eyeing Claire, his face only inches from her own and becoming more and more fascinated by her. If Evergreen got a bit of distance from them, it could calm her down a bit.

Pappa launched an energy blast near Claire again, and she jumped but otherwise remained still.

"Fine." The brunette huffed, and walked around Fried and Laxus to stand behind Bickslow, who turned and returned to walking down the path. He strained his eyes for the grave markers, trying to keep his mind off of the ghost magnet in the back.

The journey was only 5 hours, but it felt like forever. Everyone was tense for the entire walk, and towards the end, Evergreen wasn't the only one jumping and screaming at the invisible forces. Fried had started getting jumpy and Laxus attracted his usual attention by staring off into space. Using his babies' energy blasts to protect them was beginning to take a toll on his magic.

They walked an extra mile to make sure that they were clear of Death Forest, and stopped to make camp. It was their first break for their entire trip that day, and although Evergreen was the most verbal in her complaints, everyone felt the same soreness.

In contrast, Claire was quiet. As soon as the tents were set up, she excused herself to sleep in their shared tent.

"Hey, you okay?" Bickslow asked, gently touching her shoulder to stop her.

"I'm just tired." She replied.

"We'll save some food for you if you change your mind." He said softly, and she simply nodded before disappearing inside her tent.

"So are you going to tell us what the hell happened back there?" Laxus asked, narrowing his eyes at the seith mage.

Bickslow grinned, scratching the back of his head and contemplating how to tell them how royally he'd screwed up. His leader's piercing blue eyes always had a way of making him spill, but now they reminded him of Claire's, which completely caught him off guard. Instead of answering his question he got sidetracked by the realization that both Claire and Laxus had the exact same fucking eyes, and he started comparing their facial expressions and little quirks. How their eyes gave away every emotion they felt, how they acted tougher than they needed to, the way they chewed their food… they were practically twins when you took away their body type and hair color. _Holy shit that's creepy…._

"It has something to do with Claire, right?" Fried asked, bringing him back to the conversation.

"Yeah… I, uh… so, there are two ways that people can attract ghosts, or wandering souls, naturally. That's by having 'the gift' to see and hear them, like me, or by simply being around them a lot."

"Does that mean that we're in danger?"

"Nah, just Claire, unfortunately."

"Wait, shouldn't you be a magnet, then?" Evergreen asked, arms crossed and clearly annoyed at him.

"I have special charms to make them less attracted to me. It makes me like appear to be a normal human, like you guys. I have plenty of extras, buuut I didn't think to bring one for Claire…."

"So this is your fault." Fried summarized. Bickslow laughed awkwardly, and said a meekly 'kinda' towards the end of his laughter. "Didn't you say that she's scared of ghosts?"

"Yup."

"She's going to kill you when she finds out." Ever said, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"She's probably listening right now…" He said, glancing over at the tent only a few yards away. "That is, if she's not busy plotting ways to get back at me."

"How could you not think to give her one of your charms? Shouldn't you have done that day one of dating her?"

"I didn't think of it, alright?" Bickslow said, and sticking his tongue out at her. "It's not like anyone has stuck around long enough to need one…. Shouldn't we start making food or something? I'm starving."

5.

He woke her up with the usual flurry of compliments and kisses, waking her up slowly and as sweetly as he could. She further turned her face into her pillow, hoping to get more sleep and mumbling something he couldn't catch.

It was cold that morning, and he already heard Fried leave his tent a few minutes ago. He would probably start breakfast in the next ten minutes, and over the next half hour after that, his teammates would be leaving their tents to join him for food. The surrounding forest was unusually quiet and devoid of life, so they weren't greeted by the usual chirping birds.

"De javu." She grumbled in his warm arms, and peered up at him beneath her long lashes. He continued his kisses along the side of her face.

"What do you mean?"

"Last time we woke up in the woods together, you felt bad about something so you were extra nice to me."

"Maybe I just like waking you up like this?" He whispered in her ear. She sighed, continuing to grumble and try to hide in her pillow.

He chuckled, moving his hand along her side and arm, pausing when he felt her tense under him. Reducing the pressure of his fingertips, he felt her skin, hearing a small whine escape her at the contact. There were small bumps along her skin, like small scabs.

"Did you get scratched up yesterday?"

"Mm-hmm…" She hummed, and moved her arm out of his grasp.

"Why didn't you say anything yesterday?"

"Tired." She mumbled. "It's coooold…" She whined as he pulled the sleeping bag down to look at her arm, ignoring the cold air that nipped at his exposed upper body. Bruises and scratches covered her tan skin, and if she wasn't wearing a black wife beater shirt, he didn't doubt that he'd see more marks.

"Why aren't you using your fire magic to heat you up?" He asked, now letting her pull the sleeping bag back over them.

"I thought you could sense my magic?" She grumbled into the pillow and still facing away from him. He stared into the weird smiley face on the back of her head, frowning as he finally took the time to sense her magic. Now that he actually paid attention to it, he could sense that it was nearly depleted.

"You weren't kidding when you said you were tired. We could have stopped a few times and have Fried create enchantments to give you a break from them."

"I'm fine, just tired." She said with a sigh. Bickslow wrapped his arms around her, kissing the back of her neck and trying to warm her back up with his body heat.

"I'm sorry for putting you in danger."

"How ironic." She muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"You were mad at my brother for putting me in harms way, and the first legit mission we have together you get me assaulted by dead people." She said, and rolled over to face him, her blue eyes looking into his dark green ones.

"You did better at putting up with them the rest of my team, if that makes you feel any better?" He said with a hopeful grin, and was glad when she seemed to cheer up a bit from that fact.

"I'm starving. Is it okay if I destroy one of the trees in the area? Like, will that set off any… ghost… things?"

"As long as it's within the enchantment Fried created, it should be fine. Why do you want to destroy a tree?"

"Cuz I'm starving and freezing." She replied, and suddenly sat up, looking around and reaching for her bag. She pulled out one of her decorative sports bras and pants, and as she changed, he couldn't help but feel bad for all the bruises along her skin. It was his fault no matter how he looked at it, and she'd been right about the irony involved- more like hypocrisy.

She hurriedly left the tent, and he was surprised that she didn't put a shirt on over her sports bra. Quickly he pulled sweatshirt on and followed her, curious and worried about what she was going to do.

Fried was still the only one up, and he looked up from the fire he was making at her abrupt appearance.

"Good morning." The green-haired mage said, watching the woman ignore him and go straight to the edge of his enchantment, where a particularly large tree was. "Is she okay?" He asked, turning to his friend.

"She said something about being hungry. I dunno." Bickslow muttered, shoving his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie. He was just as clueless to her actions as Fried was, and their eyes widened when fire erupted from the hand Claire had placed against the bark of the tree.

Flames and smoke spread through the tree like a drop of water on a tissue, quickly climbing and burning through the cedar wood. The red and yellow fire moved and swirled around the tree, all of it leading to Claire's body. It appeared that she was absorbing the fire into her skin, and the rapid burning of the tree was amazing to watch.

"Is… she… eating the tree?" Fried asked, feeling more heat from her fire several yards away than from the fire not even a foot away from him. The tall cedar was maybe 40 feet tall, and was beginning to crumble into black dust. The entire area now smelled strongly of cedar, which although wasn't a bad smell, it was particularly strong.

She managed to make it fall away from camp, creating a large black mark on the surrounding foliage. The entire process took less than a minute, and soon after Laxus came out of his tent looking tired and confused.

"The fuck is that smell?" He asked, grunting as his tired angry eyes looked at the two men.

"Ask Claire." Bickslow said, pointing to the woman that was making her way back over to them, the bruises and scratches from the previous day painful obvious.

"Just getting some grub." She said with a smile.

Bickslow looked between the two mages, frowning at how similar they looked. Namely their eyes. Claire had just given him the same look that Laxus was giving her now.

"Did you have to burn down an entire tree to do that? It stinks."

"You don't like the smell of cedar?" She asked, watching as lightning danced along his arms menacingly.

"Not when it's this fucking strong."

"Sorry bro. Nothing I can do about it now." She said with a shrug, and both Fried and Bickslow took a step away from them, knowing that their leader was about to use his lightning on her. Sure enough, lightning struck from the sky and lit Claire up like a Christmas tree.

But she made the weirdest sound afterwards.

She _laughed._

"That tickled." She giggled, looking down at her arms and watching the electricity dance along her skin. She continued smiling and laughing until the sparks died down, and looked back up at Laxus, who was giving her the hardest evil glare that he could manage. "Do it again."

"That didn't hurt?" Bickslow asked incredulously.

Lightning struck from the sky again, and just as before, she erupted into laughs and giggles, doubling over in laughter. When Laxus struck her for the third time, she fell to the ground laughing, and if she could, would be crying in laughter.

"Whatever." Laxus grumbled, and walked over to the log Fried was sitting on, taking a seat next to him. Green hair lifted and clung to his side, since he was still charged up from his recent attacks.

Bickslow scratched the back of his head as he crouched down next to Claire, utterly confused by her response to his leader's magic. Ever soon emerged from her tent, hair pulled back in a long braid and tired brown eyes looking at the group curiously.

"What's going on out here?"

6.

When they finally reached the village that night, everyone was in slightly better spirits, albeit tired.

The village wasn't very advanced, as it was mostly huts and houses built from poor materials. Since they arrived after nightfall, the villagers were all hiding in their homes, afraid of being abducted by the 'ghosts'.

Walking through the empty village, they finally happened across what looked like the leader's hut, and a sign on the front door that said 'Fairy Tail Wizards' on it. One by one they entered the small home, both Laxus and Claire holding back an annoyed growl at the incense that assaulted their noses.

They lined up in front of the old man's desk, patiently waiting to get situated and for the man to get himself together. He'd been engrossed in a novel when they entered, and given how late they were, he had probably been waiting for some time. Fumbling with papers and a small box, he finally greeted them properly and introduced himself.

"Th-thank you for coming." He spoke timidly, but wore a kind smile on his face. "Most of what has been happening h-has happened w-when I was on a trip, so most of it is s-second hand information." He explained, and the group nodded. "S-so far…" He started to speak, but then his eyes locked with Claire, and he blinked at her for a moment.

She stared back, suddenly realizing that she had met him somewhere.

"Have we met before?" She asked after a few seconds of staring.

"Y-you… you… the fire woman." He stuttered, and she raised an eyebrow at him, still trying to place him.

"I'm sorry, I'm terrible with faces. How do we know each other?"

"I-I was o-o-one of the hostages."

"Ooooh…" She spoke, mentally cursing. Out of all the people to meet on this job…

"I never g-got the chance to thank you f-for saving me a-and my d-daughter's l-l-life." He stuttered, standing up and bowing to her.

"Uh… no problem. I'm glad it all worked out." Claire replied awkwardly, not expecting such a positive response. Considering the method she used for killing their captors, and the screams/terrified responses from the hostages, she figured that he would ask her to leave, not bow to her. "So how many people have disappeared?"

He returned to his seat, appearing much more nervous than before.

"10. Th-they've all disappeared from different places in the village, mostly their own homes when they were alone. In one case, two people disappeared together."

"Can you give us a list of their names and where they disappeared?" Evergreen asked, and he nodded, holding up a folder.

"I-I compiled a-a-all of the information I have in th-this f-folder." He said, and Fried stepped forward to take it, already skimming through it as the man continued speaking. "Th-there's no apparent l-link to any of the a-abductions.

"Don't worry, Mr. Fuji. We'll get this case solved." Evergreen said with a reassuring smile. "We'll figure out what's going on and put a stop to it."

"Th-thank you." The man stated, and stood again, bowing to them. "Th-the women will be st-staying with my d-daughter. She should be back shortly and will show you to her house. The men will be st-staying with m-me."

"So we just… hang out until your daughter gets here?" Evergreen asked, and he nodded.

"Make yourself comfortable. She shouldn't be too long. G-gentlemen, if you'll f-follow m-me." He said, and walked from behind his desk to the door.

The group exchanged a glance before separating.

Once they were gone, Claire sighed and set her back pack on the ground by the door. "Too bad he didn't make two folders." She commented, and plopped herself down on the love seat on the side of the room. The more they observed the space, they realized it was an office, rather than a home. There was at least one other room under the same roof, but the door leading to it was closed and neither felt like exploring. Several lit lamps were hanging around the room, and they assumed that once the daughter arrived, they'd have to put them out.

"It would be pretty awkward if the daughter disappeared and never showed up." Evergreen commented as she set her bag on the ground next to Claire's, and then took a seat on a nearby matching love seat. Instead of laying down sideways like the other woman, she propped her feet on the small table in front of her, and stretched her arms out behind the back of the small couch.

The checker woman looked over at the brunette, smiling at her.

"What?"

"That was unusually dark for you."

She shrugged. "Am I wrong?"

"No. I've always appreciated dark humor." Claire commented, and reached her hands behind her head to further relax. "I don't hear anyone walking around except for the guys. We could be here for a while."

"Lovely." The brunette commented sarcastically, her eyes wandering around the small hut. It was filled with small trinkets and multiple religious emblems, pictures, papers, and books. There were two couches for them to lounge on and several chairs, and it was so cramped she couldn't imagine him getting any work done. "So those bruises on you… how'd you get them?" She said, recalling that morning. She'd actually been curious for most of the day, but given her dislike for sharing things in big groups, had held back from asking her until they were alone.

"Death Forest."

"Seriously?" Evergreen blinked, not expecting the answer. She'd figured that it had been hardcore training with her brother.

"For the entire journey I had souls climbing and clamoring to me like saran wrap. Scratching, grabbing, a few bites here and there. If I had a fear of ghosts before, I don't now."

"Seriously?" She repeated, staring at the checker woman. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I just wanted to get out of the stupid forest, and complaining wouldn't have solved anything. Besides, my injuries are worse than they look. I've had worse."

"Usually it's a breeze going through that forest. The worst I've had is the occasional cold chill and snag on my clothing."

"Lucky you."

"So, like… could you… 'sense' them?" Ever asked awkwardly, unable to think of a better way to phrase the question. If she was gifted like Bickslow, that would explain a lot about their relationship. "Are you able to see them like Bickslow?"

"No, but after spending so much time with his babies, I can sense them when they're close by. I think I'm even getting better at telling his babies apart, even though they keep switching dolls."

"So… being around Bickslow makes you more sensitive to spirits?" She asked, and Claire nodded.

"That's probably the best way to describe it." She said with a sigh, and looked from the textured roof to the doorway, wishing that their escort would get there soon. "Hopefully that girl didn't fall asleep and forget about us."

"Any theories on how or why people are being kidnapped?" Ever asked, trying to get a conversation going.

"Not really. You?"

"Other than it's not a ghost? Not really." She replied, and sighed when silence fell over the room again. "Have you done a mission like this before?"

"No. They've mostly been taking down monsters and terrorists. You?"

"Once or twice in the area. The first time was a kappa in the area killing people, and the next one was a vampire. Both of those had bodies show up, though. I haven't had one where they just disappear into thin air."

"No bodies doesn't mean they're alive."

"Doesn't mean they're dead, either." Ever countered, and the woman shrugged in agreement. "Which means that we're on a time table. If they are alive, we need to find them."

"What's the plan for tomorrow?" Claire asked, looking over at her.

"First we'll meet up with the boys and get the file, and then we'll start asking around to see if we can get more information from the villagers. I've never been to this specific village before, but if it's anything like the other ones in the area, they're probably pretty strict about keeping men and women apart. We'll question the women while the guys question the men."

"Gender segregated society. Great." Claire muttered, and returned her stare to the ceiling.

"It's not too bad. Guys do their own thing, and girls do their own. If I remember correctly, there's a really nice hot springs in the area. Maybe we can take a dip at some point while we're here."

"Have you ever had sex before?" Claire suddenly asked, causing the brunette's face to turn red.

"W-where did that come from?"

"I dunno. Just curious." She said with a shrug, and peered her clear blue eyes over to her. "You don't have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable."

"No. I'm a… virgin." She said quietly, looking to the side with a blush on her cheeks. When she chanced a look back at the checker woman, she was temporarily stunned by how much she looked like Laxus. There was an amused glint in her eye, not unlike the lightning mage when he subtly teased her once in a blue moon. She didn't know how she missed it before now.

"So that's why you're so awkward with Elfman."

"Wh-what does that mean?"

"Just that you get flustered whenever he comes up in conversation, and you fight so much when you're around him. Since you haven't been intimate with someone, it makes sense."

"I've seen your face whenever Bickslow comes up in conversation. You're not exactly cool-headed yourself." She countered, watching the woman's lips turn upwards in a smile.

"That's different. I also haven't denied my feelings for him." Claire spoke, watching the brunette's cheeks flare up again and eyes avoid hers. "Although, maybe I seem more awkward than I am when people bring him up in conversation. I'm hardly an impartial observer."

"Am I really that bad?"

"You're terrible." Claire laughed, recalling all the times that Evergreen would freak out over the tall mage, resorting to either yelling or hitting, or more often both. And it wasn't always Elfman that she directed her anger.

"When was your first time?"

"16 years old. Dated a guy for half a year, and then he dumped me after having sex twice. Not a day later and he was already moving on to the next girl." She explained.

"I'm sorry. That sucks."

"Thanks… yeah, it did."

"Do you wish you had waited?"

"Not really." She said with a shrug. "My heart would have been broken no matter what, and withholding sex has never worked in my favor. Relationships in general have never worked for me."

"Any advice for me?" Ever asked awkwardly.

"Just be honest, and don't account yourself responsible for things out of your control."

"Like what?"

"Uh… I dunno. Namely if it doesn't work out, or doesn't go according to plan. People have this thing where they'll have a million expectations of their partner, and when they magically don't do it, they freak. When you add sex to the mix, it makes it extra complicated and emotional. Being honest is the most important thing, and it eliminates some of the extra drama."

"Honesty, huh?" Ever commented, distracting herself with an old faded photo across the room. The silence returned, but this time, it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. They both got lost in their own thoughts, waiting patiently for their escort to arrive.

"I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. Should we take turns sleeping or something until she gets here?" Claire asked after a half hour, realizing that her eyelids were getting progressively heavier.

"Sure. I'll take first watch, and wake you up in a couple hours if she hasn't gotten here yet."

"Sounds good." Claire said, and further stretched out on the love seat, letting her legs hang off the arm rest. Realizing that she would get bored soon, Ever walked over to her bag and pulled out a book, mentally preparing her angry speech whenever the woman decided to show up.

It was just after midnight when Evergreen closed her book, the sound causing Claire to snap awake.

"Is she here?" The checker woman asked, looking around the room and blinking awake.

"No." Evergreen seethed. "We've been here for 3 hours, and she hasn't shown up." She explained, and shifted her position in her seat. The cushions really weren't that comfortable, and she was tempted to go for a walk to stretch her legs.

"Are you tired at all?" Claire asked as she moved, yawning into her hand and sitting upright, flinching at the pain that accompanied the movement. The love seat was lumpy and hardly ideal, and she hadn't fully recovered from their hike the previous day.

"Not really. I was thinking of going for a walk, since we've got nothing else better to do."

"Sounds good. Push comes to shove, we can camp outside. I'd rather sleep on the ground than these stupid couches." The fire woman stated as she stood up, cracking her neck and shoulders. "Maybe we'll find some clues, Daphne."

"'Daphne'?" Evergreen asked as she stood, guessing that it was a reference, but couldn't place it.

"Sorry. There's a classic show on my world called 'Scooby-Doo', and this team of teenagers run around solving crimes. One of the character names is Daphne."

"Ah." Ever commented as she stretched her own limbs. "Do you have your tent with you?"

"Uh… Bickslow has it. Do you have yours?"

"I was sharing with Fried…" She commented, and they exchanged an annoyed glance.

"Let's just walk around and if we find a good place we'll… I dunno. Maybe there's a gazebo somewhere we can sleep under. The incense in here is giving me a headache, so I don't want to stay here." Claire spoke, and Evergreen nodded, walking over to grab her hiking back pack. Neither of them wanted to carry their packs around the town, but they didn't want it stolen all the same. "Shoulder we blow out the candles?"

"They're magic candles. They'll go out when we leave."

As they left the small hut, packs on their backs, the candles went out just as predicted. Breathing in the fresh air, they chose a random direction to walk, trying to find markers so that they could return if they needed to. The sky was lit with bright stars and a full moon, illuminating their surroundings perfectly.

"Do we want to follow where the guys went?" Claire asked.

"No, we could accidentally offend the leader that way. Can you distinguish male and female scents?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We should try and stick to areas that women frequent more often. I don't know how strict they are on separating the sexes, but some places get really upset when you go into certain places."

"Ugh, I'd rather deal with the angry ghosts trying to rip me apart." Claire grumbled, sighing into her hand as she rubbed at her face tiredly. "Sorry for being grumpy. Let's turn this way." She said, pointing down a street and following her nose.

"It's okay."

"Do you remember if the guy mentioned what gender was taken most?"

"He didn't."

"Goddamn this is a pain in the ass." Claire grumbled, sighing as she rested her hands behind her head and strolled down the street with her companion.

7.

"You guys look terrible." Bickslow commented that morning, inching away at the death glare he received from both of them. The women took a seat at their table in the mess hall, bags under their eyes and both wearing unusually conservative clothing. Unlike the other women in the mess hall their faces weren't covered, but they still wore long sleeves and long pants, matching the theme.

"Mr. Fuchi whatever forgot to tell his daughter to find us last night." Ever seethed, absolutely livid. "We spent a half hour this morning trying to communicate to a bunch of people speaking whatever the hell they speak with a bunch of spears pointed at us with little to no sleep."

"Wait, you guys spent the night at his office?" Fried asked.

"I took a nap there, but after three hours we decided to explore the village because, well, why the hell not." Claire explained, staring down at her plate of food and pushing around the strange substance with her fork. It was probably the weirdest looking food she had encountered since her arrival to this world, and her lack of sleep made her even less willing to fake liking it.

"I fell asleep under a gazebo we found while she took watch. Once we got everything cleared up with Suzuki, the person that was supposed to find us last night, she took us to where we would be staying."

"But it's sacrilege or some shit to sleep in, apparently. So they told us to put clothes on and meet you guys here for breakfast."

"My back hurts, my feet hurt…" Ever whined, pushing away her plate and laying her head down on her folded arms.

"How did your guys's night go?" Claire asked, turning her attention back to them.

"Uh… not nearly as shitty as yours." Bickslow answered awkwardly, still trying to keep his distance. "It wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was better than sleeping outside. They don't have indoor plumbing, which kind of sucks."

"Can I see the folder that Fuji gave you yesterday?" Claire asked, turning to Fried. Her boyfriend tried to not take her hostile disposition personally, knowing all too well that she's not a morning person.

"Sure. We couldn't find any discernable pattern between the abductions, other than the women taken are relatively close in age." The green-haired mage explained, pulling out the folder from his satchel and handing it to her. Like Ever, she pushed her plate to the side and started skimming the papers in the folder. After a moment of quickly skimming the papers, she shifted so that she could pull out one of her many notebooks from her small leather backpack (different from her hiking pack) along with a pen. Opening to a new page, she started copying down the information.

"When you guys were exploring the village last night, did you at least find out anything useful?" Bickslow asked.

"How the hell could we do that when we couldn't see shit!?" Ever grumbled, tilting her head up to send a spine chilling glare in his direction. The woman at her side was too engrossed in the information to comment, her tired blue eyes perusing the information and copying it down fervently. Claire honestly looked to be handling it better than Evergreen, but the checker woman was also accustomed to putting up with more shit than Ever was.

"What's the plan for today? Just gather information by talking to the locals?" Claire asked, suddenly looking up from her notebook at them, her gaze moving to each of the three mages.

"If you're able, yes. Talk to as many people as you can about the victims and any strange activity that has been happening since the disappearances started." Fried explained, surprised when the woman wrote down a summary of his words. "Do you think you can handle that?"

"Yeah, we can do that. I'm writing it down because I don't trust my memory at the moment. If I can get some caffeine I should be able to function for the rest of the day, though. I've been up since midnight, so I won't start crashing until early afternoon."

"I brought extra tea, if you'd like some. It has caffeine in it." Fried offered, watching the delighted grin spread along her lips. "I'll go get some hot water for you."

"I would be eternally grateful." She said, watching as the man went to go get her some hot water in a mug. The locals probably had a caffeinated equivalent, but her stomach wasn't up for the task of digesting a foreign substance.

The seith mage and dragonslayer quietly went back to their meals, Claire went back to notetaking, and Evergreen went back to napping. It was another 5 minutes until Fried returned with the warm mug, tea already in it and spiced to his specifications. She thanked him again as she took the warm liquid, absolutely ecstatic at what it tasted like.

Oh thank god.

Vanilla flavored coffee.

It tasted like coffee.

COFFEE.

Oh hell yeeeeeees.

"Okay, this is officially the best thing that has happened to me since I arrived on this world. What kind of tea is this? It tastes like coffee from my world."

"It's a special blend, but it's mostly an Eastern Gonzoa tea with a little personal modification." He replied. "I'm glad you like it."

"She was addicted to coffee on her home world." Bickslow explained, entertained by the woman's reaction, but also a little jealous. ' _Officially the best thing that has happened to me since I arrived on this world'? What am I, chopped liver?_ He thought dimly, but couldn't stay mad for long, amused by the utterly satisfied and giddy expression her face. Two seconds ago she was miserable, and now it was the best day of her life. "Coffee was so common in her home town that I refer to it as 'Coffee Land'."

"I used to work in a café, which is basically a coffee shop." Claire added, giggling happily between sips.

"I'd be happy to tell you my recipe when we get home."

8.

"So we need to interview as many people as we can. Are you willing to translate for us?" Evergreen asked the woman, who nodded under the intense stare.

"This is about the disappearances, yes?"

"Yep." Claire said happily, randomly bursting into giggles every once in a while. Every time she did so Ever would glare at her, feeling that absolute opposite of happy and even punching her shoulder when it particularly unnerved her. She apparently didn't function well without sleep, and for whatever reason, their guide refused to let them take a nap.

"You are the fire woman that saved my father and I, yes?" Suzuki, their guide and translator, asked.

"Yep."

"Thank you." She said with a bow.

"Don't worry about it. Just doing my job." Claire said with a wave. "We do need to talk with the villagers, about the disappearances, though."

"My people are not comfortable talking to outsiders." She spoke, looking at Claire and trying to ignore the harsh glare from her companion.

"We're trying to save your people from being kidnapped and possibly murdered. You're saying that your people would rather die than talk to us?" Evergreen asked, resting her hands on her hips.

"We have had… bad luck with outsiders." Suzuki explained, her gaze falling to her feet and eyes watering up.

"So we can't even try to talk with them?"

"You can, but they will not say anything." She said, but then glanced up at Claire, an embarrassed smile tugging at her soft pink lips. "Except… since you saved my life… I can take you where all of the women gather every other day. They only talk during this time."

"Great, let's go." Evergreen said, but the dark haired woman shook her head.

"Only the fire woman."

"My name is Claire, for the record." The checker woman stated, watching the soft blush spread across her tan cheeks. "Why do all of the women gather in one place? Why can't Ever come with us?"

"It is a very sacred ritual with our people. Since I will vouch for you, you may enter, but I can only bring one person."

"Ugh, whatever." Ever said exasperatedly. "While you go do that, I'll go check out the houses of the women that were taken, since they disappeared there. Can I have the folder?"

"Yeah, sure." Claire replied awkwardly, a little nervous by the idea of interviewing people on her own. When she worked with her brother they interviewed people together, and since she had only been on the planet for a short amount of time, a lot of things they said would go right over her head. Although she understood the language, she was at a loss for most of their references, and vice versa.

After handing her the folder, she reshouldered her back pack.

"We'll meet back at the mess hall for lunch? It's at noon, right?" Evergreen asked, turning back to Suzuki.

"Lunch is at 1 PM." She said with a smile, and the brunette nodded.

"See you then. Get as much info as you can." She reminded her, and with one last nod, walked away from them.

"So… what kind of ritual are you taking me to?" Claire asked after a moment, turning back to the dark-haired woman. She blushed, turning and holding her hands behind her back bashfully.

"I-it is a sacred tradition… follow me." She said, and started walking in the opposite direction that Ever had gone.

"Mind if I ask you a few questions about the victims as we walk?" Claire asked, and she nodded.

Taking out her notebook, she wrote down the woman's name and started questioning her about the people that disappeared. Unfortunately she didn't have much new information to give her, other than they participated in a 'fertility ritual' that happens every week for approximately two months every year.

When they got closer to their destination, Claire started hearing some… interesting sounds.

"Uh… so, uh…" Claire spoke awkwardly, trying to phrase her question as delicately as possible, all the while her face heating up to a nice shade of pink. "This 'ritual'… is it… an orgy?"

"What's an 'orgy'?"

She inwardly groaned. "When multiple people have sex in the same area."

"No, no." Suzuki said, but Claire was skeptical as she continued hearing consecutive moans, groans, and other… sounds, in the direction they were heading. They had left the village some time ago, and were wandering down a path meandering through the woods. Wherever they were going was very separate from the village.

"Will I have to participate in this… ritual?"

"No, you can just observe. You can change your mind at any time, though." Suzuki spoke, her voice softer for the last part and refusing to make eye contact.

 _What the hell am I getting myself into…?_ Claire thought to herself, continuing to hear the moans and groans of several women. After walking down the well traveled path for another half mile, they finally came across a large building, and Claire didn't need heightened hearing to know what was going on in there.

It looked like a bathhouse from the outside, and when they entered, they walked into what looked to be a changing room without the lockers. There were cubbies lining the wall and almost each one was filled with clothes.

"Take your clothes off." Suzuki instructed, already pulling her shirt off.

"You said I won't have to participate." Claire reminded her, feeling her cheeks continue to flare up at the sounds echoing from the other room. "Are you sure this is the only way to talk to them?"

"You don't have to participate, but they'll feel insecure if you're wearing clothes." The woman explained, continuing to strip. Reluctantly, Claire started doing the same.

"Won't they be bothered by us… interrupting?"

"No, it'll be fine." Suzuki assured her. "This is the best time."

After stripping, Claire held her notebook to her chest, her heart thumping loudly in her ears. Every moan set her on edge, and the smells drifting from the steamy room were not all together pleasant. Mixed with arousal was body odor and a mix of other unpleasant scents.

They left the dressing room and walked into the main room.

There were at least 50 women there, none of whom were clothed like that morning.

 _Lesbian sex orgy. I just walked into a lesbian orgy. This actually exists!?_

"Baikoku," Suzuki spoke as she walked up to a woman receiving head. Remarkably, the older woman looking to be in the mid thirties, looked up at the women with a normal smile on her face. She greeted them in her native language, as if there wasn't someone licking and eating out her crotch right in front of them. Just as Suzuki predicted, the woman talked excessively and animatedly, occasionally making a comment to the woman on her crotch, but otherwise speaking to the translator as if they were talking in a restaurant.

Suzuki began relaying the information to her, and Claire fervently wrote down the information, trying to get as much on paper as she could.

9.

"Any luck?" Evergreen asked the guys when they arrived, all of whom grunted in response. After separating from Claire she had gone to check out the homes of the women that disappeared, and after coming up with little to nothing, fell asleep on one of their beds for a 4 hour nap. Feeling rejuvenated and awake, she had gotten to the mess hall early to drink some tea and read her book. "That bad?"

"Our translator sucks. The only times we could get any of the guys to talk, they ended up trying to punch us." Bickslow said, and immediately started eating the food on his plate.

"We did find that the homes had a marker on them." Fried spoke, also beginning to eat the food on his plate, but trying to hold back his disgusted reaction to it. "But it's possible that the villagers put them on the homes after they disappeared to mourn their loss."

"Red and blue stripes?" Evergreen asked, and he nodded.

"Where's Checkers?" Bickslow asked between bites.

"She got invited to a super secret ritual. Apparently all the women gather in one place every other day for this ritual, and so Claire is interviewing them."

"'Ritual'?" Fried asked, and she nodded. "What kind of ritual?"

"She wouldn't say."

"Looks like the 'ritual' is going overtime, since there's no girls here yet." Laxus commented, looking at the half empty tables around the room. Meals were the only thing that the men and women did together in the village, so their absence was obvious. There were several tables within and outside the mess hall, all of which were usually occupied by families.

After conversing a while longer about what might be happening to the villagers, Claire finally arrived with Suzuki, and they separated as soon as they entered the hall. As she took her seat the other women started drifting to their seats, giggling quietly to themselves.

"How'd it go?" Evergreen asked calmly, quirking an eyebrow at the smile on her face. "And did you take a shower?" She said, noticing the water droplets on the side of her face.

"There are things I cannot unsee, but I got more information than we could possibly need. What did you guys learn?" She asked, straightening her posture and trying to appear as normal as possible.

"Not much. The men weren't very forthcoming, and the only commonality between all of the houses is that they have a blue striped marker, which could be from the villagers."

"Was there a struggle?" Claire asked.

"Not an obvious one. If there was, the villagers cleaned it up."

"… is the ritual what I think it is?" Laxus asked, sniffing the air.

"I am sworn to secrecy… but probably."

He smirked, chuckling to himself.

"Not as sexy in real life as you would think, unfortunately. Anyway," She spoke, shifting to pull her notebook out of her bag. "All of the victims had sex with each other at a fertility event they have every week for two months a year. The people disappeared shortly after each event."

"But more men have been taken than women." Bickslow pointed out.

"In order to increase the chance of getting pregnant, women will have sex with multiple men." She explained, causing him to choke on his food. "The next 'fertility party' is tonight, and they said that we can join them. Not in the sex part, but the partying part. I do not recommend the sex part unless you plan on being a parent."

"Noooo thank you." Evergreen stated, and took another sip of her tea.

"So whatever is taking the villagers is targeting people that have sex at the fertility event." Fried summarized, a small blush on his cheeks.

"Maybe they're targeting pregnant women?" Evergreen asked.

"That doesn't explain why they'd take out the guys." Fried pointed out.

"Maybe some asshole is just jealous that he can't get laid, so he's killing them." Bickslow suggested, now finishing his plate of food and ready for seconds. "Aren't you going to eat anything?" He asked Claire, noticing that she hadn't gotten any food and had skipped breakfast. Evergreen had eaten some granola bars before arriving which is why she wasn't eating, but Bickslow had the suspicion that Claire hadn't done the same.

"I don't think I could keep anything down, honestly." She said, frowning at the memory of certain events earlier that morning, and feeling her stomach churn uncomfortably.

"So tonight we keep track of who hooks up, and then guard them the next day?" Laxus asked, still smirking.

"Sounds like a plan. Unless you gathered any other important information, Claire?"

"I think that's everything relevant to our job."

Laxus snorted across the table, trying to suppress a laugh.

10.

Claire, unfortunately, spent most of her evening talking to Suzuki while the others got to drink and chat by the fire, watching the dancers and laughing as they took note of who was walking off together. All of the women, including the Fairy Tail women, were given flower necklaces at the beginning of the 'party'.

To their dismay, the plan wasn't as easy to execute as they thought.

Any woman that was under the age of 40 was walking off with a man every few minutes, and with the chaos of the bonfire, dancers, yells and drums, it was impossible to track all of them. As a result Claire had to try and talk to Suzuki and figure out if there was another pattern to the disappearances, since this was getting them nowhere.

"So what's with the flower necklaces?" Claire asked her, noticing that the women seemed to be giving their necklaces to the men before walking off with them.

"It means that they want to have a baby with them." Suzuki explained. "If he accepts it, they leave together."

Just as she explained that, Claire's eyes locked on her boyfriend, watching as a necklace was placed around his neck. She grabbed his hands and pulled him up, as if leading him to the fire to dance. Judging by his stumbling feet, she guessed he was pretty intoxicated at that point.

The checker woman bolted from her spot, running towards the pair as her boyfriend was being pulled to the sidelines, passed the fire, and towards the moaning woods. Claire leapt over the fire in order to reach the couple, immediately grabbing Bickslow's arm and pulling him back.

"Sorry honey, he's not interested." She told the woman, quickly pulling the flower necklace from him and tossing it to her.

The young girl, looking to be a couple years younger than Claire, started yelling at her in her native language. She was dressed in a revealing top and skirt, adorned in beautiful jewelry and sparkles, and Claire didn't need a translator to know that she was pissed.

"She was just giving me a necklace, no reason to freak." Bickslow giggled, wobbling.

"How much have you had to drink?" Claire asked, reaching out to hold him up as he threatened to fall, ignoring the weak hits from the younger girl.

"Just one." He said, and then puked the contents of his stomach on a patch of grass near them.

The village girl jumped back and laughed, speaking something in her language again before walking back to the party, continuing to laugh hysterically.

As he wretched the contents of his stomach she kept him from falling, rubbing circles on his back softly and trying to aim him away from the group. She could hear the native girl continue talking and giggling to some other girls, and more giggles chorused.

"Laxus," Claire spoke, looking at the blonde man. Even though they were a considerable distance away, he still looked up at the sound of his name, locking eyes with her. "Bickslow is sick after only one drink. You guys should probably be careful how much you consume. Also, if you accept a flower necklace from someone, you're agreeing to have sex with them." She explained, and he nodded, repeating the information to the rest of the team.

"Shit…" Bickslow muttered after a few minutes, leaning heavily on Claire for support. She was suddenly reminiscent of the last time she held him up when he was drunk, and how he seemed lighter than last time. That, or all the training really has been paying off.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Not really." He muttered, and then started dry heaving. "Everything is spinning."

"Let's get you back to the group and you can start drinking some water." She said once his body had started to still, only trembling slightly but not dry heaving anymore. She kept her hand moving on his back, and once she saw him nod, started guiding him back to the group.

11.

Since Claire was the only person that didn't drink the local alcohol (she had brought her own, a tip her brother had taught her) so she was the only person that showed up to breakfast. The rest were otherwise sick, making her yet again, the only person that could work.

On one hand she was glad that she was so helpful to the group. On the other hand, it sucked being the only one getting shit done.

Another useful tip she learned from her brother was to bring her own food, on the off chance that the food provided was either spiked or tasted terrible. Evergreen luckily had some of Freed's tea bags for her to drink that morning, so she got to happily drink her coffee while sifting through the information gathered the previous day.

Any misgivings she had over the events over the past few days washed away with every sip of her wonderful, fantastic, beautiful, tasty coffee.

It made everything great.

Since she was alone at breakfast, Suzuki sat with her to keep her company. Normally Claire was unnerved by the infatuated girl, but with her coffee, she really didn't mind the company.

"Are you any closer to finding out what has happened to our villagers?" She asked, and the woman shrugged.

"Not really. We were originally going to keep track of everyone that paired off last night and guard them today, but since it was so many, we're back to square one. The rest of my team got sick last night."

Suzuki giggled at that. "They do not have strong stomachs."

"It's just food poisoning. They're not used to the food and alcohol here." She said with a shrug. "Since most of the attacks have been at the homes, and it's always the women targeted first and then the men, I figure that I'll hang out near the huts and wait for whatever if targeting them, and hope that I can protect them from it."

"Can you fight ghosts?" Suzuki asked, and Claire stared at her for a moment trying to figure out what she meant.

"Oh! Right, you guys think it was ghosts. It's more likely to be a human or a monster of sorts, which if it is, I can fight it. If it's a ghost, then we'll have to have Bickslow take care of it, since he's a seith mage."

"Human? You think one of us is doing this?"

"We don't know, but we're not ruling it out."

12.

"Holy mother of hell…" Bickslow groaned, looking paler than usual as he sipped at the warm liquid in his hands.

"Did we drink liquid poison?" Evergreen asked, appearing to be the same skin tone as he. They all looked incredibly sick and pale, and Claire was amazed that they'd made it to the mess hall for lunch. Laxus and Bickslow appeared to be the only ones with an appetite, and from what she gathered, puking wasn't their only symptom.

"I'm surprised that you guys aren't resting still." Claire commented, also sipping away at her second cup of coffee.

"Who could sleep with all that fucking racket." Laxus growled, stray lines of electricity dancing along his skin.

"I'm sorry for last night." Bickslow whispered to Claire, his visor gently resting against the side of her head.

"It's okay, just feel better." She whispered back, barely able to see his eyes between the metal slits and the angle of their heads. He gently kissed her ear and went back to his oddly green food, scarfing down the large pile.

"So since we've established that sex has nothing to do with the victims…" Freed spoke. "Or at least, not the way we thought… we're back to square one. Since the victims were all taken when they were home, I suggest that we patrol the resident homes for another attack."

After another hour of bouncing ideas off of each other and going through possible scenarios, they eventually departed to go their separate ways once again.

The village was essentially divided in half, and in the middle, was the main street which had neutral shops and activity centers, along with the mess hall. On one side was the female huts and building, the other was for the men.

Before the two women could start patrolling the area, Suzuki, followed by a fairly large group of women, approached them. They were all still wearing their black and red garments leaving only their eyes exposed.

"Claire, can we talk to you for a moment?" Suzuki asked politely.

"I'll meet you at the big statue." Evergreen told her comrade, and with a confirmed nod, she walked away from them.

"What's up? Don't tell me someone went missing?"

"No, it's nothing like that." Suzuki spoke, and the group started removing their head scarves. Since they were in the woman's side of the village, they weren't worried about men seeing them.

The look in their eyes set Claire on edge, and she couldn't quite discern what it meant.

"We saw that man kiss you." Suzuki spoke, regaining her attention.

"Bickslow?"

"The one with the…" She spoke, gesturing to her face and referring to his visor.

"His visor? Yeah, that's Bickslow. What about it?"

"We also saw those wounds on your body. Did he… did he hurt you?" Suzuki asked as she took a step closer, placing a hand gently on her cheek.

Claire blinked at her, completely confused by both her words and actions, taking a moment to register just what she was saying.

"Before we separated men and women in our village, men were very violent. Even in the limited time we have with them, they are hostile."

"No, no, no, no, no," Claire repeated as she took a step back, pulling out of the woman's arms, but then being yanked back into a hug. Her body pressed against Suzuki's as her arms wrapped around her comfortingly. "He would never hurt me."

"You don't have to lie."

"I'm not. He would never do anything to hurt me." _On purpose, at least._ Claire wriggled her way out of her grasp, trying not to hurt her in the process.

"We are her for you, Claire. We have taken in wounded souls such as yourself before." Suzuki spoke, and one of the other women stepped forward, pulling down part of her collar. A long and nasty looking scar tissue covered her neck and shoulder. She spoke something in her language, and although Claire knew it was something sweet and heartfelt, she couldn't understand a word of it. "Her husband beat her for not bearing male children. She barely escaped with her life after he killed their daughters."

"I feel for you. I'm sorry that happened to you." Claire spoke, looking the red head in the eye.

"We can protect you from the seith mage."

"He's not hurting me." Claire retorted, letting some of her anger show through. "I'm sorry for the pain you guys have gone through, but I'm perfectly happy in my relationship."

Again, another woman stepped forward, speaking in her native tongue. Suzuki translated for her.

"All men want is for women to bare children for them. Male children."

"Bickslow and I aren't interested in having kids. Hell I can't even have children."

"You can't have babies? Is that why he hit you?"

Claire groaned and rolled her eyes, wanting nothing more than to just walk away from this ridiculous situation.

13.

"Do you think we should just leave?" Fried asked the men on either side of him.

"Decent jobs have been hard to come by since we returned from Tenrou Island…" Bickslow reasoned, flinching against the pain on the right side of the jaw.

"So what? If they don't want our help, I say we book it and let them find someone else. We're Fairy Tail wizards, for god sake." Laxus said, sitting tall and eyeing the room. As his cold gaze wandered across the room, he saw the men present look away quickly, caught staring at them.

"I have to agree."

"Are you already forgetting your massive debt, Fried?" Bickslow asked the green-haired mage, who sighed and looked away. "We can't afford to be picky. I say we give it at least one more day."

"Have you ever had clients be this rude? Hell, they had Ever and Claire sleeping outside the first night. We're not that desperate for jobs." Laxus spoke, eyeing the bruise on his friend's face. "You should get some ice for that."

"How about we see what the girls have to say? The villagers seemed to be warming up to Claire, so maybe she's gotten more intel that will make this job go faster." Fried spoke, and the pair nodded.

"Seriously, Bicks. That bruise looks pretty bad." Laxus added. "It hurts just looking at you."

"Do they even _have_ ice here?" Bickslow asked, reaching up and lightly touching the tender flesh, flinching at the contact.

"Hell if I know." He said with a shrug, and upon noticing that the food was done, got up to go grab a plate. They served food in a buffet style, so they could get as much as they wanted.

When they'd all sat down again with their food, Evergreen walked over to their table and sat down.

"Where's Checkers?" Bickslow asked, noticing that she wasn't with her.

"Getting food. She's in a pretty bad mood, so watch what you say around her. She almost bit my head off earlier."

"Well at least she's eating." He commented, looking over at the buffet table. Sure enough, she was making her way through the buffet line, trying to find something edible for to eat. He chuckled, going back to his food as Ever made a comment about his face.

Claire sighed, finally deciding to fill her plate with some spinach and a few other salad toppings. It was a pretty bare plate, but after witnessing the lesbian sex orgy and what came out of their orifices, the amount of food she could eat was limited.

She started walking back to her team's table, when a hand grabbed her arm not too gently. Clenching her jaw, she turned to see who had grabbed her, finding a pair of cold brown eyes staring at her. She was dressed in the same garb as the other women, and her powerful eyes were the only distinguishable feature on her. Claire recognized her as the red head from earlier.

She leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

"If you're worried about him hurting you, I can protect you."

"I told you-"

"I protected my sisters before, and I can do it again." She whispered, and Claire was about to argue, but the tone in her voice made her wonder if she was offering to do more than 'protect' her.

The fire woman shifted, staring into those wide brown orbs. "Did you kill those men?" She whispered, and although she didn't say anything in response, those eyes were enough to answer her. "Let's talk outside." Claire reluctantly placed her plate back on the buffet table and walked with the woman outside, royally hating this turn of events. She just wanted to kill monsters, not get stuck in the middle of a sex war.

Once they were a fair distance from the dining hall they turned to face each other, stopping between two trees.

"Tell me what's going on."

"They kill at least one girl every year, and they're never punished. This year we fought back. We're getting vengeance."

"If girls die every year, why weren't we told about that?"

"Our 'leader' only asked you and your team to come here because the men are afraid of us…." As she explained the situation, Claire tried to act as professional and non-judgmental as possible, hearing the woman out. What she described was years of discourse between men and women of the village, and by the sounds of it, they were getting close to slaughtering each other.

By the end of the explanation, Claire thanked her for telling her, and said that she'd talk to her team about what to do next. The woman claimed that they wouldn't get paid if they gave her up, because women were the ones in charge of the treasury.

The fire woman didn't make it back to the others until the end of their meal, and they were already rolling away the now empty buffet table.

"Where'd you run off to?" Bickslow asked as she took a seat next to him, sighing heavily. When her eyes caught the bruise on his jaw, she leaned in closer to look at it.

"Who hurt you?"

"Some guys we were trying to talk to got violent. It looks worse than it- ow! Don't touch it!" He said, pulling back and lightly slapping her hand away.

"You said guys did this? Not girls?"

"Yeah. The boys in this village are a bunch of a-holes." He said, and then poked her injured arm, earning the same response he gave her. Sticking his tongue out at her, she did the same, and they both laughed.

"You guys are weird." Ever commented, amazed at how quickly they both went from grumpy to happy just by the simple gestures. "But seriously, where were you? I thought you were starving?"

"Got sidetracked. Have you guys heard anything about events leading up to the disappearances?" She asked, turning her attention to Fried and Laxus.

"Every time we try to talk to them, they try to hit us instead."

"Case and point." Bickslow said with a sarcastic smile, pointing at his injured face.

"According to a source that for now will go unnamed, there's been some bloodshed from both sides of the village for a while now. Years, in fact."

"Mr. Fuji would have told us if there was anything like that." Fried commented, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Either my source is lying, which I kind of doubt given my previous interactions with the women of this village and how violent the men are… or we stumbled into a very bloody 'battle of the sexes'."

"That doesn't explain why we're here, nor why we weren't told about it." Evergreen spoke.

"Mr. Fuji did mention that he leaves the village a lot. Maybe there's been some tension for a while and he legitimately didn't know about it." Bickslow offered. "There's also the possibility that an outside source is at play, here."

"I'm inclined to believe that." Fried spoke. "An outside source manipulating the emotions of the villagers, maybe even the memories, would be likely."

"Given the nature of the surrounding mountains, it's possible that a demon or poltergeist is behind it. There's also the possibility that simply bad energy is seeping from those areas and affecting the people here, in which case, their only option would be to move."

"What do you mean by 'bad energy'?" Claire asked Bickslow, looking up at him and trying to not stare at the colorful bruise. All she wanted to do was kiss it better.

"The Phoenix Mountains are filled with massacred villages and 'Death Forests'. Priests and seith mages have been trying to purify the area over the years, but they haven't been able to make much of an impact. It's an extremely volatile and deadly area, and sometimes that negative energy starts taking its toll on inhabitants of the surrounding areas."

"That's why we're being paid so much to be here." Fried added. "Before we came here, half of our reward was paid upfront, on the chance that our client died before they could pay us. It's also why any job in this area is considered an S-Ranked mission."

"We've literally had babysitting gigs in nearby villages, and they counted as S-Ranked because of the location." Evergreen spoke.

"Even if we bailed now, we'd still be compensated for our time with the money paid upfront." Bickslow added. "If it's a demon or poltergeist, we can kill it. Otherwise we'll just have to pack our bags."

"So how do we figure out what's causing it?" Claire asked, having little to no experience with any of those options. All of those things were believed to be myth on her world, so all she knew about them was what she'd seen in the occasional horror movie.

"Did your source tell us if the people disappeared are actually dead, or still missing?"

"All dead, and the bodies were burned."

"Did they say where they were killed?"

"I got the impression that the instigating deaths happened during the fertility event, and the following deaths happened the day afterwards."

"We have to stay for another week?" Evergreen groaned, still feeling sick from the previous night. Her gaze temporarily shifted to the surrounding villagers still eating, suddenly realizing that they were staring at them. "Do they usually stare like that when we eat, and I've been oblivious to it?"

"No, usually they're not quite this… interested in us." Laxus spoke. "They started whispering more when Claire got here."

Claire glanced up at the surrounding eyes, grunting and rolling her eyes in response.

"You don't want to know." She said, and looked back to Bickslow. "So, what's the plan?"

He shrugged. "Before you got here, we were talking about heading home. Do you guys still want to leave?" He asked, looking at the rest of his team, who turned to look at Laxus.

The dragonslayer looked between Claire and Bickslow for a moment, thinking about it. "I think we should stay for the next week, and if we can't solve it, we leave."

14.

"Sorry our jobs together have been a bust to so far." Bickslow commented, enjoying the feel of her small hand in his. They were walking around the surrounding forest and searching for any clues as to what caused the strange behavior of the villagers. Neither expected to find anything, but they planned to take turns doing perimeter walks with the rest of the team at different hours of the day for the next week. The couple had decided to volunteer for the first shift.

"It's okay. Despite some of our setbacks, I've enjoyed the extra time with you." She said, smiling up at him through the dim light. His babies were glowing around them and illuminating their path, giving a romantic atmosphere as they walked through the quiet forest.

"When's your birthday?" He randomly asked. Claire blinked back in surprise, and thinking about it, realized that she hadn't given it any thought since her arrival on this world.

"… February 10th."

"It was last month? Why didn't you tell me!?" He asked, stopping their walk and turning to look at her.

"… I forgot. I've been kinda busy lately." She said. "Wow, I'm 23 years old… weird."

"I need to get you a belated birthday present."

"You don't need to."

"Yes I do." He stated, moving his hands to her waist and looking down at her mostly shadowed face. Her hands moved up his arms and gently pulled his visor and hood off, letting him see her unobstructed for the first time in the past two days. Shaking his head slightly, he smiled at the feeling of his hair springing free from the constricting clothing.

"How about a charm to keep angry dead people from clinging to me?" She suggested, looking up at him with her big blue eyes and obviously referring to the one he forgot to give her before the trip started.

"Pfft, you're getting that anyway. That can't be your present." He said with a roll of his eyes, and smiling at the feel of her fingertips petting his scalp. "I'm sorry about that, by the way."

"You already apologized."

"… Have you accepted my apology?"

"Hmmm…" She hummed softly, her attention temporarily drifting to the glowing souls that began circling them slowly. They had initially lit the pathway for them, but since they weren't moving, had decided to just illuminate the couple.

"What do I have to do to make you forgive me?"

"Considering that I'm going to have to go through the same experience on the way back home…."

"What iiiif I made it up to you sexually?" He asked with a cocky grin, watching her eyebrows rise with her piqued curiosity.

"Would that really be the best idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"Murders are happening during the fertility festival, AKA people are dying after boning each other."

"Good point." He said with a frown, suddenly rethinking his earlier position about going home early. "What if I take you out on a super nice date when we get back home? I'll get you a super duper awesome birthday gift, we can dress up all fancy smancy, make looooove all night long at my place," He spoke, leaning in and whispering the last part, causing her to giggle and squirm slightly in his arms. "And no one will interrupt or try to kill us, because it'll be my apartment, and the only dead people there will be my babies. Who will not be present during sexy times."

"Mommy and daddy are going on a date!" A few of his babies giggled and bounced happily.

"Right… speaking of which, I have two things to tell you about." Claire said with a sigh, leaning back in his arms and looking up at him with a serious expression. He licked her serious lips, the corners of which tugged upwards at the contact.

"What's up buttercup?"

"What's, uh… what's your position on having kids?" She started, and burst out laughing at his suddenly terrified expression.

"I mean, well… are you pregnant?"

"No, no," She said, starting to calm down in her laughter and looking up at his now relieved expression.

"Thank god. Not ready to be a dad."

"What about in the future?" She asked, trying to push back the growing anxiety in her chest.

"I dunno. Until I met you I figured that any kids I had would be an accident. Honestly I prefer my own babies to actual babies." He told her, eyeing her suspiciously as he spoke. She still looked nervous, and although she said she wasn't pregnant, that didn't keep his heart racing from the scare two seconds ago. _She could also be lying because of the way I reacted, and actually is pregnant…._

"Honestly I had hoped to tell you at a better time, but since I accidentally blurted it to a bunch of people earlier today, I wanted to be the person to tell you instead of them." Her words didn't comfort him in the slightest.

"Are you pregnant?" He asked again.

"I'm infertile. Barren. I can't get pregnant. The parasite messed up my eggs or something." She blurted, taking a deep breath afterwards.

"… oh." He muttered, taken aback.

"Yeah." She said, watching him absorb the information for a moment, waiting impatiently for him to say something else. It felt like an eternity standing there, and all the disappointed and sympathetic stares from the villagers popped back into mind. Until she had told them about it, she actually hadn't been that worried about it, but now as she waited for a response, she felt like she was going to fall to pieces.

"So… no condom now?" Bickslow asked with a cheeky grin.

And just like that she was laughing again, her worries melting away.

"What, did you think I'd be upset or something? You should know me better than that, Checkers. You nearly gave me a heart attack." He spoke, recalling her choice in wording. "Wait, you said you had two things to tell me. What was the second thing?"

"Oh, uh… So, you know how I got a lot of scratches and bruises from the hike the other day?"

"… yes?" He asked skeptically, still disliking her tone and the way she was phrasing it. "What about it?"

"The women in the village think you beat me up. I tried to tell them you didn't, but they think I'm just covering for you."

"Seriously?" He whined, groaning as he looked away from her and down the path. He mumbled something she couldn't catch as he tried to take deep breaths, attempting to keep a cool head.

"Apparently a lot of women in the village were abused or raped at some point, and when they saw you kiss me this morning along with seeing my bruises the other day…."

"And you told them I didn't touch you, right?"

"Of course. I spent an hour trying to convince them, and they wouldn't listen. The reason why I'm telling you this is because they're potentially violent, and-"

"I'm now a target." He finished, and she nodded. Tense and unwilling to look at her, she stayed still for a while, letting him try and calm down on his own. The memory of last time she tried to calm him down replayed in her mind, how he almost hit her at the hotel by the beach, and she hoped that this wouldn't be a repeat event.

After a moment of simply standing there and breathing hard, he glanced back at the girl in his arms, his heart wrenching at the spark of fear in her eyes. Looking away again, he sighed, trying to calm his racing pulse. _It was my fault she was hurt, but I didn't do it on purpose. Why the hell do people keep accusing me of shit I didn't do?_

"Let's walk again." He stated, and in the corner of his eye he saw her nod, slowly removing her hands from his blue hair. Rigidly, he took his hands back as well, putting his visor and hood back on as they continued down the worn path.

15.

Claire hummed happily from her spot, sipping away at the delicious cup of coffee.

"Have you noticed all the weird looks we've been getting?" Evergreen commented, glancing at the other people in the mess hall. "Anyone know why they're looking at us that way?"

"Because they're idiots." Bickslow grumbled, recalling the conversation he'd had with Claire the previous night. Rumors that he could steal people's soul? Sure, he loved those. Ever since he left home as a teenager he had gotten used to people talking about him behind his back, whispering about how creepy and weird he was, creating outlandish stories about how he got his babies.

But hurting his family? Hurting the woman he loved? The idea of it just made his blood boil, and he wish he could steal their souls for spreading such disgusting lies.

"What's your problem?" Laxus asked, eyeing the slouching seith mage. He was still a little pale from the other day, like the rest of them, but had recovered for the most part. The uninjured side of his jaw was resting in the palm of his hand, and with the visor, the dragonslayer had no idea if he was looking at him or not.

He sighed and sat up straighter, realizing that moping about it wasn't going to make it better, nor was complaining about it.

"It's nothing. What's taking so long for breakfast?"

"Remember the accident this morning?" Fried asked him.

"Accident?" Claire and Ever asked in unison.

"Someone stepped on a nail this morning on the way to the mess hall, and accidentally caused a fight. Pretty sure that he was the cook."

"I wonder if they could use an extra pair of hands?" Ever asked with a smile, and stood up.

"Since when can you cook?" Bickslow asked curiously, having never seen the woman cook edible food without Fried before.

"I can cook when I want to." She said indignantly, and reached out to touch Claire's shoulder. "You coming?"

"Why?"

"Because we're best friends! Come on, it'll be fun!" The brunette said as she pulled her to her feet, already guiding her to the kitchen.

"… we are?"

"Duuuh." Ever said as she pulled along the tired woman.

Bickslow and Fried exchanged a confused look, but then shrugged, knowing better than to question Ever's judgment on her friendships.

"Claire, Evergreen," Suzuki greeted as they entered the busy kitchen, stepping to the side after setting a mixing bowl on the table. "What do you need?"

"We were wondering if you could use some extra hands?" Ever asked, now releasing the checker woman from her grasp. Claire yawned tiredly in her hand, tempted to just walk back to the guys in the main room, since she really didn't feel like cooking nor being in that small space with the villagers.

"You would like to help? That is so nice of you!" Suzuki said to Claire, ignoring the fairy woman. Ever tried not to take it personally, knowing full well that the young girl had a crush on the fire woman. _Another commonality between Claire and Laxus… they have fan girls._

"Actually, Ever is-" Claire tried to say, but before she could finish her sentence, Suzuki was telling the fairy woman to help a woman by the stove, who looked twice her size and not too friendly. Even with the layers of black cloth she looked intimidating.

But Suzuki insisted that she needed help and guided Evergreen to her, so the brunette did her best to put on her best smile and try to help the large woman with the hot frying pans in her hands.

Suzuki came back and put a mixing bowl in her hands, encouraging her to stir while she put ingredients in. In the background Claire could hear her comrade trying to communicate, and fail miserably, with the giant woman.

"How do you like our village?" Suzuki asked with wide doe like eyes, looking up at the woman as she broke up small cranberries with her hands.

"I'd like it better if the villagers would open up to the rest of my team."

"We have had bad experiences with outsiders before."

"Is it true that there have been violent outbursts between the men and women of this village for years?" Claire asked, continuing to stir as she watched the girl's eyes widen.

"Did someone talk to you?"

"Is it true? Are the people that disappeared actually dead?"

Suzuki looked around them at the men and women in the kitchen, and after a moment, looking back to Claire. First she went over and grabbed more ingredients to add to the weird mush they were creating. "Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"We did not trust you… until now. Please, do not tell your friends."

"We're being paid to help your village, not rat people out. Being dishonest doesn't help anyone in this situation." A loud sound caught their attention and they turned to see Evergreen having a very loud argument with her cooking 'partner', both of them yelling in their language and unable to understand each other.

Claire couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it.

Over the next few minutes, both of the Fairy Tail wizards were kicked out of the kitchen, Evergreen sporting a new bruise on her face and a few small burns on her arms.

"How'd it go?" Bickslow snickered, grinning at the obviously annoyed brunette. They could hear her screams all the way through the building, and had even taken bets on what she was screaming about. Laxus and Fried wore similar grins, entertained by their teammate's antics.

"Claire's girlfriend is a bitch. She paired me up with the most annoying, brutish, meanest-"

"'Girlfriend'?" Bickslow asked, turning to his girlfriend in question.

"Not girlfriend. Suzuki, our translator." She told him, still smiling and chuckling at her 'best friend'. Usually it bugged her when women did the annoying screeching and yelling, but it oddly fit Evergreen's personality, and she was just glad to not be the only one pissed off by the villagers.

"She's freaking _in love_ with you." Evergreen stated not-too-quietly.

"It's a crush, and I did save her life."

"Have you made it clear that you're not interested?"

"Of course I have."

"So what started the fight in the kitchen?" Laxus interrupted, looking at the fairy woman while Claire went back to her previously abandoned coffee. The fire woman reheated her drink with her hands.

"Claire's _girlfriend_ told me to help this giant cook omelets, but when I tried to help, she hit me! Who the hell does that!?"

"So you were provoked by violence?" Laxus confirmed with a smirk.

"Wait, Claire, can you confirm this?" Bickslow asked his girlfriend, who gave him a confused look between sips of her delectable drink.

"No. I was busy stirring something and talking to Suzuki."

"Pay up." Laxus told the two mages, who reluctantly pulled out their wallets.

"What did you bet on?" Claire asked behind her mug, breathing in the scent between sips.

"What the fight was about. I bet it was about the dress code." Bickslow told her, handing Laxus a 10 dollar bill.

"You guys bet on me!?"

"We almost bet on how long you'd last in there, but then you started yelling, so we changed it." He further explained, laughing when Ever got up and started 'hitting' him with her balled up hands, yelling at him for being an 'inconsiderate ass hole'.

After breakfast, the group split off into a new group formation. Claire and Laxus paired off to walk around the surrounding area while the others went off to explore a section of the forest that Bickslow sensed 'bad' energy coming from.

Once the Thunder Legion trio were far enough from the dragon mages to talk, Evergreen finally brought up the topic that had been bugging her. "Have you guys noticed that Claire and Laxus have the same eyes?" She asked, looking between Bickslow and Fried on either side of her.

"Damn it, you noticed it too? I was hoping it was just my imagination." The seith mage said with a frown, keeping his eyes on the surrounding area for any spirits or otherwise.

"Their eyes?" Fried asked, confused.

"Yeah. Ever since Claire got back from training with Bacchus, I started noticing it. At first it was just a little similar and I shrugged it off, but then the other day it was the exact same look that he gives me sometimes."

"I haven't noticed it, but I also don't spend that much time with her." Fried commented.

"They both totally have that thing where you can read them like a book just by looking at their eyes. Claire isn't quiet at Laxus's level when it comes to that indifferent 'I don't care' attitude, but she's close." Bickslow said, and Evergreen nodded.

"Maybe it's a dragon thing?" Fried offered.

"No, I've never seen the other dragonslayers have that look before."

"Me neither."

"Do you think they're related somehow?" Evergreen asked.

"Claire's from a different world. I kind of doubt that." Bickslow scoffed. "And her counterpart on this world is a dragon, which rules out any relation on that level. It is uncanny how similar their eyes are, though."

Meanwhile, Claire sneezed for the second time.

"Bless you."

"Thanks." Claire sniffled, rubbing her nose with her sleeve. "Oh yeah, did you ever find your family? Have you told Bickslow and the others about it?"

"I told them, but I haven't gone out of my way to find my family." He said with a shrug, continuing down the worn path with the shorter woman. This was his first time wandering this path, but according to their map, it made a perfect loop around the village. They were close enough to keep an ear and eye out for trouble, but not close enough to actually have to interact with the villagers.

"Why not? If you don't mind me asking."

"Fairy Tail is my family, so I don't see the point."

"Not that I'm trying to change your mind at all, but if you haven't considered it, you should remember that there could be a time limit." She commented, and he glanced at her, unsure what she meant. "I mean… if you end up changing your mind later on, it could be too late. Especially since Tenrou Island and our 7 year leap into the future, any family you have could be getting on in their years. Lucy's dad, for example, died shortly before we returned." She explained, glancing at him every so often to see if he understood her.

He merely nodded, quietly processing the information.

"Like I said, I'm not trying to change your mind, just wanted to make sure you considered it."

"Thanks." He said, still lost in his own world.

"Any time." She replied with a smile, and just like their usual interactions, they fell into a comfortable silence.

16.

The group reconvened for lunch, exchanging the information that they had gathered.

"So, did the 'bad energy' end up panning out?" Claire asked, sitting down with a full plate of salad.

"It dispersed before we got there." Bickslow explained. "There was definitely _something_ there, though."

"Any theories?" Laxus asked, and he nodded.

"A few, but we still don't have enough information."

"Claire was sensing multiple spirits on our walk." Laxus offered, nodding to the woman next to him. The seith grinned, turning to the young woman.

"You can sense ghosts now?"

"If they're close enough, I think. Like I told Laxus, it could have been my imagination, but it definitely felt like there were several nearby." She told him, suddenly feeling unnerved by his stare. After a few seconds she sensed one of his babies behind her, even though they weren't bound to any of his dolls. "Is that… Poppo, behind me?"

Bickslow grinned further. "Pappa." He corrected, and let his soul go back to wandering. He'd happened to be in the area, so he figured that he would test her new 'ability'. The soul had to be pretty close before she sensed it, but the range was close to 5 feet, which was pretty good.

"I thought spirits couldn't wander into the village? Aren't there a bunch of spells preventing them from entering?" Evergreen asked, then going back to her food

"Which is why Claire just confirmed one of my theories."

"I did?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Another seith mage?" Fried guessed, and Bickslow nodded. "Only a seith mage can get souls passed that barrier, and Bickslow double checked they were still functioning on our first day here.

"Didn't you ask the old man on day 1 if there were any in the village?" Laxus asked the blue-haired man, who nodded again between bites.

"Whoever the seith mage is ordered their souls to avoid other seith mages, aka me, which is why the energy dispersed when we got there. Claire on the other hand, can sense them but isn't a seith mage."

"How does a seith mage explain all the weird behavior?" Evergreen asked, confused.

"Because they're a shitty seith mage. Or they're just an asshole that likes messing with people. Or both." He explained, and looked up when a girl with a basket in her hands walked up to Claire. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, the checker woman looked up from her meal, recognizing the young woman.

"Hey Suzuki. What's up?"

"Myself and the other women in the village wanted to give you this." She said, holding out the basket to her.

"At risk of sounding rude, that's not like the flower necklace thing, is it? If I accept it am I accidentally accepting something else?" She asked, but the young woman shook her head.

"No, no, it's just a thank you gift for saving me and my father's lives, and for looking into the recent kidnappings. I hope you find them." She said with a bow and wink, and Claire awkwardly accepted the big and bulky basket. Before she could say anything else the woman was walking away quickly, and the room erupted in whispers and giggles.

"Ooh, what'd you get?" Evergreen asked as she took the basket and set it on the center of the table, since it was the only place other than the floor that it would fit. "The basket looks hand woven, too."

"I think I preferred people being scared of me." Claire commented, trying to ignore the increase in expectant stares in her direction.

"Think of it as a belated birthday gift, if that makes you feel better." Bickslow said with a grin.

"It's your birthday!?" Evergreen asked, turning in her seat to face the woman.

"Last month, apparently. She 'forgot' to tell anyone about it." Bickslow told her, using air quotes.

"Why would I lie about forgetting my own birthday?" Claire asked, but her question was drowned out by the fairy woman's, who was now ranting and rambling about birthday plans.

"How old are you now!?"

"… 23…" Claire answered, slightly confused by her reaction to the news.

"Happy belated birthday." Fried told her, and Laxus nodded next to him.

"Thanks." Claire said, trying to go back to eating her food. As she started eating Evergreen got sidetracked by the basket again, pushing her own plate to the side and digging into the object to see what was inside.

"Ooh, you got clothes!" She said happily, and pulled out a large poncho. She held up the shoulders to Claire's, trying to visualize the woman wearing it. "At least act excited. They probably handmade all of this stuff, and this poncho looks like it took forever to make."

"If I didn't have the suspicion they were trying to bribe me, I might." Claire said, and when Ever pulled the poncho away to further look and admire it, Claire went back to eating. "The quality of it is pretty impressive, though."

"If you do more jobs with us in the future, you'll have to get used to getting gifts like this." Bickslow told her. "When dealing with other cultures, it can be pretty insulting to reject a gift, no matter how weird it seems. In some other villages your lack of eating would be considered an insult."

"I would be more diplomatic if they hadn't left Evergreen and I to sleep outside on the first night." She countered, and he shrugged. "But I get what you're saying."

"Holy crap…" Ever spoke, causing them to look at her, their eyes widening.

"Nice." Bickslow commented as the brunette pulled out an extravagant dress, filled with beautiful reds, yellows, and oranges. It was embroidered and the fabric looked expensive. "All of the women wear black from head to toe… why would they give you such colorful clothing?"

"They don't wear all of the black when they're on the female side of the village. They actually wear some pretty cool clothing." Claire explained, setting down her fork when she realized there was a small note attached to the dress. Ever handed her the note and continued staring at the dress, setting part of it on the clean table and letting her hands run over the soft decadent fabric.

The fire woman opened the folded piece of paper, reading the words inside.

'This is fertility dress. It make yu have lots babies.'

Claire couldn't hold back the laughter that resulted, and passed the note to the man next to her.

"If we save the village from the evil seith mage, do you think they'll give the rest of us cool stuff like this?" Evergreen asked, her eyes never leaving the beautiful fabric.

"Should I even accept this? That looks really expensive." Claire asked.

"I'll take it if you don't want it." Ever stated.

"You should see the stuff that Laxus has gotten over the years. One village tried to give him a house." Bickslow said, and she looked up at him surprised, and then to Laxus.

"Did you accept it?"

"No, but if I give the owner notice, I can stay there for free anytime I want. It's by the beach and is actually pretty nice."

"Have you actually taken them up on the offer?" Fried asked curiously.

"Once."

"… what else did I get?" Claire suddenly asked, now curious about what she got. She planned to give most of it to Evergreen, since her fire magic would burn it anyway, but it was kind of fun to get mystery presents. She also felt less bad knowing that Laxus had a history of getting expensive gifts.

As she peered into the basket, she saw something shiny inside, and reached in to see what it was.

By the end of their meal, she'd discovered that she had been given an assortment of beautiful clothes and jewelry, along with a few notes explaining the meaning behind them and a few 'supportive' ones.

17.

"So have you ever gotten stuff like this?" Claire asked, watching the brunette become once again entranced by the fertility dress. They were now back at their small hut, sitting on their beds and admiring the gifts spread out on the two beds.

"Not really. Most of the time it's Laxus that gets all the gifts and fan girls." She said, not looking up at her. Claire reached into her bag next to the bed and pulled out a small flask, unscrewing the top. At the sound Evergreen looked up, a grin tugging at her lips.

"Want some?"

"What is it?" Evergreen asked as the fire woman got up and handed it to her.

"Fireball whiskey." Claire replied with a toothy grin, and once again, Ever was baffled by just how much she looked like Laxus. She reached up and took the flash, a matching grin on her face as she took a drink. The fire woman moved some of the objects around on the bed and took a seat on the other end of the mattress, taking a sip from the flask. "So Laxus is quite the ladies man, huh?"

"He used to be. Since the 'Battle of Fairy Tail' he's been a lot more… humble, though. I think all of us have changed since then." As Ever spoke, she shifted so that she could lean her back against the wall, adjacent to the one Claire was leaning again. The fire woman once again handed her the flask, and they started going back and forth with it.

"Has he always been so quiet?"

"No, actually. That's probably the most obvious change for him. He used to be, for lack of a better term, kind of a cocky asshole." She said, and both of them laughed at her choice of words. "He's always had that powerful stare that could stop you in your tracks, but he used to be much more forward with what he thought. Now he doesn't speak as often, and when he does, it's usually something mature. Well, mature for him, at least."

"So that ability to hold an entire conversation with someone without saying a word… that's new?"

"Oh yeah." Evergreen said, smiling and nodding. "Definitely new."

"So if he was a 'cocky asshole' before, why'd you join his team?"

"He's kind of like Bickslow, in that he acts one way to put up a front, but he's secretly a teddy bear." As Evergreen smiled at the memory, and accepted the flask again, Claire chuckled.

"So how old are you?"

"20." The brunette replied, and Claire's eyebrows raised.

"Seriously? I thought you were older."

"Well, I am very mature for my age." She said with a smirk.

"How old is Fried and Laxus?"

"Fried is 20, like me, and Laxus is 23."

"And then Bickslow is 22… huh. I thought everyone was the same age."

"Nope. It's kind of why Bickslow and Laxus get along best in the group, since they're closest in age…. much to Fried's dismay." She said, laughing again. "Poor Fried."

"Is it true that Fried has a major crush on him?"

"Ooooh yeah. And he knows that Laxus doesn't feel the same for him, but it doesn't change how he feels. I think everyone in the Thunder Legion has had a crush on Laxus at one point or another, but he would never take advantage of us like that."

"Shit, what time are we supposed to meet up with them?" Claire suddenly asked, realizing that they'd spent a considerable amount of time ogling the presents and chatting. Evergreen pulled a small pocket watch out of her pocket, sighing heavily.

"5 minutes ago." She said, and took another swig from the whiskey. Claire chuckled and pocketed the flask, standing and realizing that drinking may have not been the best idea. She held out a hand to the tipsy fairy, and they both vacated the small hut to join the others.

Their hut was pretty close to the meeting spot, so it only took a few minutes to reach. They stumbled a little, but they would be fine for the task at hand.

"Sorry we're late. Lost track of time." Claire said with a wide grin.

"Have you guys been drinking?" Laxus asked.

"Right, heightened senses." Claire giggled. "Yeah, want some?"

"Sure." He said with a smirk, and she pulled the flask out from her pocket, handing it to him.

"Is that the best idea?" Fried asked his leader. "We have no idea how powerful the seith mage is."

"All we're doing is walking around the village until we see or sense something." Evergreen argued. "Doesn't require much brain power."

"And you've already set up the enchantments." Bickslow added. "Is there any left?" He asked, turning to Laxus, who nodded. "Mind if I have some?" He asked Claire, who nodded.

"Go for it. You can have some too if you want, Fried."

"No thank you." He said, glancing between the two women nervously.

"Should we go over the plan again?" Bickslow asked.

"Walk around and if we run into trouble, send up a flare." Claire summarized.

"Meanwhile I'll be trying to herd some of the souls into Fried's enchantments."

"What do you want me to do if I sense a soul nearby?"

"I'll set up a quick enchantment to capture it." Fried spoke. "I think it would make sense for us to pair up tonight."

"Sounds good."

"And then Laxus and Ever will be the other team. It's about 9:15 right now, meet back up at 1:00 AM?" Bickslow asked, and the group nodded.

Everyone walked in different directions, paired off or solo, hoping that their plan would work. Claire and Fried had never really spent time alone, although they'd had plenty of conversations together. Their first few minutes of their route was silent, simply walking down the road in the middle of the town. It was dark, and to Claire's appreciation, the sky was clear and full of stars.

Both pairs were supposed to be walking on the same path on the outer edge of the village, walking in opposite directions. They expected to run into each other several times in the night, though for the most part, they were on their own.

"So why are we doing this at night again?" Claire asked the green-haired mage, mentally debating on what type of light source they should use. Before she could ask him, he pulled out a small flashlight from his pocket.

"Because that's when untamed souls are most active. Bickslow seems to think that this seith mage has multiple souls under their control, maybe up to twenty or thirty, but only has partial control. They roam around and do whatever they like, such as make the villagers anxious and untrusting of each other, maybe even killing some of them."

"There's a lot of rules when it comes to souls." She commented with a sigh.

"Yes, there are. It's a very delicate set of rules, and when they're broken, there can be dire consequences." He said. Thinking back the earlier conversation with Bickslow and Evergreen, he looked over at Claire, who glanced back with a single quirked eyebrow. Smiling, he chuckled and looked back at their path, stepping over a particularly large root on their route.

"What?" She asked, wondering what the smile was about.

"Ever and Bicks were right."

"About what?"

"You and Laxus have the same eyes." He said, still smiling and no longer looking at her.

"What do you mean? We both have blue eyes?" She asked, utterly confused. She couldn't imagine having anything in common with that muscled, blonde, mountain of a man. Even though she'd gotten used to being around him and wasn't necessarily afraid of him, he did intimidate her, and she never forgot his level of power compared to hers. _Even though his lightning feels more like a tickling machine…_

"You both do the same thing with your eyes. Physically you'll act much more masculine than you need to, but your eyes betray you."

"Really?" She asked, and when he nodded, she let out a small 'huh'. Her gaze moved back to the path ahead of them, her eyes becoming more and more adjusted to the darkness. "I haven't told anyone this, but he actually looks just like my grandpa when he was his age. The resemblance is uncanny."

"Your grandfather?" Fried asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah, it's crazy, but he looks exactly like him."

"Maybe he's this world's counterpart to him? Didn't you mention at one point that your family was scattered to different times?"

"Yeah, they are. I suppose it's possible. My family and I's place in this world has been so strange that I never really considered it as an actual possibility. It's also been such a roller coaster finding my actual family, I tried not to put much thought into it…. What's your family like?"

"I was born and raised in Magnolia with my parents and two brothers. Levy is my cousin."

"You two are actually related?" Claire asked with a grin.

"Yes. My aunt is her mother. We grew up together, and reading is something we have in common. I helped teach her word magic growing up, and when we were younger, I would bounce ideas off her to create better enchantments."

"That's awesome. I never would have guessed that you were cousins."

"Most people don't." He said with a chuckle, and upon realizing that the woman was no longer walking with him, stopped to turn and look at her. She was standing in the middle of the pathway, frozen midstep, and her eyes were locked on something in the bushes ahead of her.

"Send up a flare." She said with a grin, and bolted in the direction she was looking. Although he wasn't sure what she was talking about, he heard something else running from her, and sent up the flare before running after her.

"Claire, wait! What are you running after?!"

"The seith mage!" She yelled back, and he saw her tackle whoever she was chasing up ahead. Before he reached her she was launched into the air, crashing into a nearby tree and bursting into flames.

"Are you injured!?"

"I'm fine, just get her!" She replied, and his attention went back to the dark figure up ahead, watching them try to scramble away. As he went after 'her', he was met by an invisible force and thrown back in a similar fashion to Claire, gasping at the pain that spread through his back. As he fell to the ground his head knocked against a rock on the ground, rendering him unconscious.

Determined to get her, Claire pushed her legs against the bark of the tree and flew at the fleeing woman, hoping to grab her again. She successfully grabbed onto something, but when both her and the object collided with the ground, she felt the hollow wooden object crack beneath her. The force caused them both to hit the ground, bounce as they flipped, and landed again with Claire on top of it.

There was a soul inside it.

"Shit."

Just like Pappa had done to her months ago, she was launched into the air, her fire body slowly burning at the strange wood beneath her. It suddenly stopped, the momentum causing her to fly into the air a few feet and then fall back on the strange wooden object. Black cloth fell from the 2x2 foot hollow cylindrical object, and she looked down to realize she was some 50 feet in the air.

Upon further inspection of her situation, she looked up to see that she was surrounded by strange crow shaped objects, all of which were glowing and powering to attack her. There were about twenty of them, and she recognized the attack all too well from watching Bickslow's babies

"Fu-" Her sentence was cut off as they all attacked her at once, and in the distance, she heard Bickslow call out her name.

Lucky for her, she was in her fire form.

Before the dust cleared she launched pillars of fire at them, causing them to scream as their vessels burned and fell to the ground, smoke trailing behind them. She let out a scream as the soul below her escaped the wooden object, making her free fall to the ground below.

As she'd learned when training with her brother, she could turn her body into fire, in which case she'd be invulnerable to attacks. At the same time, any injury attained before transformation would be suspended in animation. For example if she got stabbed but immediately went to her fire form, the injury wouldn't worsen or change until she changed back to her human form.

Knowing that still didn't take away the fear of falling from such a great height to the ground, burning everything she touched in the process.

She landed with a thud, her fire flaring at the contact, but did minimal damage. Her flames were as cool as she could make them, and she tried to minimize how much she burned.

Upon hearing her name being called she moved to stand, hoping that one of the others caught the seith mage.

"Claire!"

"Did you guys catch her?!" She called back, hearing two pairs of footsteps approach her. Both Bickslow and Laxus appeared, and stopped when they saw her.

"Shit, is that you?" Laxus asked with wide eyes, not expecting to find the fire woman, well… made of fire.

"This is my fire form. Did you guys catch the seith mage?"

"How did that attack not kill you?" Bickslow asked, staring at her with wide eyes.

"I'll take that as a 'no'." She said, watching as one of his babies zoomed past to shoot at something nearby, and disappear into the trees.

"Fried is unconscious." Laxus spoke, and at the knowledge, Claire's fire flared up.

"Shit, is he okay?"

"Evergreen is looking after him now. What happened?"

"I saw the seith mage in the woods and chased after her, Fried was close behind… we were both hit, and I switched to my fire form to pursue her. I accidentally grabbed one of her souls instead and was launched into the air, which you probably saw."

"How did you know it was a seith mage? And it's a girl?" Bickslow asked, snapping out of his daze.

"She tried to use 'soul possession' on me when we were walking, and it was either chase her or let her run. Definitely a girl."

18.

The next morning, Claire flinched as she took her seat, hating her new injuries. When she'd been thrown back into the tree the spirit had left a visible handprint on her chest, and now it hurt to breathe. Not only did she get hurt, but her clothes got destroyed from that soul attack, and worst yet- Fried got hurt.

As he looked up at him he seemed much better than the night before, with only a small bandage on his forehead from when he hit his head. "How are you feeling?" She asked, glad when he smiled at her.

"A little sore, but otherwise fine. How are you?"

"Same."

"You're both lucky to be alive." Bickslow stated, and then eyeing Claire. "Especially you. Being attacked directly by 20 souls like that should have killed you."

"Another thing to add to the list of things I'm invulnerable to in my fire form. Unfortunately, it won't be added to the list of things my clothes are invulnerable to… I really liked that outfit." She said with a pout, and took a bite of her salad.

"Are you sure that it was a seith mage you saw last night, and not a possessed puppet?" Laxus asked, looking up at her. "I didn't smell any other human scent in the area afterwards."

"Can a possessed puppet cast 'soul possesion'?" Claire asked, turning to Bickslow. "It's a pretty unique spell."

"I've never heard of it being done before. I think it's more likely she used a spell or something to keep her scent from being detected and set a trap for us. Cast the spell on Claire, but weak enough for her to break free, and knew she would pursue her. She snuck out of the way while Checkers and Fried chased her puppets, and used a group attack to take out whoever grabbed the decoy first."

"So they're taking the offensive." Evergreen commented. "And they're smarter than we originally thought."

"What a pain." Laxus sighed. "Let's have another talk with Fuji today, and check on those traps we set. You guys should ask around to find the seith mage. Either the leader is lying and doesn't know about her, or she's hiding with the sheep." The blonde spoke, and everyone nodded.

19.

"I thought we were supposed to be searching for the seith mage, not checking out the hot springs." Claire asked, smiling at the brunette nonetheless.

"Pfft, we are. We're just relaxing while we do it." She said with a wink, and as they approached the hot springs, noticed that there were a few women already there. "Why hello, ladies."

"You know we don't have a translator, right?" Claire reminded her, causing the brunette to laugh awkwardly, but continue to undress anyway.

"Okay, so I just want to enjoy their hot springs. And you're injured, so you need to rest!" She reminded her. "Come on, lighten up a little."

Just as she said that, they heard a shrill scream in the distance.

"You were saying?" Claire asked, watching her friend's shoulders slump. Ever quickly pulled her shirt back on and followed after the fire woman as they ran towards the sound, other women joining in their run as they went to investigate. About half a mile away they came across a crowd of women gasping and women, all of them creating a half circle around something.

"Let us through!" Ever said as she pushed her way through, and found herself frozen at the sight before her.

Claire immediately ran forward, and despite the blood and severe wounds, checked for a pulse anyway. Pressing her fingers against one of the woman's throats, she felt the chilling sensation of her soul shifting beneath it.

No pulse.

There were two other victims.

She quickly moved over to them, one of which had her throat slashed and was definitely not alive, but when she approached the other one, she started shaking and spitting up blood.

"Hey, ssssh, it's going to be okay." Claire spoke softly, and turned to wave Evergreen over, who was frozen still on the sidelines. A hand gripped her arm, causing her to look back at the bloody woman in front of her, locking eyes with her near black ones. She suddenly recognized the woman as the one that Evergreen had argued with in the kitchen the other day.

"G-ghost…" She whispered, staring up into the fire woman's cold blue eyes. She whispered something else, but not knowing her native language, had no idea what it meant. Ever time Claire tried to tear her eyes away to look at her injuries and try to assess the damage, her grip tightened and forced her to lock eyes again.

"It's going to be okay, I just need to look at your wounds." Claire spoke softly, and even though there was a language barrier, she got the impression that her voice calmed her down. "My name is Claire, and I'm a fire mage." As she spoke, she removed the piece of cloth covering her face, so that she could get a better look at her. Gently stroking her hair back, she found that there was a deep gash on her hairline. "I really wish that you could understand me, so that you'd let me take a look at your wounds."

"Carani…" She whispered, and started coughing. Claire closed her eyes and mouth as blood splattered on her face, and when she opened her eyes, the woman's were frozen in place.

Like the other woman, she felt her soul shift inside her body.

Claire finally looked at the rest of her body, now noticing that there was a weapon jutting out of her rib cage, which would prevent any successful attempt at CPR.

Sighing, she removed the hand from her arm and stood up, turning to the very large group of shocked and crying women. Two of them ran forward at once, crying and throwing themselves on one of the bodies. Claire made her way back to Evergreen, who was staring at her wide eyes. Standing next to her, she turned again to look at the bodies.

"Either our mysterious seith mage had a bone to pick with them, or she's lost control over her souls. One of the women said the word 'ghost' before she died, so I'm inclined to believe that-"

"Claire." Evergreen interrupted, finally tearing her eyes way from the scene. "Not here." She said, her watery brown eyes drifting over the fire woman's bloody face.

"Claire! What happened?!" The familiar voice of Suzuki drifted to her ears, and she turned to face the concerned woman. "Your face!"

"Huh?" Claire asked, and then reached up and touched her cheek, and then her fingertips. "Oh, I was checking the victims for a pulse, and one of them was alive. She died shortly after and coughed up the blood on me." She explained, letting the younger woman reach up with a spare piece of cloth and begin cleaning her face.

"Did she say who did this?"

"I could only make out two words. 'Ghost' and 'Carani'." Claire replied, and the woman paused, looking up at her with teary eyes.

"Carani was her wife. She was killed a few years ago."

"Are there any seith mages in the village?" The checker woman asked as she went back to cleaning her face.

"Seith mage? The man on your team?"

"No, someone else. We believe that there's a woman using seith magic." She explained, and Suzuki's eyebrows furrowed together.

"You think this woman seith mage is behind this?"

"Yes."

"There… there is a young girl, but there is no way she's behind this. She's family."

"Can you take me to her? I promise we won't do anything to hurt her, we just need to talk to her. It's possible that she's doing this without meaning to." The fire woman explained, watching the apprehension on her face. Suzuki turned to look at the bodies again, tears forming in her eyes.

After a moment she nodded, sniffling.

"Sh-she li-lives on the e-e-edge of the vi-vill-ll.. the…" But as she spoke, she broke down crying, and then dove into Claire's chest. She clenched her jaw at the pain, since she pressed herself directly on her wound, but she nonetheless wrapped her arms around her and tried to calm her down.

20.

"We heard screams, but they wouldn't let us go help. What happened?" Bickslow asked, noticing that Evergreen's eyes seemed puffy and bloodshot, while Claire had a few drops of blood on her neck and clothing, but otherwise seemed fine.

"Three women were murdered. Suzuki is willing to take us to the resident seith mage, but she's so distraught over her friend dying that it'll be a while before she can." Claire explained, hands in her pockets and looking annoyed.

"Two men were killed last night, and their bodies were found an hour ago. We were on our way to tell you when the girls were killed." Bickslow explained, watching Evergreen take a deep breath and look away, trying to compose herself. "We caught 15 souls during the night using our traps. Another 3 this morning."

"Do you think that's why the souls lashed out today?"

"Maybe. It would have happened eventually." Bickslow said with a shrug, and Claire realized that one of his babies was in his arms. With his new cloak covering most of his body, only a small amount of his baby's wooden body was visible in the parting of the cloak, peeking out beneath the fabric.

"Ever, are you okay?" Fried asked before Claire could question her boyfriend about the little soul, everyone turning to look at the teary eyed brunette. She was still looking away, a delicate hand covering her mouth.

"Y-yeah, I just… need a minute." She said, and hurried away, sobbing.

"I'll stay with her." Fried said, and the others nodded, watching him jog after her.

"That bad, huh?" Laxus asked, turning back to Claire.

"The bodies were pretty gruesome." She said, and turned back to Bickslow. "Is he okay?" She asked, pointing to the little totem.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, he'll be fine. He got a little scared earlier, so I'm holding him for a while." He explained, loving the smile on her face.

Laxus coughed, reminding them of his presence. "So the Suzuki chick, you said she knows where the seith mage is?"

"Yeah, she said that she lives on the edge of the village, but then she broke down crying. Do you know how the guys died?"

"We didn't see the bodies ourselves, because of some stupid reason." Laxus said, grumbling the last part. "But the people that did see them seemed pretty freaked, so I'm guessing it was pretty gruesome, like the deaths on your side of the village."

"What do we do now?" Claire asked, looking back and forth between them.

"Can't you make that Suzuki girl tell us where the seith mage is? Since all the freaking girls cover their faces, it would be a needle in a haystack to blindly search for her."

"I tried. The only sounds she's making are sobs."

"Can't you use your woman intuition or something?"

"How the hell would that help?"

"I don't know, Ever claims that it does something helpful or something."

"If she wants to use her 'womens intuition' to get the girl talking, power to her, but I've got zero skills when it comes to crying women."

"Didn't you have sisters?" Bickslow asked. "Didn't they cry or something?"

"Yeah, but usually because I punched them in the face." She said, and Laxus snorted, glaring at the distance. "So are we pretty much stuck until Suzuki starts talking?"

"Yep." The two men said in unison, and Claire groaned, looking down the street that Evergreen left.

"Evergreeeen. Get back here so you can use your women's intuition." She spoke, hoping that she wouldn't have to comfort the crying Suzuki.

21.

Finally apprehending the seith mage was actually easy, once they knew where she was. By that time they had captured more than half of her souls, so she was near defenseless when the Thunder Legion took her down.

Laxus didn't go easy on her, hitting her with his lightning and knocking her out in one hit.

Afterwards they told Mr. Fuji their findings, how her magic was responsible, and were given the other half of their reward. They were invited to stay in the village for the next fertility event, and since the previous attacks had been at that time, they group decided to stay and make sure everything went back to normal.

So the next few days were spent relaxing and enjoying themselves, along with watching the villagers become significantly less tense and violent. The men started talking more openly to Laxus and the others, as did the women to Evergreen. Both sides still kept their distance from each other, but it seemed much less malicious than before.

"To solving crimes!" Claire cheered with her wooden cup, and knocked it with the other mage's cups before taking a drink of the strong liquid. Laxus and Bickslow had brought a couple bottles of tequila, and were more than willing to share.

"I'm surprised you're not wearing the fertility dress." Fried commented, remembering the note she had passed around the group the other day. "It is a fertility party, after all."

"My magic is too unstable when I drink, so it would be in flames right now if I wore it." She told him, and he nodded in understanding. "I tried to get Evergreen to wear it, but she said it might give the wrong impression."

"She just wants to wear it around Elfman." Bickslow teased, watching the brunette turn red and start stammering about how untrue it was. His arm was comfortably around Claire as they sat on the edge of the bonfire, and she chuckled as she leaned against him, hoping that the pair wouldn't get too rowdy while she was between them.

As they started bickering she sighed, closing her eyes and resting her head on his shoulder, enjoying the moment.


	12. Chapter 12

**Walking Cliché 12**

 _Motherfucker_

"Excuse me," A young boy spoke, tugging on a random woman's skirt and looking up at her with big brown eyes. They were in the middle of a crowded plaza, with lines of people walking passed them towards one of the many shops and restaurants, and the shopper had almost missed the tug on her skirt. "Can you tell me where Fairy Tail is?" He said with a pout, holding his free hand against his chest and gripping the pink fabric.

"It's clear across town. Where are your parents?" She asked, ignoring the annoyed groan from her boyfriend and crouching down to eye level with him.

"I-I'm trying to find my uncle. He's a Fairy Tail superhero."

1.

Claire sighed, briefly glaring at the stupid Guild Master across the shitty Guild Hall… again.

 _Everyone in the guild is training for the Grand Magic Games, even people that won't even be participating, except for me. I had to be one of the stupid people to 'hold down' the stupid 'fort' while they enjoy 3 free months at beach resorts, camping, training…_.

" _Well I can't have all of my wizards training. Who will work and take care of the Guild Hall? From what Bacchus told me of your missions with him, your training with him was more valuable than any of the training the other wizards are doing."_

Even Mirajane was gone to train with her siblings.

The only plus side was that the old man hinted at giving her an S-Ranked job to do on her own, and also hinted that he may make her one of the participants of the games. The first part she liked because it would be a big paycheck, but she also didn't want to do a job of that level on her own. She technically wasn't an S-Ranked wizard yet, despite her _limited_ training and sheer amount of magic she possessed, and it worried her that her 'friends' would overestimate her abilities someday and get her killed.

Being in the Grand Magic Games was something she definitely didn't want. She remembered what happens when Lucy fights the crazy red head. How Wendy and Carla got their asses kicked right before the preliminaries. How Laxus gets ganged up on by an entire vengeful guild.

Ultimately she was just crabby because she wouldn't see her boyfriend for 3 months. It was only day 2 and she missed him terribly.

Time moved freakishly slow when there was nothing to do, and the Guild Hall was empty except for the two mages: Claire and Makarov. Makarov was busy doing paperwork while drinking. Claire was drinking and reading about seith magic.

As her bored gaze wandered around the empty Guild Hall, her thoughts returned to what would happen at the Grand Magic Games.

Then it occurred to her.

 _They don't have to happen._

After a moment of mental deliberation she looked over at the Guild Master again, noticing that his gaze had wandered to the window, likely bored of his endless paperwork.

"Hey Makarov, want to know what happens at the games?" She asked with a smirk, startling him out of his thoughts.

"How do you mean?" He asked curiously, likely hoping that her story would be a good distraction.

"I can see the future, and I know what happens at the Grand Magic Games. Do you want to know what happens, or wait and see it for yourself?"

One of his large eyebrows raised, eyeing the young girl for a moment before sporting a matching smirk. "You can see the future, huh?"

"Yeah. But I should warn you, if I told you what I've seen it would alter the future and I'd have no telling of how it would change. Once I've seen something I can't see the altered version until it actually happens."

"Assuming you don't tell me anything. Will we win the games?"

"Yes, but it'll be messy, and a lot of our friends will get hurt in the process. I could tell you how to avoid some of those… foot holes, but there's no telling if we'll still win."

"In other words, it's a gamble." He said, a mischievous glint in his eye that she was beginning to recognize. "It could also be interpreted as cheating."

Both wizards turned at the sound of the door opening, not expecting any guests or wizards at that hour. It was only 2 in the afternoon, but since everyone left to train (or the few volunteered to stay) or weren't expected to be back from a job so soon, both of them were surprised by the sound.

Claire blinked at the two guests, only recognizing the small brunette crying with his hands fidgeting in front of him. A woman she didn't know, looking to be in her mid thirties, looked between the two wizards awkwardly for a moment with her hand on the boy's shoulder. She was dressed in a simple white and blue skirt and top, with her light brown hair pulled loosely back in a braid.

"Can we help you?" Makarov asked her.

"Is this Fairy Tail?" She asked meekly.

"Yes. Are you here to request a job?"

"No, actually, I found this boy wandering downtown looking for his uncle. He says that he works here, and at first I accidentally took him to the old Fairy Tail headquarters…."

"Michael?" Claire asked, causing the boy to look up at her. He immediately ran from the woman's side towards the checker woman, jumping into her arms and being lifted to sit on her hip. "What were you doing in downtown by yourself? Where's your mom?" She asked, but he immediately dug his face in the nape of her neck, continuing to cry.

"I wanted to take him to the police so that they could locate his parents, but he almost bolted when I brought it up, so I didn't know what else to do."

"We'll take care of him, don't worry. I'm friends with his uncle." Claire spoke as she walked towards the white and blue woman. "Thank you for bringing him here, I hope he wasn't too much trouble."

"I'm just glad he's in good hands. I need to get going, but you will take care of him, right?"

"Of course. Thank you again."

"Just make sure he doesn't wander off again." She said with a kind smile, and both Claire and Makarov waved her off.

"So that's Bickslow's nephew?" Makarov asked, and when Claire looked at him, saw that he was going into grandfather mode. He was getting the same look in his eye and tone in his voice that he used around Bisca and Alzack's daughter, Asuka.

"Yeah." She said, walking over to the old man's table. "Makarov, meet Michael. Michael, meet Makarov, the Guild Master of Fairy Tail."

"Did someone scare you, Michael?" Makarov asked softly.

Michael nodded in the girl's arms, but wouldn't look at him.

"Would a bowl of chocolate ice cream make you feel better?" He asked, and chuckled when the boy nodded. "I'll go get you some. Why don't you both sit down and get comfortable." He said with a wink, and jumped down from his seat to go into the kitchen.

Claire removed the boy from her arms slowly, setting him down on the vacant chair at the table and taking a seat next to him. "Where's your mom, Michael?"

He didn't say anything, simply staring down at his hands fidgeting in his lap.

"Makarov makes some of the best chocolate ice cream in the city. You're going to love it." She said with a smile, hoping to cheer him up before questioning him further. Makarov soon returned with a massive bowl of ice cream with a cherry on top, handing it to the young boy and chuckling again at his reaction.

"That's huge." He said, absolutely amazed.

"Dig in." Makarov told him, and the boy didn't need to be told twice, immediately grabbing the spoon and making the first indentation with the metal object. "If that's not enough, I've got an entire freezer dedicated to chocolate ice cream in the back."

Claire suddenly frowned, staring into empty space to the side of Michael, sensing a wandering soul near him. Upon noticing her suddenly glum reaction, Makarov looked in the direction she was staring, wondering what she was looking at.

Noticing that both of them were looking in the soul's direction, the boy's face lit up again. "You guys can see him too!?"

"… see who?" The Guild Master asked, confused.

"I can't see or hear him, but I can sense him. Is that soul the reason why you were scared?" The fire woman asked, looking back down at the hopeful boy. He nodded.

"Th-that's why I wanted t-to find uncle Bickslow!"

"What's going on?" The Guild Master asked, causing the woman's blue eyes to shift to him again.

"Bickslow can see dead people. It's a genetic thing, so his nephew can see it too. Since I'm around Bickslow so often I can sense souls in the immediate area, but I can't see or hear them unless they're in a vessel." She explained, and the old man nodded in understanding.

"Just being around Bickslow allows you to sense them? I don't think I've heard of that happening before."

"When his souls touch my skin I can feel a weird vibration, thing, and since they like to cuddle, I've gotten sensitive to it. Also my last mission involved poltergeists that clung to me like no tomorrow, making me further sensitive to wandering souls."

"Can you make him go away?" Michael asked, looking up at the fire woman with chocolate ice cream on the corners of his mouth.

"The soul?" She clarified, and he nodded. "My experience with wandering souls is pretty limited…"

"Can Uncle Bickslow make him go away?"

"Bickslow is training with his team for the next few months." She said, and watched the boy's big brown eyes start watering up again. "But I have been working with him a lot lately, and I was just doing research on his magic. Maybe I can find a solution to your little problem." She said with a wink, happy when his frown turned upside down.

"What do you plan to do?" Makarov asked curiously. "Messing with wandering souls can be very dangerous."

"What we do depends on what our wandering soul is like." She said with another wink in his direction. "Michael, why don't you tell us about him?"

"He's mean." He said, digging into the still large pile of chocolate ice cream. "He won't leave me alone."

"What's his name?"

"Sky."

"Hey Sky, why don't you take a seat?" Claire asked, pulling out a chair for him next to her and patting the wooden seat. She hoped that not only would it make the wandering soul more comfortable, but it would create some distance and make the boy more comfortable. "I can't see or hear you, so I hope you don't mind me asking Mike a few questions about you. Ideally I'd like to work out a situation where all of us are happy."

"He doesn't want to sit." Michael muttered.

"That's okay. If you change your mind later you're welcome to come sit by me." She told him, looking in his general direction. "How old is he?"

As she continued questioning Michael and the wandering soul, Sky, Makarov watched Claire carefully. The woman had always been a mystery since she joined Fairy Tail, and since her first day at the guild he's kept an eye on her because of her strange magic. He'd learned tidbits about her being from another world and having dragon magic, but overall, he felt like he knew little to nothing about her.

Unlike most of the other wizards at his guild she wasn't outspoken or forward with her hobbies and interests, and when she was at the Guild Hall she was usually reading and taking notes. She was a lot like Mystogan in a way, but slightly more open. Her socializing was pretty limited to the Thunder Legion, who although he was glad they were being more friendly to the other mages, he was still suspicious about the group ever since the 'Batttle of Fairy Tail'. Not only did he have his suspicions, but the fact that they recruited another mage that's so powerful worried him, and he couldn't help but be anxious about the prospect of his grandson trying to seize power at the expense of innocent lives… again.

Bacchus had told him that she killed 9 terrorists with her magic, and seemed to be holding something back when he spoke to him. The woman seemed much more together than he would have thought after the mission, and in all his years couldn't recall a time when a mage in his guild 'positively' handled the aftermath of killing someone, regardless of the circumstances. He originally guessed that she just wasn't dealing with it, but she appeared perfectly fine, and when he talked to Laxus he said she was fine. " _Apparently her and Bickslow are doing this thing where they're brutally honest with each other, or something. If something is wrong she'll talk to him."_

And then what Evergreen told him made him further worried. " _A woman died in her arms, and she… she didn't even bat an eye. There was blood everywhere, and after she died, she got up like nothing had happened and started talking about the job again. I looked at her eyes and saw nothing."_

But he realized all of that was second hand information and simple speculation. It had dark implications, but he tried to not let it cloud his judgment. In actuality Claire had been a hard worker, polite to the other guild members, and did her best to do everything by the books. Compared to the other mages she caused very little damage on her jobs, and as a result kept more of her rewards, along with fewer headaches for the Guild Master.

So even though she was new to the guild, he had made her one of the participants in the S-Class trials. The rumor of her fighting a dragon was the perfect excuse he needed to look closer at her abilities, and what better way to ascertain her true power and intentions than having her fight one of his S-Class mages? If people thought she fought a dragon, of course she'd be considered to be an S-Class mage. Granted the exams were interrupted, but he heard about her attempt to save her comrades and saw the resulting injuries himself. That was enough to give her the benefit of the doubt, and Guildarts had nothing bad to say about her, other than she was simply an inexperienced fighter with a lot of raw power.

And now, as he watched her talk to Bickslow's nephew, he couldn't help but wonder if she was simply used to being around death at this point. Maybe that would explain Evergreen's concern and Claire's indifference to killing people, or at least skill at hiding whatever she really felt on the issue. Recalling her previous jobs and affiliations, one of her first jobs with Bacchus involved burning zombies, which were basically animated corpses with no souls. Her last job with him involved killing 9 people. Her boyfriend had wandering (dead) souls who interacted with her so often that she actually gained a new 'sense', and Laxus had told him about Bickslow's screw up with the charms, which left her a poltergeist/wandering soul magnet through Death Forest. According to his grandson she was covered in bruises and scratches from head-to-toe as a result, and has yet to complain openly about it.

And then according to Evergreen, a woman died in her arms.

Most of what he knew about her was second-hand information, so he had cleverly devised this situation to get to know her better. Of course he had no idea Michael would show up, but he had figured that 3 months in a room with someone would lead to _some_ one-on-one interaction.

"What about superheroes?" Makarov interrupted, causing the pair to look up at him.

"His favorite superhero can fly, just like his uncle." Claire explained. "I told him that wizards at Fairy Tail are like superheroes, and in Bickslow's case, his souls are like his side kicks."

Makarov laughed at the mental image that resulted, of Bickslow running around in tights and his little floating totems wearing small capes. Given that he had never seen the seith mage without his visor, the idea of him wearing a mask was oddly fitting.

"So what is Bickslow's superhero name?" He asked, looking between the smiling pair.

"Hmm… I don't know. What do you think, Michael? What would be a good superhero name for Bixy?"

"Umm… Awesome Man?" The boy suggested between bites of his disappearing ice cream. "Super Soul Man?"

"'Super Soul Man'?" Claire asked. "I like it. What do you think?" She asked, turning back to the Guild Master.

"I think 'Super Soul Man' is perfect. I also think his souls would look good with some capes."

"Sounds like it could be a fun activity." She commented, catching onto what he was suggesting.

"I have some fabric and sewing supplies in the back. Have you ever sewn before, Mike?"

"That's a girl thing." Michael said with a giggle.

"No, it's an important skill for any person to have, even strong men like us."

After a little more convincing on Makarov's part, he finally convinced the young man to go with him to the back room of the Guild Hall, where he kept supplies for child arts and crafts. While they did that, Claire brought her book over to their table, flipping through it for a solution to the 'Sky problem'.

As she returned to her seat, she was surprised to sense the soul sitting in the chair she had offered earlier.

"Warming up to me, huh?" She asked the empty space, and upon no response, she awkwardly went back to the text. She thought that she couldn't sense anything dark or 'evil' from the wandering soul, but she was hardly an expert. Sighing, she wished that her boyfriend was there, and winced as her chest randomly twitched in pain. Bruises and scratches still covered her body from her recent job with the man.

2.

After Makarov and Michael had finished making capes for Bickslow's souls, and even made the cutest card for him to go with it, Claire decided to give the boy one of Bickslow's many charms. The only other solutions she found in the text required spells and advanced seith magic, all of which ran the risk of turning this relatively harmless soul into a poltergeist if performed incorrectly.

The charm, which was the same as the one she possessed, would make Michael less of a 'magnet' for wandering souls. It wouldn't make them go away entirely, but they would be less frequent in their visits and less drawn to him.

Getting the charm to him required going to Bickslow's apartment, which she felt a little bad for taking Mike there without cleaning up or his uncle's permission, but hoped he wouldn't mind. It didn't seem like something he would get upset about, but she tried to limit their time there nonetheless.

Drop off the capes/card, grab the charm, and then walk to the police station.

Sky kept walking with them, but Michael seemed less bothered by it now. As they walked down the street hand in hand, the wandering soul floated behind them, simply observing the pair.

As they passed by an animal shelter, several dogs on the window sill started barking at them, making Michael jump and hide behind Claire.

"Sorry Mike, animals aren't a fan of me, for some reason. Ghosts they're fine with, but me they absolutely hate." She explained, recalling the several instances of walking down streets or doing jobs, and having various animals either attack or scream at her. On her planet they would do that around ghosts, but no- on this world they were perfectly fine with dead people.

"Wh-why?" The boy clinging to the hem of her shirt asked, peering behind them at the still barking dogs that jumped on the window and tried to escape to run them down. Claire couldn't help but chuckle at the confused employees inside, who tried to calm down the suddenly energetic animals.

"It's probably my magic. I used to have a parasite inside of me that altered my magic and body, which caused some permanent damage. Either that, or animals just don't like dragon magic." She said, honestly not sure which was the true cause, but easily believing either explanation.

"So you can't have any pets?"

"I never thought about it, but yeah. If I ever got one, it would try to kill me on a daily basis." She said, oddly amused by the idea of a small kitten trying to attack her every time she came home. A murderous turtle would be a pretty entertaining sight. "Do you have any pets?"

"I had a pet bunny once… but it died…"

"I'm sorry, that must have been hard for you to lose him." She said softly, and upon arriving at the police station, took a deep breath. Last time she was with the small boy and got the police involved, Bickslow was almost arrested for 'kidnapping', and she didn't have as many witnesses to back her up like last time.

Entering the small police station, she was surprised at how empty it was. In the first room of the station a woman was sitting behind a sheet of glass, looking bored as she did a crossword puzzle. Several empty chairs lined the wall, and upon their arrival the woman in uniform looked up at them, setting down her pen.

"Can I help you two?" She asked, and by the tone in her voice, Claire guessed that she'd already gotten on her bad side. Her Fairy Tail emblem was extremely visible on her shirt, and her guild didn't have the best reputation with authorities.

"This is my friend's nephew, Michael." Claire spoke, trying to put on her best smile as she moved Mike to stand in front of him, both of her hands on his shoulders. "Someone brought him to my guild today, saying that they found him wandering downtown on his own. I'd like to get him back to his mom, but I have no idea where she lives, and she and I aren't on the best of terms."

"What's her name?"

"Sh-Sharon Meyers…" Michael mumbled, looking down at the ground.

"Wait, your name is Michael Meyers?" Claire asked incredulously, looking down at the little brunette. He just nodded, keeping his eyes on his shoes as they shifted awkwardly.

"Ms. Meyers, living on 45 Lampkin Lane. I don't see any recent missing child reports on our database." The police woman informed her, and Claire looked up in surprise at the computer like screen floating in front of her. "It appears that there have been quite a few incidents of this happening, though. Would you like an officer to escort him to his home, or would you like to do it yourself?"

"… Both? Last time this happened his uncle was almost arrested for a false kidnapping claim, so I would like to stay with Mike, but having an officer with me would be appreciated." She spoke, already hating her decision. Not having the best history with law enforcement she knew the long walk to his home would be brutal.

Not to mention she was currently standing behind _Michael freaking Meyers._

3.

Several hours later, she found herself back at the Guild Hall, exhausted and ready for a drink. Since Mira wasn't there she simply went behind the bar and grabbed a cold hard cider to drink, and then made her way back over to the Guild Master.

"Sorry for being gone so long. I didn't expect it to take up so much time." She apologized, noticing that the paperwork was absent from the table. In its place was glitter and fabric from their earlier arts and crafts, and a few new fabric dolls to the side.

"Is Michael home and safe?"

"Home, yes. Safe… I have no idea. We walked in on their mom shooting up something… crocodile, I think is what they called it? And after arresting her, had to deal with crying kids, and then it turned out that her sister was there, drunk, and started yelling and throwing things, so the police guy had to call for back up…."

"Sounds like quite the evening." Makarov commented.

"And now the kids are with their grandparents, who hate Mike because of his gift. Oh, and it turns out that Bixy's parents aren't dead, like his sisters had told him, so he's going to love that."

"Do you want to call Bickslow and let him know?" He asked, and Claire paused mid drink.

Gulping down the liquid, she leaned in slightly. "You guys have phones on this world?"

"I have a communication lacrima, and so does Laxus. It's in my office if you'd like to use it."

"Mind if I use it in an hour, after I've calmed down a little? My mind is still racing over everything that just happened."

"Sure." He replied, and took a sip of his beer, still eyeing her. "Did the charm help him?"

"Yeah." She said with a heavy sigh, and glanced back at the dolls to the side of the table. "What's with the dolls?"

"I made them for Asuka." He explained, and picked one of them up. Claire couldn't help but be impressed by his handiwork; it looked like a professional doll you could buy in a shop.

"They look really nice. How'd you learn to make them?"

"My son taught me. When he was a kid he loved sewing, and in order to make him feel less self-conscious about it, I learned it, too. I made tons of these for Laxus when he was the same age, but he liked playing with them more than making them."

"Laxus liked playing with dolls?" Claire asked, grinning as she reached over to pick up a small doll shaped like a frog.

"Don't tell him I said it, but yes."

"No promises." She replied, and noticed that the frog had something inside its mouth. Reaching inside, she found that there were several baby frogs inside of it. "Oh, now that is cute."

"Asuka loves frogs."

"She's going to love it." She said, and returned the small frogs to their original position, going back to her drink and admiring the other 5 dolls. "My sister had a similar hobby. She absolutely loved kids and making fabric dolls like this, and they weren't nearly as nice, but she made them anyway. She had an entire room in her house dedicated to stuffed animals and other random creations."

"You had a sister?"

"Two sisters, and three brothers. Kelsey was the epitome of 'girly girl', and was married before we left. She'd been trying to get pregnant for two years."

"Where is she now?"

"She appeared in this world 30 years before I did, and in that time turned into an assassin for dark guilds. Last time I saw her she was trying to kill me back on Tenrou Island." She explained, and as she talked, suspected that the Guild Master was purposely trying to get information on her. Having never seen him act so calm and well mannered, it actually weirded her out a little. "So what was the real reason you asked me to stay behind?"

The old man chuckled, setting down the doll in his hand. "I already told you. I needed a strong mage to hold down the fort."

"But why not ask Mira or Laxus? Or even Erza?"

"Because I haven't been hearing troubling rumors about them." He replied, and she nodded, sighing and taking another sip of the cool liquid. It calmed her nerves a little, but she was still frazzled from her encounter with Bickslow's family, and Makarov had a history of being sadistic with his guild members when he wanted to be. "I thought this would be a good opportunity to get to know a new member of Fairy Tail."

"Asking me out for coffee would have been easier." She commented.

"What's coffee?"

"It's a drink on my world. You guys are really missing out, because it's great."

There was an awkward silence, and Claire picked up one of the dolls again, admiring the patchwork on the little alien doll. "Interesting that you chose the alien doll to look at." Makarov said with a chuckle, and she glanced at him but didn't say anything. "That's the same look that Laxus gives me when I've said something to annoy him."

"Fried, Bickslow, and Ever think that Laxus and I have the same eyes. It's kind of weird."

"I was always told he and I had the same eyes, so I guess by proxy you and I have the same eyes?" He surmised.

"So what kind of rumors have you been hearing about me?" She asked, changing the topics but still looking at the little green alien. It had abnormally large black eyes with little white circles sewn in to make it look like they were reflecting light, and small twig like limbs.

"Mostly that you've had trouble getting along with the other mages. Evergreen also expressed some concern over your last job."

"She did? What'd she say?"

"That you were unusually calm when someone died in your arms."

She made a face, glancing up at him with that look he recognized all too well, and then going back to the little alien.

"You've been dealing with a lot of death lately, haven't you?"

"Dating a seith mage makes it unavoidable." She replied easily. "From what I understand, it's pretty common with S-Ranked jobs, too. Do you always give this talk to people that start S-Ranked missions?"

"Yes." He replied honestly. "I only let a very select few people in my guild do those jobs, so before I send them on more, want to make sure they can handle it. There's a reason that we have rigorous tests to become an S-Class mage." He informed her, and when he was done, she nodded, seeming to accept his answer.

Setting the doll to the side, she clasped her hands together in front of her, looking him in the eye. Trying to think of it more as a job interview, she straightened her posture and mentally readied herself for any question he threw her way. "What do you want to know?"

"You don't have to be so formal about it. Just be honest- how do you like S-Ranked missions?"

"I prefer them to the previous jobs I was doing. People dying doesn't bother me, and I'm getting used to dead people- both their souls without bodies, and bodies without souls. I enjoy the traveling aspect and the bigger paychecks."

He chuckled, having previously wondered if she would mention the money part.

"People, animals, other creatures- everyone dies at some point. My proximity to them when that happens genuinely doesn't bother me. Whether it's my upbringing or being stranded on an alien planet, or maybe both, or even my dragon magic maybe, people dying near me just… I don't know. It's part of life, so it doesn't get to me. At least for people I don't know very well."

"What did you do on your planet before you came here? Were you around death a lot?"

She scoffed. "Hell no. I had never even seen a dead body other than on TV or the internet. I worked as a barista in a coffee shop, which is basically someone that makes caffeinated beverages. Before that I had a variety of jobs in the food industry, and was going to school part time."

"Did you work with magic at those jobs?"

"Magic doesn't exist on my world. When I came to Fairy Tail I had no idea how to use it." She said with a smile, realizing that it felt like she'd been on this world for years.

"Wait, how long have you been using magic, then?"

"Uuuh, let's see… I've been in Fairy Tail for about 6 months, so… about 5 months, maybe?"

"And Bacchus took you on S-Ranked missions!?" He yelled, his face turning red. She simply laughed, not expecting such a strong response from him. Seeing him yelling was oddly more comforting than his calm demeanor before, since he spends 90% of his time yelling at Natsu's team when in public. "So you'd only been using magic for a couple of months when I had you take the S-Class exams!?"

"Two weeks, actually." She corrected. "I'd only been using magic for a couple of months when I did my first S-Ranked mission with Bacchus. According to him, I'm a fast learner."

"What the hell is wrong with that man!? You could have been killed!"

"That's what Bixy said." She chuckled, and took a sip of her drink as he continued ranting.

"You mean to tell me that your brother took you on potentially lethal jobs when you'd only had a few months of using magic?!"

"A few months of being on this planet, nonetheless."

"Why that little, irresponsible, no good-"

"You're the one that 'okay'ed the missions." She reminded him, watching his face go darker red.

"I thought you had been using magic for at least a few years, not a few months!" He yelled, standing up on his seat. "I expected more from a mage of his reputation!"

"Considering that I'm not dead, I'd say he did a good job."

"I don't even let experienced mages that have using magic for years do missions of that scale, nonetheless someone that's only been using it for a few months! You could have died! When I get my hands on that little brat I'm going to kill him!"

"You're going to have a heart attack if you keep yelling like that." She commented, her laughter quieting down to near silent chuckles. It felt a little nice having someone be so concerned for her safety, even if it was unnecessary, and she couldn't help but feel reminded of her parents. Given her reputation for playing with fire, she'd been on the receiving end of these talks for most of her childhood. " _Playing with fire is dangerous, Claire. You could have died, Claire. Those burns are going leave scars, Claire. Blah, blah, blah…"_

Upon remembering his health problems, the Guild Master grumbled and returned to his seat, trying to take a deep breath and calm down. Eyes closed, he tried to use the meditation techniques that Porlyusica had taught him.

"If it makes you feel better, I haven't been using magic for very long, but I've used fire my entire life. I'm also the human counter part to a dragon, so I have a shit ton of dangerous magic. Doing S-Ranked missions have helped me get better control over it."

He opened one of his eyes at her, trying to hold back his rage.

"I'm guessing that I just ruined any chance of doing another S-Ranked job in the future, huh?"

He just continued his breathing, jaw clenched and vein on his temple throbbing.

"I'm just, uh… going to go back to reading. Over there." She said awkwardly, and slowly got up, watching him carefully as his eye closed again.

After another half hour of occasionally glancing in the Guild Master's direction, waiting for him to calm down enough, she finally asked if his offer to let her use the communications lacrima was still valid. Unfortunately she had no idea how to use it, so she would need him to help her set it up.

He was mostly silent as he led her to his office, only speaking to tell her how to use the large orb. Once it was set up and he could see Bickslow on the 'screen, he left the room grumbling under his breath.

"Hey Checkers, what's up?" He asked, and his babies popped up around him, saying that they missed her.

"Well, I've got some bad news."

"Uh-oh. Should I sit down for this?"

"Probably."

"Bad news?" His babies echoed.

"Are you sitting down?" She asked, only able to see his upper body on the 'communication lacrima', which was basically a glorified crystal ball. After a moment of shifting around he finally settled, grinning at her.

"Yep, I'm all ears. Do you at least have some good news to counter some of the bad news?"

"Uuuh… sure. What do you want to hear first?"

"How about we start with non-news first. How are you? How has your day been?"

"I'm tired and I miss you." She said with a pout, and he pulled his visor and hood off to see her better.

"I miss you too, but it's only been two days."

"How have you been? How's the training going?"

"Brutal." He said, frowning and sticking his tongue out at someone she couldn't see. Quickly, as if he'd been caught, he pulled the slimy appendage back into his mouth. "I mean, just dandy."

"I saw that." A deep voice rumbled nearby.

"I didn't do nuthin'." Bickslow replied sheepishly, and barely dodged a pillow thrown at his head. "I'm trying to have a mature conversation with my girlfriend, and would appreciate you not throwing things at me."

"I'd appreciate you shut your face."

"Someone's grumpy." Claire teased, smiling. She wished that she was with them, instead of stuck at the Guild Hall with Makarov. On the communications lacrima the distinct face of Laxus appeared, glaring at her, and then disappearing out of her sight again. "So what kind of training have you guys been doing?"

"Oh, the usual. Breaking stuff, pining over Elfman," Bickslow spoke, and yelled in surprise as another pillow was launched at his face, this time hitting its mark. "Geez, no one can take a joke today. Anyway, tomorrow we're going to do _my_ training exercises. Namely my favorite: hide and seek."

"Why is it your favorite?" She asked, leaning back in her seat and getting comfortable.

"Because I always win. Duh." He said with a roll of his eyes, and yet again, another pillow was launched at his face. This time he simply caught it and threw it back, causing a surprised scream to result. "Alright, now that we've got pleasantries out of the way, what is the news?"

She sighed. "Michael was found wandering around downtown, alone, looking for you."

His eyebrows knitted together, and his tattoo arms scrunched together cutely. "Why? Is he okay?"

"He's fine. One wandering soul in particular was giving him trouble, so he was hoping that you would take care of it."

"Is he there? Can I talk to him?"

"No, he's… not here anymore. I would have called sooner, but I didn't know communication lacrima existed on this world until Makarov mentioned it after I got back. I can't believe you people don't have cell phones here. You have hover boards but you don't have freaking cell phones. The games were so much fun, addicting as hell, I could call people on it when I wanted, I could text people when I didn't want to call people whenever I wanted…. Man I miss texting." She rambled, missing her Galaxy S5 android. She'd just got it before she was transported here, too.

"Was the soul violent? Is Mike okay?"

"Huh? Oh, he's fine, I gave him one of your charms; I hope you don't mind."

"Which one?"

"The same kind you gave me. There were a lot of them that looked different, so I found one that looked closest to mine. I did a little research on seith magic and it seemed like the safest way to deal with the situation. It wouldn't get rid of wandering souls, but it would at least give him some breathing room until you could help him. The soul bothering him isn't following him anymore, which is a plus."

"You know that those charms don't repel spirits, right? They just make people like us less attractive. Wait, how do you know that the soul isn't following him anymore? Did he tell you that?" He asked quickly, becoming more and more concerned. Since she hadn't even gotten to the bad part yet, she wondered how he was going to handle it.

"No, I know that because the soul is following _me_ now. I'm guessing you can't see him through the lacrima, since he's standing pretty close behind me."

"Fuuuuuuck. Have you told him to leave you alone?"

"Honey, I haven't even gotten to the bad news yet. Should we go back to small talk so that you can calm down?"

"You have a dead stalker, and you have more bad news? I've only been gone for 2 days."

"Don't worry, I have some good news to sprinkle in." She said, tilting her head slightly and smiling. "Makarov and Michael made all of your souls little capes to wear, along with an adorable card that you're going to love."

"Capes? Like, superhero capes?"

"For us?" His babies asked, and she nodded. "We're superheroes?"

"Yep. They're all different colors, and your names are on them in glitter. I hope they fit, or they'll stay on when you fly, but if they don't we can modify them. They spent a lot of time getting them just right."

"Was it your idea to make them?" Bickslow asked, grinning and letting his tongue hang out. His babies bobbled around happily at the news.

"No, it was Makarov's actually. Apparently he's really good at sewing."

"Really? Makarov suggested it? I always got the impression that he hated my babies."

"I don't know how he feels about your babies, but he loves kids. He made some really nice dolls for Asuka when I was taking Mike home."

"Huh… he does refer to members of Fairy Tail as his 'children'…" He muttered, suddenly lost in thought. Snapping back to reality, he shook his head and made his souls quiet down before another pillow would take aim at his face. "Back to news. What else happened?"

"When I took Mike home, I asked a police dude to walk with us, and we walked in on your sisters shooting up crocodile. They resisted arrest, police dude called in reinforcements- big huge mess."

"Yikes. Where are the kids now?"

"So, that's where the really bad news comes into play. Or I guess good news, depending on how you look at it."

"Just tell me."

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Stop stalling and just tell me, you're stressing me out."

"What's the news!?" His babies asked, getting too close to the lacrima and bumping into it. Annoyed, he pulled them back, having them sit on his shoulders, head, and knees.

"Your sister's kids are staying at your parents house."

"Why would they stay there? Who lives there now?"

"… your parents."

"But my sister said they were dead."

"She lied." Claire said, watching him stare blankly at her, not entirely understanding her yet. "I saw them with my own eyes. Your parents are alive, and your sisters only told you that so that you'd watch their kids."

"… who the hell does that!?"

"What happened?" Claire heard Evergreen asked in the background, likely alarmed by his suddenly rise in volume.

"My sisters lied about my parents being dead!"

In the background, Claire couldn't hear it very well, but she could make out the voices of his teammates echoing his surprise. Finding herself ignored for the moment she looked at her fingertips, picking at the slightly-too-long nails. While she waited for Bickslow to remember that she was still there, she pondered whether she should try out nail polish sometime, or if it would simply combust and melt when she used her fire magic.

 _Good thing I'm not girly, or else I would be pretty pissed at not being able to wear feminine things with my magic. Jewelry melts, fabric burns… hopefully giving Evergreen almost all of the 'gifts' from their last job would earn her some bonus points. Especially since she told Makarov she was concerned about me…_ She frowned, remembering that. What kind of 'best friend' would not only rat her out to their boss, but not even warn her about it afterwards?

"So, do you have any other news?" Bickslow asked, regaining her attention.

"Makarov is probably going to ban me from S-Ranked missions."

"Even missions with us?"

"I don't know. He asked me how long I've been using magic, and when I told him, he flipped and started yelling about how he'd kill Bacchus for taking me out on dangerous missions."

"And you thought I was overreacting." Bickslow said with a smirk, beginning to relax again on his cot. "So you hadn't told him until today?"

"He never asked until today. He almost had a heart attack when I told him, yelling and ranting about how I could have died, and he hasn't said anything to me since."

"Give him a couple of days and he'll cool down." Laxus said in the background.

"Cool down enough to let me go on S-Ranked missions?" She asked hopefully.

"Probably not." He replied, and she chewed on her cheek, sliding down her chair slightly.

"So Michael really made little capes for my souls?" Bickslow asked, unintentionally riling up his babies again.

"Yeah, you're going to love them. Speaking of which…"

"More bad news?" He asked, shoulders falling.

"Well, kind of, maybe. It's not urgent, and it could be nothing, but it could be something. Maybe. Hopefully not. Really, really, really hope not."

"It stresses me out when you do that, just spit it out."

"So, remember Crystal Lake, how the infamous murderer from my world ended up being real in this world?"

"How can I not remember? You wouldn't shut up for days about how you were right." He said, and after a moment of her not saying anything, he groaned. "Don't tell me you found another murdering psycho creature at a kids camp?"

"Not at a kids camp, and I really hope it's just a crazy coincidence. Otherwise evil incarnate that likes murdering people is going to grow up, well, murdering people."

"What is she talking about?" Evergreen asked in the background.

"I'll explain it later." Bickslow told her, and sighed. "Have you told Makarov?"

"No, you should probably be the one to deal with it."

"… why?"

"Because your nephew's name is Michael Meyers, which happens to be the same name as the crazy murderer in 'Halloween', and he happens to live at the same address."

"Michael is the 'evil incarnate'?" He asked, blinking at her. "Oh, that's a completely different story. Sometimes people with our abilities are easy to be taken over by dark entities, kind of like the parasite that was in you actually, and can turn them into rampaging murderers. Assuming this is like the Jason thing, you may have prevented it from happening by giving him that charm."

"Sweet!" She cheered, glad that it worked out.

"Remind me to check up on him when I get back, though. It would suck if my nephew ended up being a psychotic murderer."

"I agree. So, back to our earlier topic of conversation, what do you want to me to do about Sky?"

"Who's Sky?"

"The ghost dude following me."

"Oh. Uh… is he bothering you?"

"Not really. I don't get the feeling that he's dangerous, just lonely."

"What do you know about him?"

"Is mommy going to be a seith mage, too?" Poppo asked.

"'Mommy'?" Fried asked nearby, and Bickslow glared at the mage.

Ignoring the comment, Claire started telling him what she knew. "Sky died in surgery, he was only 12 when it happened. From what Mike told me he has no family, and had been wandering around for a while before he found him."

"Do you know how long?"

"No idea."

"Can you sense how old he is?"

"… 12?"

"I mean, how long he's been dead. Sometimes if a soul has been detached for long enough, it can change their personality and make them violent. It can also make them more likely to snap, so even if he seems fine now, he could get mean later without warning."

"Mike said that he was mean to him, but when I asked him for specifics, it seemed more like he was annoyed at getting caught talking to him. I doubt his mom is the caring and understanding type with his gift."

"Can he move objects?"

"I don't think so." She replied, and he paused, looking at her while thinking. "Moving objects would mean that it's getting closer to being a poltergeist, right? The ones that got handsy in Death Forest?"

"Yeah… have you been researching wandering souls?"

"A little. Nothing better to do since Makarov has me sitting around all day. 'Holding down the fort'."

He smiled, letting his tongue hang out again. "You're actually getting into it, aren't you? Souls, that is."

"It is interesting." She admitted. "But I'm more interested in learning how to not be a scratch post on any future jobs in the Phoenix Mountains." For emphasis she held up her arm and pulled down her sleeve, showing off her multi-colored arm. The seith mage flinched at the sight of it, having already forgotten about that recent mishap.

"I'm sorry about that… again."

"So what should I do about Sky?" She asked again, letting her sleeve cover her arm as she clasped her hands in front of her. Feeling the cool vibrations of her new friend, she smiled at him, and then went back to looking at Bickslow.

"Well, to be honest, he sounds like he could be a good fit for my babies. If he wants to stay around, or come back when I return, I might take him in. Assuming he wants to, of course. I've been keeping an eye out for a 6th soul since Peppe moved on."

"So I should let him hang out?"

"If you're okay with it… yeah. If he bugs you or does something to annoy you, or make you uncomfortable, just tell him to leave and be stern about it. If that doesn't work I'll come back home and make him leave."

"You guys have been talking for an hour, wrap it up already." Laxus spoke in the background.

"But we miss Claire!" His babies spoke in unison.

"We're going to be back in Magnolia in a couple of weeks, until then it's not the end of the world."

"Couple of weeks?" Claire asked, and Bickslow turned back to her.

"We're moving to different locations for our training, and stopping by Magnolia for a day or two between trips." He said, and Claire's head turned at the sound of multiple voices in the other room, using her heightened hearing to try and hear what was happening.

"I've got to go, we've got some uninvited guests in the Guild Hall."

"Be safe, love you."

"Love you, too." She said with a smile, and tapped the side of the lacrima three times, just as Makarov had instructed her to turn it off. "Let's go see what's happening in the main room." Claire told the wandering soul, who was still touching her arm by her side. Standing up to leave, she sensed the soul follow her, and made her way to the main room.

At the entrance of the Guild Hall was a group of thugs, at least 10 in total. Most of them brandished weapons, and seemed to be having a staring competition at the old man standing just a few yards in front of them.

"Just an old man and a little girl guarding the Guild Hall?" The larger man in front stated, sneering at them.

"Is there a problem here?" Claire asked, quickly walking towards her Guild Master.

"We just wanted to repay you for the damage done to our Guild Hall."

"What damage?"

Makarov seemed to be trying to take the calming breaths like he had earlier, and remembering his health problems, tried to stand between him and the group. "They're from the guild that terrorized our Fairy Tail friends in our absence at Tenrou Island." He explained, and upon seeing one of the men take a step closer to a table to smash it, Claire set her upper body in flames, causing a spark of fear to appear in their eyes.

"I've been craving a good barbeque. How about you, Guild Master?" She asked, keeping her threatening stare on the leader of the group and increasing the temperature of her flames.

"It does sound tasty."

"The hell-?" One of the thugs asked.

"Is that the Salamander?!"

"No dude, it's the Phoenix!" Another one answered, and as they scrambled to escape the small Guild Hall, Claire laughed.

Extinguishing her flames, she turned back to the Guild Master, who was smirking at her.

"Nice job."

"Thanks. I really was looking forward to barbeque, though." She said with a pout, and started walking over to her seat from earlier on in the day, stopping by his table to pick up her book. "How long do you want me to stay here, by the way? When does the Guild Hall officially close?"

"Technically 1 AM, but considering the lack of activity, 11 sounds like a better time."

4.

Claire yawned as she entered her boyfriend's apartment, tiredly turning the light on for the living room. Since he would be out of town for so long, he said that she could stay there as much as she liked. She had wondered if they should talk about living together, but given their busy lives, hadn't really found the time for it.

"I'm not sure if you remember, but even though I can't hear or see you, I can sense your presence within a 5 foot radius. If you choose to stay here, Bickslow will be able to give you a vessel that you'll be able to communicate through." She explained, and yawned again before pulling her long-sleeve shirt off. Given her unfamiliarity with the soul she wasn't going to walk around naked, but she'd been around Bickslow's babies enough to not be too self-conscious around souls.

She didn't expect the cool vibrations on her skin again, and was about to tell him to not be handsy, but she realized that he was specifically touching her injuries. Remembering his earlier fascination with her arm, she let it slide. Since it wasn't an actual hand pressing her injury it didn't irritate the wound.

"Sorry if my wounds bother you. I'm a wizard, so I get injured pretty often. Well, more specifically I'm a clumsy wizard, which is why I get hurt a lot. I totally get why Bickslow wears all those guards." She rambled, beginning to feel awkward for talking into 'empty' space. Sky's hands continued touching her worst bruises, which were on her arms and back. "So uh, I think I'm going to get some sleep. You can stay the night, and I'm sorry I don't really have anything for you to do. Maybe I'll find some kind of ghost toy for you to play with tomorrow? I've been researching your kind the past couple days, so maybe I'll stumbled across something."

Yawning into her hand again, she walked over to the light switch and turned it off, afterwards making her way to the bedroom. Her feet stumbled awkwardly in the darkness, but when she made it to the bed, she happily jumped on it and lay down with her hands behind her head.

Sprawled out, she yawned tiredly again, still sensing the ghost by her side.

"Sorry I'm not very entertaining, but if you stay, Bickslow is a great seith mage. He'll take care of you and help you move on."

The soul lay down next to her, small finger tips continuing to trace the lines of bruises and scratch marks along her skin.

"Good night, Sky."

She whispered, and fell asleep.

5.

Sitting around the Guild Hall all day was beyond boring.

Sure, she liked reading, but not when she could be training with her boyfriend or lounging on the beach. Or even partying in the celestial world with Team Natsu.

It was only noon of day 3, and she was quietly contemplating the dignity of dying from boredom.

"Why are you making her stay here, old man?" Wakaba asked near the Guild Master, noticing her look up from her book at the window for the tenth time that hour. Her boredom hadn't gone unnoticed by the three old geezers, who had been enjoying a light drink together.

"Yeah, isn't it pretty harsh to make her stay here? I mean, it's a ghost town here and all her friends are training for the games." Macao added, recognizing her poorly concealed boredom. Having a 13 year old son, he saw that expression all too often.

"Mirajane requested time off to train with her family, so Claire seemed like the best choice to fill her shoes until she returned. We already had a bunch of hooligans try to destroy our Guild Hall last night, which she took care of very nicely."

"So you're keeping her here as a body guard of sorts? Man, you really are getting old." Wakaba told him, smirking at the angry glare he received.

After taking a lengthy drink of his beer, Macao set it back down on the table with a satisfied sigh. "I guess it makes sense to have a powerful youngster around in case something happens. In all seriousness you are getting on in years, so it's good to let the younger generation do the heavy lifting." The blue-haired mage told him.

"Wait, if she's replacing Mira, are you inferring that she's just as strong as her?" Wakaba suddenly asked, lowering his voice so that woman couldn't hear him.

"Potentially, yes." Makarov said, watching the woman in question smirk as her eyes went back to her open book. "She's successfully completed half a dozen S-Ranked missions."

"No kidding? She did those working with her brother at Quattro Cerberus, right?" Macao asked.

"Yes, and she recently did one with the Thunder Legion. I've been debating whether to let her do one on her own or not."

"Are you senile? Doing those missions with other powerful wizards is one thing, but she hasn't even passed the trials."

"Excuse me?" Someone asked, interrupting the conversation. Everyone in the room paused and looked up at the new presence, having been too absorbed in their discussion to hear him enter. "This is Fairy Tail, right?"

"Amir?" The Guild Master asked, looking up at the young man. He appeared to be in his early thirties, with combed back blonde hair and dark eyes. Most of his body was shrouded from view because of his black cloak, but judging by the decorative and ornate edges, it was obvious that he had considerable wealth.

"Hey, Makarov. How's it going?"

"Not too bad. Yourself?"

"Can't complain." He said with a shrug. "How's Laxus doing?"

"Oh, same old same old." Makarov said with a familiar grin, as if talking to an old friend. "Is there a reason that you're visiting, or are you just stopping by to say 'hi'?"

"Honestly, I was hoping to hire a bodyguard for my travels to Hargeon. My last one caught the flu, and since I was so close to Fairy Tail, wondered if Laxus would be free to come with me."

"Sorry to disappoint, but he's out of town and won't be back for a few months."

"I figured I couldn't be that lucky. Well, do you have any other wizards available for a last minute job? I don't expect to run into trouble, and I'm willing to pay extra for being so last minute." The stranger asked, and as Makarov leaned to the side to look behind him, saw that Claire had been eavesdropping. She was looking at him with a hopeful grin.

"As it so happens, we have a perfect wizard just itching for something to do." Macao said, nodding towards the fire mage. The blonde turned towards where he had indicated, intrigued by the odd looking mage. He hadn't noticed her when he entered, and considering her odd hairstyle coupled with her tribal looking outfit, was surprised he didn't see her earlier.

"I don't know, she's been looking pretty interested in that book. I'd hate to interrupt her." Makarov spoke with a mischievous grin.

"Yes, the history of Fiore Law is just titillating with exciting information." Claire said sarcastically, turning in her chair to face them better. "Did you know that it's technically illegal to spit on the sidewalk, and is punishable for up to 3 years in jail?"

"Seriously?" The blond stranger asked. "Any interest in teaching me more on a free ride to Hargeon?"

"I'd love to, assuming the Guild Master would be okay here on his own." She said, looking over at the man in question.

"Have fun." The Guild Master simply said, chuckling as she excitedly closed her book and shoved it back into her leather backpack.

6.

"So you're interested in Fiore Law, huh? Are you planning to join the police force?" Amir asked, making small talk. It would be a few hours until they reached their destination, the pair sitting across from each other in his decorative carriage. Upon entering the small space he had taken his cloak off, revealing an even more decorative and elaborate suit.

"No, I'm planning to stay with Fairy Tail for a while. My boyfriend's family has been dealing with law enforcement lately, so I've been researching for something to help their situation."

"You have a boyfriend, huh?" He asked with a smirk. Claire blushed slightly, a smile tugging at her lips. "Is he a mage at Fairy Tail?"

"Yeah. If you're friends with Laxus, you've probably met him."

"What's his name?"

"Bickslow." She said, not all that surprised by his confused expression. It was pretty typical when she told people about her partner in question.

"Not that creepy guy with the dolls?"

"The one and only."

"Surely you can do better than that guy. He's so… crude." He said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "And vulgar."

"He's a good guy when you get to know him." She said simply, strangely glad that Amir didn't bring up the 'but he plays with dead things' argument. It was getting tiring to have so many people disapprove of her relationship with the seith mage, but it was even more annoying to hear the same reasoning over and over again.

"Why do you like him?" He asked, still making a grossed out face.

"He's kind, sweet, loving, caring… no matter how upset I am, he can always make me laugh." She listed, smiling as she looked out the window again. Sighing, she shifting in her seat and faced the man again. "So what do you do for a living?"

"I work for my father's accounting firm. I come from one of the wealthiest families in the country."

"Really?"

Conversation went pretty much like that, just trying to pass the time. They didn't really have much in common, and ever since she mentioned dating Bickslow, she got the feeling that he thought less of her. His 'rich boy snotty attitude' multiplied tenfold, and she couldn't help but wonder how Laxus could be friends with someone like him. No doubt he thought the same about her.

He had a glass of whiskey on the journey, and although he offered some to her, she kindly refused. After seeing Bacchus get drugged twice now from accepting alcohol from strangers, she'd taken the habit of only drinking her own. Given how expensive and high quality it was she couldn't help but feel a little tempted to change her answer and drink it anyway, but instead tried to distract herself with thoughts of Bickslow and his team.

A group of kids had harassed them early on in their journey, so they closed the curtains. After some 4 hours of sitting in the small compartment, Amir looked down at his watch, grumbling under his breath.

"What the hell is taking so long?" He asked, and pulled the curtain to the side, peering out the window. "… where the hell are we?"

"Are we not where we're supposed to be?" She asked. Having never taken this journey by carriage, nor made many trips to this town specifically, she would have no idea if they were going the wrong way or not.

"We should have arrived by now, but we're in the middle of the woods. Our route shouldn't be taking us through here."

"I'll talk to the driver, maybe he got lost. Stay here." She told him, and after peering outside through the now open window, she opened the door and leaned out of the carriage with her hand securely on a handle inside. "Oi, dri-" Her sentence was cut off as a knife was thrown at her face, and she barely dodged it.

Not even seconds after, a body flew towards her from the trees. Shoving the door all the way open she kicked the stranger away, barely avoiding the blade in their hand. Hearing and feeling another body jump onto the other side of the carriage, she looked over to see another black and purple clad person. Ducking down as they opened the door on that side, she shot out a plume of fire, effectively knocking them out of the carriage that slowed to a stop.

The sound of the man's shrill scream made it difficult for her to hear what exactly was happening, but she wasted no time in grabbing his wrist and pulling him out. Simultaneously she sent a pillar of fire at the driver, and with the blonde in tow, started running.

"What's going on?!"

"I could ask you the same question!" She yelled back, and slowed down so that he could run in front of her. As the pursuing men and women got closer, she would send the occasional flames in their direction, either catching them on fire or at least distracting and slowing them down.

A spear was thrown at Amir, and she effectively knocked it out of the way before it could hit him.

She couldn't help feel a bit of pride about that.

 _I hit a spear mid- shit, pay attention!_ She thought, almost missing the arrow that nearly hit her client's head. Yanking his arm to the side, he barely avoided death.

Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a flash and smoke bomb, tossed it behind her, and heard the surprised cries of their pursuers. Luckily the running pair happened across a creek bed, and she quickly pulled them under a particularly shaded area under a tree. She tried to ignore the spiders and other critters they disturbed upon their arrival, along with the snake she felt slither under her leg.

"Sssh," Claire hushed, holding her finger to her lips. He nodded, eyes wide and visibly shaking.

Recalling her limited training at hiding her magic levels, she tried to do that now, hoping that she could mask it well enough to stay hidden. After a few minutes of loud pounding in their ears and trying to regulate their breathing, Claire could hear their pursuers running passed them and complaining about losing them.

Just as she was about to let out a sigh of relief, the loud grumbling sound of Amir's stomach met her ears, sending adrenaline pumping through her veins again.

"Sorry." He whispered.

"Shut up." She whispered back, straining her ears for their attackers. After a moment of listening, she surmised that she hadn't heard the sound.

"I feel sick."

"Well be sick later." She countered, glaring at him through the darkness. Sniffing the air, she realized that his breath smelled slightly different. Given her lack of progress with her heightened sense of smell, which was more annoying than helpful, she hoped that it was just her imagination or normal body function.

But then he threw up on her, face and all, and she closed her eyes and mouth as the warm liquid washed over her.

 _Do not kill him._

 _Do not kill him._

 _Do not throw up._

 _Do not kill him and then throw up. Do not do either of these things._

She repeated in her head, gritting her teeth and not breathing or moving for a moment.

But then she heard his body fall backwards, and opened her eyes to see that he had passed out. Trying to wipe the liquid from her eyes and mouth with her sleeve, and trying not to dwell on it, she leaned forward and looked at him. His eyes were wide, and there was blood dripping from his mouth.

She reached forward and pressed two of her fingers against his neck, checking for a pulse.

Instead, she felt the all too familiar feel of his soul moving beneath her hand, further indicating his death. Mentally cursing, she crawled to his side and started doing chest compressions, singing the stupid song in her head to keep time.

30 chest compressions, 2 breaths. 30 chest compressions, 2 breaths. 30 chest compressions, 2 breaths.

A twig snapped nearby, and she reluctantly stopped her attempts to revive him. In her haste to give him CPR, she'd forgotten to keep her magic masked, and realized all too abruptly that the assassins had surrounded them.

Putting her backpack on the ground, she sprung into action, turning into her fire form.

7.

It took her forever to make her way back to the Guild Hall, and it was well past nightfall when she approached the clearing just outside of it. Given that she looked like Carrie on prom night she planned to shower at the Guild Hall before heading back to Bickslow's apartment, since she doubted he would appreciate his neighbors seeing her covered in blood. Her route to the Guild Hall had taken considerably longer than usual, since she had to take back roads to avoid being seen.

Since Makarov had been closing the Guild Hall early the past couple of nights, she figured no one would be there when she arrived.

She was sorely mistaken.

Tired and not thinking to check for anyone in the old building before entering, she walked in the back door, silently glad that she'd asked Sky to stay behind while she worked.

"Why is that lady covered in red?" A small voice asked across the room, and the blood soaked woman jumped at the unexpected sound. Asuka's parents quickly covered her eyes, and Claire realized that there was a small group of wizards there. Asuka, her parents, Romeo, Macao, Wakama, and Makarov had all been sitting at a table across the room when she'd unintentionally interrupted.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone would be here. I was going to use the shower to avoid being seen." Claire said awkwardly, pointing to the direction of the guild shower.

"What the hell happened? I thought it was a simple bodyguard mission?" Wakaba asked.

"Are you injured? What happened? Is Amir okay?"

"Whoa, is that blood?" Romeo asked with a grin.

"Romeo, take Asuka and go play in my office." Makarov instructed, using his commanding and authoritive voice. The boy pouted, shoulders slumping at the prospect of missing out on hearing some juicy details, but nonetheless obeyed his Guild Master. Glancing back at Claire again, who awkwardly stood with her backpack hanging loosely from her right shoulder, he went over to grab Asuka's hand. Once they had disappeared behind the office door, everyone's eyes turned back to hers.

"I'm not hurt, this isn't my blood. Amir was poisoned and attacked by 10 assassins." She explained. "They were magic users, which made it a pain in the ass to take them out."

"Geez," Wakaba and Macoa muttered, staring in shock at the amount of blood on her. It covered not only her face, but most of her shirt and stained the white smiley faces on her hair red.

"Do you know why they were after him?" Makarov asked.

"Something about owing a debt. I tried to question the attackers, but they weren't very talkative." She explained, shifting her weight awkwardly. "Can I go shower to get all this blood off?"

Makarov nodded curtly, and with that, she disappeared down the hallway leading to the shower room. Once she was alone in the small room, which consisted of a mirror and one shower, she let out a sigh.

"Sorry you had to see me like this. I swear this doesn't happen that often." She whispered to the ghost behind her, which was now hugging her. Exhausted from her 5+ mile hike and fight, not to mention the still sore wounds from her trip to Death Forest, she pulled her clothes off and hopped in the shower, bringing her clothes into the shower as well to rinse some of the blood off.

When she exited the shower room, using her fire magic to dry off, she was surprised that Alzack and Biska were still there. In fact everyone had stayed, minus the kids, whom she could hear playing Yatzee in Makarov's office.

"I'm sorry Asuka and Romeo saw me like that. I honestly thought no one would be here, and didn't think to check." She said before taking a seat on one of the vacant chairs, tossing her bag to the side in the process.

"Don't worry about it, Claire. Asuka thinks it was just paint." Biska told her. "How are you feeling? Do you want some tea? I'll go make you some tea." She stated, standing up and hurriedly walking to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry for letting you go on that mission. If I had known-" Makarov spoke, but Claire shook her head.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. It was probably lucky that I went instead of someone else, or else they probably would have been killed. They knew what they were doing." She told him, recalling the event. "The driver led us into an ambush. I think Amir realized we were going the wrong direction before we reached the actual ambush point, which is why we were able to escape the initial attack without injury. We managed to get away, but then when we were hiding, he puked up blood and dropped dead, giving away our position."

"How'd you get away?" Wakaba asked.

"I had to fight my way out. I can turn my body to fire, basically making me invulnerable to attack. Unfortunately they wouldn't let me just walk out alive, and simply injuring them didn't work. I tried to damage their legs and knock them out, but they simply popped a pill and got back up again like it was nothing."

The men grimaced, knowing what she was talking about. "They probably took Nightsand. It's a drug that temporarily makes you unable to feel pain, and they're commonly used in Dark Guilds." Macao explained.

"Gross." She said simply, and smiled up to Biska when she returned with a mug of hot tea. "Thanks, Biska."

"Your welcome. What happened to your arm?" She asked, taking a seat next to her and reaching out to gingerly hold her arm. Claire realized that she was totally going into 'mom mode'.

"It got torn in the fight. The bruises are from a previous job." The checker woman explained, using her free hand to bring the warm mug to her lips.

"Do you have family to stay with tonight?" She asked, looking up from the arm that she was still holding. There were several tears in her clothing, much to Claire's dislike, and some of the holes were big enough to show off her scratches and bruises.

"No, I'm staying at Bickslow's apartment for the time being."

"Where's your family?" The green-haired mage insisted.

"Parents died a while ago, and my brother Bacchus lives in the next town over. I'll be fine, don't worry."

"You should stay with us for the night." She offered, and behind her her husband nodded.

"Thanks, but I'm fine, really. I'm stronger than I look." Claire told her, feeling oddly reminiscent of her childhood again. "If anything I'm just annoyed that I failed the job. I'm pretty sure that Amir died from his whiskey being spiked. Which, if that didn't happen, I probably could have protected him from the attackers."

"He did like his booze…" Makarov commented, ironically taking a sip of his beer directly afterwards.

"Glad I didn't take the job." Macao muttered, and was about to take a drink when he paused. "But I'm really glad that you're safe." He added quickly.

A soft knocking sound met their ears, and they looked at the door again, seeing yet another unexpected guest. There seemed to be a lot of those lately, and Claire realized that she should really stop being surprised at the suddenly appearances of random people. As she shifted in her seat to look between Macao and Wakaba at the door, her heart sunk at the familiar faces.

"What now…" She muttered under her breath. "Hello Mrs. Yoshino. Michael." Claire said politely, moving to stand and walk over to them with her hands in her pockets. She didn't miss the tight-lipped and judgmental look from the older blue-haired woman, and how her gaze immediately went to blood stains on her shirt. "I just got back from a job that didn't go too well, sorry I don't look that great." As Claire apologized, she realized that she'd been doing that a lot the past two days.

"Michael insisted that he come see you." The woman stated simply, looking rather rigid as she held the boy's hand. The boy in question ran forward and closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her. Claire couldn't help but feel odd at the sensation of having both a dead and alive kids hugging her like that. "He keeps going on about dead people in our house. It's utterly preposterous and unseemly."

Recalling the scars on Bickslow's back, the checker woman tried to bite her tongue. "Kids can be that way."

"I honestly don't know what to do with him. He takes after my son, and you know how he turned out. The ungrateful little…." She trailed off, and shifted to recompose herself, tucking a stray hair that had fell on her face back behind her ear.

"Michael can stay with me for a while. I'm sure you've got your hands full with Nathan." _Hopefully he 'accidentally' burns your house down._ Claire thought darkly, recalling their shared pyromania.

"Oh, don't get me started with that little brat. But at least he has some promise." She said pointedly, and Claire felt Michael's grip tighten on her, burying his face in her stomach. The woman's dark green eyes moved around the room, looking for someone. "Where is my son?"

"He's gone training for the Grand Magic Games. He won't be back for a few weeks, but he'll be mostly gone for the next three months."

"Are you good with kids?" She asked, raising one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows at her.

"I grew up with three brothers and two sisters, and babysat a lot over the years. So yes."

"Do you do drugs?"

"No, ma'am."

"Smoke?"

"Nope."

"Drink?"

"Socially." Claire answered, feeling a little relieved by all of the questions. She didn't like the woman, but at least she wasn't as bad as her daughters, who shoved their children at whoever would take them.

"And you're fine with watching… _him_ , for a few days?" The way she said 'him' further irked the fire woman, but she tried to keep a clear head.

"I can do better and watch him for a full week. After that he's welcome to visit the Guild Hall anytime, and even though I'm not always here, there are other kids that sometimes hang out here as well." Claire explained, watching the older woman pull out a small piece of paper from her pocket and hand it too her. Taking the card from her, she realized that it was the woman's business card.

"My address and way to contact me is on the back, if there's any trouble or you need to give him back, for whatever reason. Here's some money to help with food and whatever else he needs." Mrs. Yoshino said as she handed her a wad of cash, which Claire accepted and put it in her pocket with the business card.

"Is there anything else I need to know? Food allergies?"

"To my knowledge he's not allergic to anything. Good night." The older woman said curtly, and with a nod, left the building.

Looking down at the boy in her arms, she noticed that he was wearing a backpack.

"Who was that?" Biska asked curiously, standing up and walking over to her.

"Bickslow's mom. This is her grandson, Michael. Michael, this is Biska." Claire introduced, trying to turn him so that he could see her, but he wouldn't budge.

"It's nice to meet you, Michael." Biska said nonetheless, and then looked up at the woman, hearing her sigh deeply and close her eyes for a moment. "You okay, Claire?"

"Just tired." She replied, and shook her head, trying to wake up. Her limbs ached from the fighting and walking, and she didn't realize she was swaying until she grabbed Michael's shoulder to keep herself steady.

"Why don't you play with the other kids, Mike? There's two other kids close to your age in the other room." Biska offered, but the boy simply shook his head and kept it buried in Claire's orange and red shirt.

"Alright, but let's at least go sit down. Maybe if you ask nicely, Makarov can get you another bowl of ice cream." Claire suggested, looking down to see that she'd piqued his interest. "Come on." She encouraged, moving him along. As he removed his arms, walking with her back to the table of adults, his eyes locked with Sky.

"What's _he_ doing here?"

"I'm watching him until Bickslow gets back from training. When I told him about the soul, he said that he'd be a perfect match for his babies." Claire explained, and plumped back down in her seat after pulling up another chair for him. As she briefly closed her eyes again, the adults focused their attention on the shy little brunette.

8.

Bickslow made a face as she told him the events of the previous day.

"Should I come home?" He asked, and she shrugged tiredly.

"If you want. Makarov is helping me watch Michael, and they seem to be having a good time together. Since I'm otherwise hanging out to guard the Guild Hall, per say, it shouldn't be too eventful until you return."

"Remember that Sky is probably draining your magic, too, so try not to overdo it." He reminded her, and she grunted, having forgotten that wandering souls did that. The only reason his babies didn't steal her magic when they 'cuddled' was because they were too busy stealing Bickslow's. "Sorry for causing you so much trouble."

"It's not your fault."

"Oh, shit. We forgot to do your belated birthday date." He said with a frown, slouching. "I promise, next we see each other, we'll do it and it's going to be awesome."

"Don't worry about it, honey."

"Nope. Next time we see each other, we're doing it, and it's going to be amazing. I'm going to get you the most amazing gift ever."

"When you visit between training you're going to be tired. Should we plan to do that after the Grand Magic Games?"

"You really want to wait that long?"

"It's going to be super special awesome!" One of his babies cheered, followed by the excited cheers of his fellow souls as they bounced and twirled around him.

"Are 'mommy and daddy' going on a date?" Evergreen teased nearby. Bickslow stuck his tongue out at her.

"Could I talk to Michael for a minute?" The blue-haired man asked, turning back to Claire.

"Sure, I'll go get him." She said, standing up and going to the other room. As she walked away she could hear the bickering of the Thunder Legion, and chuckled, wishing once again that she was with him. "Yo, Mike. Bickslow wants to talk to you." She announced, reentering the main room. Michael looked up from the cape he had been making, beaming at her, and then hopped off his chair and ran passed her into the room. Guessing he wanted a moment alone with the boy, she walked over to chat with Makarov until they were done.

Michael sat down on the still warm seat, smiling at his uncle on the lacrima. "Hey uncle!"

"Hey Mike, how's it going?"

"Good. I made capes for your sidekicks."

"Woohoo!" His babies cheered happily.

"That's awesome, buddy. They can't wait to try them on." Bickslow told him, smiling back at the still beaming kid. "How do you like Sky?"

"Eh, he's a'right." He said with an exaggerated shrug. His legs started swinging back and forth energetically, since the chair was too big for him. "He really likes Claire. He hugs her a lot."

"Claire said you thought he was mean a couple days ago. What changed?"

"I dunno. He's less mean now."

"How has Claire been?"

"She looks sad a lot."

"She's just tired, don't worry." Bickslow told him, noticing the boy sadden a little when he mentioned her. "She's had a rough couple of weeks, and it has nothing to do with you." He assured him, and watched the boy suddenly look towards the door, the sound of people yelling drifting into the room. "What's going on?"

"Someone's yelling." Michael said softly, looking at the door.

Back in the main room, Claire sighed tiredly and rested the back of her head against the railing. The back of her chair was against the wall and her feet were propped up on a chair in front of her, crossed at the ankles. "And I thought I would get bored…" She muttered, partly to herself and partially to the soul at her side. Standing on the table near her was Makarov, who was having a yelling competition with her brother, Bacchus.

"You took your sister on S-Ranked missions when she'd only been using magic for a few months!? You put one of my children in danger you blubbering idiot!" Makarov yelled.

"She's my sister! It's not like she was in any real danger." Bacchus scoffed, crossing his arms.

"There's a reason that we only let S-Ranked wizards do those jobs!" Makarov yelled back, and their argument continued like that for a while. Neither of them were known to back down from a fight, and Claire could have stepped in… but she was also mildly curious about who would win in a fight.

It surprised her that Bacchus tried to defuse the argument before it led to violence. "Look, my Guild Master didn't want to ask her either, but I don't really have another choice. Do you at least have another wizard I could borrow? The pay is good, and a lot of lives are at risk if I can't get someone to do this job with me. Laxus, or even Natsu's team would be a good fit. Lots of destruction."

"My mages are all training for the games." Makarov stated, crossing his arms. The martial artist shifted, looking over at his sister, who was sitting there with her eyes closed and appearing to be asleep.

"Do you have a say in this, sis?"

"I have to babysit, dude. Sorry." She said, and just as she said that, saw in the corner of her eye Michael leave the Guild Master's office. His eyes were watery and he was looking down at his feet, shuffling slowly over to the fire mage.

"It would just be for two days. A day and a half if we're fast. Can't you get someone else to watch him?"

"She's not going." Makarov told him, narrowing his eyes at the young man.

"Look, it's barely considered S-Ranked, and they're looking for more brute force than tactical expertise, which is what I'm good at. She can go into her fire form when we get there, which makes her invulnerable to pretty much any attack, beat people up and then come straight back."

"Nope."

"Where is it?" Claire asked, pulling the teary eyed boy over to her and letting him sit on her lap.

"I can't tell you exactly unless you accept, but it's a 2 hour train ride and 3 mile hike. A dark guild is planning a massive attack on some key cities, so the Magic Council is asking for powerful mages to help take them down before they do any real damage."

"Why wasn't I told about this?" Makarov asked him, unmoving and still glaring at the man.

"Probably because your guild has lost its status over the years. They're also trying to keep it low key so that we don't tip them off. The attack is tonight, and Goldmine got permission for me to ask you…. This would also be a good way to get back on the Magic Council's good graces." He added the last part, watching the old man's hardened expression change slightly.

9.

"I can't believe you talked Makarov into letting me come along." She chuckled, taking a seat in the small compartment. He walked in after her, sliding the door closed and sitting across from her.

"I'm surprised you told him about how long you've been using magic. That was stupid of you."

She shrugged, shifting so that her back was against the wall and her feet were on the seat, legs stretching out. Wincing at the movement, another sigh left her lips. "While everyone else in my guild is gone training for the Grand Magic Games, he made me stay behind so he could interrogate me."

"It was still stupid of you."

"Whatever, twerp."

"Dork."

"Nerd."

"Hot head."

"Drunk." She countered with a smirk.


	13. Chapter 13

**Walking Cliché 13**

 _Bickslow's Day_

Peppe, his newest soul, wasn't the quickest learner.

It was their second day of training, or technically their first day, since they'd spent most of yesterday traveling and planning out their training regime. After only a few hours Peppe broke about 8 vessels, and Bickslow was glad that he had bought so many dolls from the thrift store before leaving the city. Sure he got weird looks from the store owner and other customers, but it was worth it to not replace every totem his souls broke in training.

He'd asked Laxus to go easy on them as they fought, since he was still teaching the new soul his formations and fighting tactics, but he kept 'forgetting' and going all out anyway. His other souls had worked with the mage before and could dodge his attacks, but little Peppe got hit almost every time.

And then the soul felt so bad for screwing up, that he eventually just broke down 'crying' and flew into the seith mage's arms.

"Dude, what the hell?" Bickslow asked, walking over to the dragonslayer and holding Peppe to his chest.

"We're training. Holding back isn't going to help them get stronger."

"Neither is stressing them out until they cry. This is Peppe's first training session with the team."

"No it's not. I've seen you fight with that soul before." Laxus countered, arms crossed over his chest and lightning dancing along his exposed arms.

"This is a new soul. The other Peppe moved on."

"Why the hell did you give them the same name? That's confusing as fuck."

"Don't be too hard on Laxus, Bicks. He's just stressed about what Erza told him before we left." Fried spoke as he walked over to them, sheathing his sword in the process. Ever walked over to them as well, gently wiping a layer of sweat from her forehead.

She was about to ask them for a break anyway, so their little 'chat' came at a good time. "What did she tell him?" Ever asked, hands on her hips.

"It's nothing." Laxus grumbled, looking away.

"She said that she knows who is real family is, and that he has a relative at Fairy Tail."

"Really? Who is it?" Evergreen asked.

"She wouldn't say, apparently. She told Laxus that if he wanted to know, she'd tell him."

"Ooooh," Bickslow cooed, letting his tongue hang out. "Who do you think it is?"

"How the hell should I know." Laxus scoffed.

"What if it's me? Dude, we could be bros!" Bickslow said happily, grinning at the embarrassed mage and temporarily forgetting about his earlier destructive nature.

"No way is he related to you." Evergreen countered. "What if it's Erza?"

"Tch, she would have told him straight out if that was true. Oh, what if it's Lucy? You both have the blond hair and blue eyes thing."

"What if it's Natsu?" Fried asked, and the entire group shared a synchronized shudder.

"Where's Claire?" Bickslow's babies asked behind him.

"The Guild Master made her stay behind, remember?" He told them, watching them drop a little in the air and make a small 'aaw' sound.

1.

"This place smells weird." Bickslow complained, stretching and laying back on his cot. His team settled on their beds in the fairly large room, tired grumblings and sighs filling the air. That morning they had spent about 4 hours training, and then after a lunch break, had done another 5 hours of fighting and strength building, namely the latter. Having just finished a heavy dinner, the group wouldn't be awake for much longer.

They were staying at a 'secret' location, which was a deserted Buddhist temple that Laxus had trained at as a kid. Only one room on the entire compound was stable and clean enough for them to stay in.

In order to make their training sessions beneficial to everyone, they rotated each day to compliment and help work on one person's abilities. That person chose the exercises they did and essentially planned out their entire day. This style of training benefited everyone because not only did it allow them to focus on one person at a time, but it also forced the others to do exercises they normally wouldn't feel inclined to do. After rotating through everyone they would have a day of rest and recoup, and then after that start the process again.

Today was Laxus's day to choose what they did, naturally, so he chose brute force tactics. Fighting each other head on, doing laps around the compound, pushups, etc. Claire would have loved it since she does it anyway for training, and considering both her reaction to Laxus's magic and her own natural magic strength, it would have been amazing to watch them battle it out. The dragonslayer wasn't too please when his grandfather made her stay at the Guild Hall, and Bickslow wondered if he thought the old man did it to 'get back' at him somehow.

He couldn't help but be happy at the fact that Laxus and her got along so well. He rarely saw them talk to each other, but whenever he asked one of them about the other, they said they enjoyed their company. Plus, given Laxus's reaction to her being held back, he had a feeling that she would be joining them for future jobs. Even if Ever and Fried hated Claire, which they didn't, they would grow to like her just because Laxus did.

Evergreen seemed up and down about her opinion of his girlfriend, but he had figured as much from the fairy woman. She's never been the best at making female friends, as she tends to get crazy competitive with them, so he was just glad that she didn't pick fights with her 24/7 like Erza. Bickslow got the feeling that Claire was masculine enough that she didn't threaten Ever, and given the fact she was dating him, she wasn't competition with other men.

And then there was Fried, who… well, liked pretty much everyone. The word mage wasn't a fan of her 'fight first, ask questions later' attitude, especially since he got a concussion as a result on their last job, but he did enjoy talking to her about literature. Bickslow also got the feeling that although Fried was a little sore about their last job, he also realized that she was still new to being a mage, and especially hadn't worked with their team before then.

"I'm exhausted." Evergreen huffed on the other side of the room.

"It was a rather rigorous training session." Fried agreed near the seith mage. Fried and Bickslow's cots were on one side of the room, while Laxus and Evergreen's were on the other.

"You can say that again." Bickslow's babies spoke in unison, except for Peppe. He was humming contentedly on his chest, still recovering from the trauma of that morning.

A small beeping sound permeating the still air, causing everyone to stir slightly at the odd sound. Bickslow peered over at the source of it, watching his leader dig into his duffel bag and pull out his communication lacrima. When he turned it on their Guild Master's face appeared on it.

"Claire needs to talk to Bickslow." He said curtly.

"Nice to see you too, gramps." Laxus said sarcastically, and tossed the orb over to the seith mage, who caught the object with ease.

Pleasantly surprised by the late night call, Bickslow looked into the bowling ball sized object, smiling at the tired face of his girlfriend. "Hey Checkers, what's up?"

"Claire! We miss Claire!" His babies cheered, and he had to use his magic to rope them back and calm them down. Considering how low his magic was, he was tempted to unbind them for the night, but knew that they would be upset and difficult the next day if he did.

"Well, I've got some bad news." Claire spoke solemnly. She looked unusually pale, and there were visible bags under her eyes.

"Uh-oh. Should I sit down for this?" He joked.

"Probably."

"Bad news?" His babies asked, pulling against his magic and getting close enough to almost bump into the fragile object. Deciding that he didn't want to hold the lacrima in his hands for the entire conversation, he set the lacrima on the bed in front of him shifted around to get settled.

"Are you sitting down?"

"Yep, I'm all ears. Do you at least have some good news to counter some of the bad news?" He asked, trying to keep light-hearted for whatever news she had for him.

"Uuuh… sure. What do you want to hear first?" Claire asked, and as she spoke, Bickslow tried to ignore the 'kissy' faces that Ever was doing in the background. Upon noticing that his girlfriend appeared stressed from whatever she was about to tell him, he figured a non-serious conversation would turn that frown upside down.

"How about we start with non-news first. How are you? How has your day been?"

"I'm tired and I miss you." She said with a pout.

Well, so much for that cheering her up. Realizing that he was still wearing his hood and visor, Bickslow took it off, feeling slightly self-conscious about his greasy hair. At least she couldn't smell him right now.

"I miss you too, but it's only been two days."

"How have you been? How's training going?"

"Brutal." He frowned, recalling their morning training session and all the destroyed dolls. Looking over at Laxus he stuck his tongue out at him, but then pulled it back when the man abruptly opened his eyes and glared. "I mean, just dandy."

"I saw that." The dragonslayer growled.

Feigning ignorance, the seith mage grinned. "I didn't do nuthin'." The blond grabbed one of his two pillows and threw it at him, the force of it causing a loud 'bam!' as it crashed into the wall, despite how light and fluffy it was. Being particularly good at dodging attacks, he stuck his tongue out again playfully. "I'm trying to have a mature conversation with my girlfriend, and would appreciate you not throwing things at me."

"I'd appreciate you shut your face." Laxus countered, his cold stare sending chills down Bickslow's spine.

"Someone's grumpy." Claire's voice spoke through the lacrima, and he was glad to see her smiling now. "So what kind of training have you guys been doing?"

"Oh, the usual. Breaking stuff, pining over Elfman," Bickslow spoke, purposely riling up the brunette. He gave a startled yelp as her only pillow was sent hurtling towards him, not expecting her to give away her only pillow so easily. "Geez, no one can take a joke today." He said, giving a triumphant smirk to Ever as he held the pillow in his arms like a stuffed animal. "Anyway, tomorrow we're going to do _my_ training exercises. Namely my favorite: hide and seek."

"Why is it your favorite?" Claire asked, reclining in her chair. She looked calm and relaxed enough to share whatever bad news he had, so he figured he'd change the topics back to a more serious nature soon. He'd been acting overly silly at the expense of his teammates to cheer her up, so he was glad it was paying off.

"Because I always win. Duh." He said with a roll of his eyes, and in the corner of his eye, saw Fried about to throw one of his five pillows at him. Instead of dodging or getting hit, he easily grabbed the pillow and threw it back, causing the green-haired mage to yell and fall off the bed in surprise. The entire group laughed at his expense, and Bickslow knew the younger mage would get payback by the end of the trip. "Alright, now that we've got pleasantries out of the way, what is the news?" He asked, turning back to the lacrima and watch her posture deflate again.

"Michael was found wandering around downtown, alone, looking for you."

 _Didn't see that coming._ "Why? Is he okay?"

"He's fine. One wandering soul in particular was giving him trouble, so he was hoping that you would take care of it." She explained, and the seith mage mentally cursed. Of course Michael was going to seek him out at some point, he was likely the only person he knew that had 'the gift', but couldn't he have done it at a better time?

"Is he there? Can I talk to him?"

"No, he's… not here anymore. I would have called sooner, but I didn't know communication lacrima existed on this world…" As she continued to talk, uncharacteristically rambling about technology he had no knowledge about, he patiently waited for her to stop talking so that he could ask about the soul.

"Was the soul violent? Is Mike okay?"

"Huh? Oh, he's fine, I gave him one of your charms; I hope you don't mind."

 _Crap. I'll have to talk to her later about going through my things…_ "Which one?"

"The same kind you gave me." She said, and he sighed in relief. Some of those charms were particularly dangerous. As she continued talking and explaining what had happened, he nodded and listened, then asked follow-up questions. He hated that he wasn't there to help her in person, especially since he should have been the one to talk to Michael about what was going on with him. He never got the chance at the beach, and it wasn't fair for Claire to do it just because he didn't have the time or hadn't figured out a way to go about it. Not only that, but she was extremely new to the field and a mistake on her part could cost not only her life but Michael's as well.

"No, I know that because the soul is following _me_ now." She told him, and his heart sunk. She seemed unusually calm for what she was telling him, and it further made him anxious.

"Fuuuuuuck. Have you told him to leave you alone?" He cursed, and saw his teammates look over at him in the corner of his eye.

"Honey, I haven't even gotten to the bad news yet. Should we go back to small talk so that you can calm down?"

He glared, annoyed by her carefree attitude on the subject. "You have a dead stalker, and you have more bad news? I've only been gone for 2 days."

"Don't worry, I have some good news to sprinkle in." She said, tilting her head slightly to the side and smiling, the adorable action melting his heart. "Makarov and Michael made all of your souls little capes to wear, along with an adorable card that you're going to love."

"Capes?" He asked, and vaguely recalled Michael liking superheroes. "Like, superhero capes?"

"For us?" His babies asked, and he loosened his hold on them a little as she nodded. "We're superheroes?"

Bickslow was surprised at just how quickly she'd cheered him up with the change in conversation. Just like he had tried to cheer her up when he saw that she was upset, she had done the same for him. But as their conversation trailed off, he found himself both curious and dreading the prospect of hearing more 'bad news'.

"Back to news. What else happened?" He asked, and as they continued talking, found himself getting progressively annoyed by her sudden rambling and stalling. It wasn't like her to avoid telling him things, at least in that way.

"What's the news?!" His babies finally yelled, just as curious as he was. However in their excitement they got so close to the lacrima that they bumped into it, so he had to rope them back to his head, shoulders, and knees. Going back to hugging his pillow he looked back at Claire again expectantly, waiting for her to answer him.

"Your sisters' kids are staying at your parent's house."

"Why would they stay there? Who lives there now?"

"… your parents."

"But my sister said they were dead."

"She lied." Claire said simply, and he shut down for a moment, processing that information. _They're… what?_ "I saw them with my own eyes. Your parents are alive, and your sisters only told you that so that you'd watch their kids."

 _My parents are alive?_ "… who the hell does that!?" He suddenly yelled, startling his teammates.

"What happened?" Ever asked on her bed, looking up from her nails.

"My sisters lied about my parents being dead!" He replied, pissed off. "Seriously, who the hell does that?"

"Wait, so your parents are alive? Isn't that good news?" Fried asked, confused.

"That's not the point. My sisters lied about them being dead just so that I would babysit, and then call the cops on me."

"That's pretty sick, bro." Laxus agreed.

"Thank you!" He said, and returned to the communication lacrima, surprised to see her picking at her nails, not unlike Evergreen across the room. As they went back to conversation, they talked about a variety of things, ranging from her conversation with Makarov to her situation with Sky.

Even after turning the communication lacrima off, he stared at the object, lost in thought.

He felt extremely anxious and apprehensive about letting the wandering soul stay with her. What he wanted to do was go straight home and take care of the soul, either decide to keep it or send it on its way, and have a long chat with Michael. It was rare that souls masked their darker energy so well that even seith mages couldn't sense them, but it did happen, and he had no idea the extent of her 'sensing' abilities. If it was a poltergeist in disguise, it could kill her in her sleep. Although unlikely, it was possible. He'd only come across one in his years as a seith mage, and it was in the possession of another seith mage, who died shortly afterwards.

The fact she was getting more confident dealing with souls worried him further, since wandering souls weren't very stable creatures. Even the 'nice' ones lashed out on occasion, and if handled improperly could cause just as much damage to the surrounding people as itself.

She'd already been injured once (or several times, depending on how looked at it) and given her admitted indifference to death, he couldn't help but wonder if he should try and distance her from his magic.

"Give me back my pillow, jerk." Ever's voice broke him out of his thoughts, and it took him a second to remember that he was holding it. Tossing it over to her, he didn't realize that Laxus was walking over to him until he was already standing next to him, grabbing his lacrima and pillow.

"Oh, were you serious earlier, by the way? About Makarov banning Claire from missions with us?"

"She's a good addition to the team. I don't think he'll let her do S-Ranked missions on her own, but I'll talk him into letting her do missions with us if I need to."

"Not that I'm against it, but I'm surprised that you want another melee fighter on the team." Fried commented as he brushed his long green locks of hair. It had started looking pretty gnarly by the end of their training. "You've always emphasized what a perfect balance our team is."

"I've always wanted another melee fighter on the team, but I've never found one that wasn't annoying as hell. As bonus, she's a girl, which balances out the team gender wise a little better." Laxus explained. "We should get some sleep."

2.

Bickslow loved his training day.

Everyone else hated it.

Because he always won. Duh.

He got up extra early to get his game set up, before the crack of dawn. He and his babies went into the surrounding forest and roamed around the pathways and trees, mentally taking note of the area and what had changed over the past 7 years since they trained there.

Climbing in the trees, jumping from branch to branch, leaving tracks (and his scent) all over the forest, he couldn't help but be excited to play.

Laxus was mean to his babies the day before, so now it was his turn to be mean. Well, not mean, per say…

The name of the game: Hide and Seek. He would hide and they would seek. When they first started the game back when they first formed the Thunder Legion, it was a silly little exercise to test their ability to catch people running/hiding in the woods. Then when it proved extremely helpful on a following mission, Bickslow realized that it was actually an extremely valuable and useful exercise.

For his comrades it would help them harness their ability to track him and heighten their senses. For Bickslow, it allowed him to practice the art of stealth, along with letting his babies roam free and work with him without his constant supervision.

And like he told Claire: he always won. Sure, it took him a few tries to eventually learn how to outsmart his entire team, but he eventually got the hang of it.

Finding a spot that looked good enough to hang out at for a long period of time, he hopped into two of his souls that levitated him into the air. After getting situated on one of the taller branches of a tree, he told his souls to go wake up the team.

3.

"Time to get up! Time to get up, up, up!"

"Yeah sleepy heads!"

"Time to get uuuuuup!" One of them sang, and all of them were as obnoxious and annoying as they could manage, as per Bickslow's instruction. Whenever it was 'his' day he'd always mix up how he woke them, so they never really knew what to expect, and thus wouldn't be able to prepare for it.

That was part of the fun!

"Shut up!" Ever yelled, throwing her pillow at them and missing. They darted around happily, sometimes bumping into the stirring mages, and sometimes knocking into themselves or the wall. Laxus tried to hit them with his lightning magic, but missed and accidentally shocked Ever instead. "Ow!"

"Make those things shut up." Laxus seethed, looking over at Fried, who looked back at him helplessly. Bickslow's babies were immune to his enchantments because of a unique enchantment of his own: one of the improvements he had made specifically for his game. The word mage was powerless against the crazy antics of the energetic souls, much like his teammates.

"Time to get up, up, up!"

Laxus tried again to hit them with his lightning, to no avail.

"If I find Bickslow, I'm going to kill him." The blonde growled, throwing his blanket off of himself and quickly dressing into his workout outfit.

"Woohoo!" The souls cheered at the sight of all of them starting to get ready.

4.

Bickslow relaxed against the tree, smiling up at the sky. He saw a bolt of lightning shoot up into the clear, blue, morning sky, indicating that his babies had done their first task. Breathing in the fresh air of the outdoors, he grinned at the yells and screams of his comrades.

In order to screw up Laxus's scent of smell, he had several dolls littered around the forest with an article of his clothing on them. His babies would go in and out of the 20 or so dolls periodically, making sounds all through the forest. Sometimes they simply giggled and laughed, sometimes they would pair up and make footsteps on the ground, and other times they would make no sound at all as they floated around messing with their sight.

Surprisingly, Evergreen usually got the closest to finding him. Using her fairy wings to fly around the forest, she was efficient in her grid-like searches through the trees and ignoring his babies.

Fried tried to rely on his intellect to find him. He used to try and set up enchantments around the forest for him, but since Bickslow had eyes on him the entire time, he never fell for them and always knew where they were. Tracking his footsteps and broken branches, the poor mage followed dead end trails for hours and hours with little to no success. Bickslow actually felt pretty bad for him, so although he had one soul watch him at all times, he asked his souls to not taunt him as much as the others.

It was an excellent challenge for Laxus, but it was also pure torture. Bickslow loved the man, but sometimes he got on his nerves, and this game allowed him to utterly and completely fuck with him.

Since he's a dragonslayer, all of his senses are heightened. Smell, touch, taste, hearing, sight. With Bickslow's scent everywhere, his babies causing verbal and visual noise, the blonde's senses were overloaded. The exercise caused him to try and focus on each specific sense to try and locate the seith mage, not to mention test his patience.

In order to make the game a little more fair, Bickslow always agreed to stay in one place for the first hour. After that he was free to roam around as much as he pleased, which was when he could really practice his stealth.

Hearing his teammates trample through the forest angrily was entertaining for a short while, but his thoughts quickly wandered to his girlfriend, as they usually did when not preoccupied by something more urgent. The last two days he'd been busy with traveling or training, so he didn't really have time to think about her; however, now he had the next 4 hours of sitting around with nothing to do but think about the little pyro.

The typical cheesy grin tugged at his lips, as it always did when he thought about her. He knew that a lot of his infatuation with her was simply raging hormones, as their time spent alone nowadays consisted mostly of sex. He also knew that their relationship was more than just that, as he'd already professed his love, and truly enjoyed her presence outside of the bedroom.

Having never expected to find a girl that genuinely liked him so much, nonetheless a powerful mage that could go with him on jobs, he couldn't help but feel insanely lucky.

Despite her power he wanted to protect her, and at the sudden thought of losing her, his jaw clenched tight.

5.

The next day was Fried's day, which Bickslow had been dreading ever since he heard that they were going to be training for the games. His theory that the little rune mage would be especially evil was confirmed by the dark look in his eye when he threw that pillow, and 'Bickslow's day' the previous morning only made it that much worse.

"God damn it this is torture! Just let us out already!" The seith cried, groaning and falling onto his back. There was still a pile of books next to him that he had to sort through, and as expected, he was further behind than any of them.

"Stop being such a baby. We put up with your ridiculous games yesterday." Evergreen chastised nearby, although feeling the same. She was currently second in lead, Fried naturally first, and was on the verge of getting a headache.

"You'll thank me later." Fried said smugly, completing his 6th ring.

Not surprisingly, his training consisted of training the mind. Fried set up small enchantments all around the compound in a chain of sorts, with each enchantment having its own requirements to escape, along with a very large stack of books and papers in each one. In order to eat lunch, they had to complete at least 4 rings, giving them an hour for each test.

It was basically an open book, giant exam.

Bickslow groaned again, silently contemplating the best way to kill himself in the small space. He'd only completed one of the rings, and he had just over two hours more of this hell before lunch.

6.

That night, he couldn't help but feel a little panicked at the sound of Makarov's voice through the communication lacrima. Last time he called them Claire had told him a plethora of bad news which left his head spinning, and he'd hoped that things had calmed down after that. I mean, she was supposed to be sitting on her ass drinking booze with the Guild Master for the next 3 months. How much more trouble could she get into?

"Bicks." Laxus said, and then threw the orb at him, which he caught with ease, just like the other day.

He situated himself like he had the other day, placing the orb in front of him and looking down at his girlfriend, who looked tired as hell. Unlike last time, however, she smiled at the sight of him and sat up a little straighter.

"Did any more of my family members rise from the dead?" He half joked, hoping that their conversation wouldn't be as dark as last time. Feeling the odd sense of dejavu, he couldn't help but tense up a bit.

"No, nothing like that."

"Mind if I ask what the call is about? Should I brace myself for more bad news?"

"No, at least _I_ don't think so. I had a bad day yesterday, so Makarov thought it would be a good idea to talk to you and de-stress a little. How's your training going? Was 'Hide and seek' fun?"

"Hide and seek was fun. I won, of course." He said with a grin, letting his tongue hang out. "But today was Fried's day to choose our training routine, so I spent the entire day taking tests."

"And whining about it." Evergreen added.

"So tell me about your day yesterday. What happened that sucked so much? Did you get drunk and do something embarrassing?" Bickslow asked, and judging by her tired sigh and shift in her seat, he guessed he was wrong.

"I was bored out of my skull yesterday, so Makarov let me do a simple body guard job. Sit in a carriage for a few hours and then come back to the Guild Hall. Easy job, easy money."

"I take it something went wrong?"

"We were attacked. The driver took us to the middle of nowhere and we were ambushed. I managed to get my client out in time, and even found a good hiding spot while the assassins went passed us, but he'd been poisoned at some point in the day. After he dropped dead on the spot I had to fight in order to escape, ruining one of my favorite shirts in the process."

Bickslow nodded as he heard her retell the events, feeling the familiar rage and over protectiveness inside him. Without looking up at his teammates he could tell they were listening to the conversation and watching him. "I thought Makarov wasn't going to send you on S-Ranked missions?"

"It wasn't S-Ranked. Well, I guess now it might be classified as one in foresight, maybe, but we didn't know it at the time. The client was a friend of Laxus and said that he didn't expect any trouble. Makarov and I figured the most trouble we might run into would be bandits. Like I said, it was supposed to be an easy job."

"I thought you were supposed to be guarding the Guild Hall or whatever? Why'd he let you go?"

"Because I was bored out of my skull, and he was being nice."

"Were you hurt?"

"Nah. I switched to my fire form when I fought them, so I didn't take any hits." She told him, and he visibly relaxed a little. "I am sore from having to walk all the way back to the Guild Hall, though. It took forever."

"Could have been worse."

"We're glad Claire is safe!" His babies cheered.

"Thanks guys." She said with a smile. "The only injury I got was to my pride. I totally bombed what was supposed to be a ridiculously easy job, and it pisses me off that someone died under my protection. What's even more annoying is that I'm pretty sure he was poisoned before he requested the job, so I couldn't have done anything about it, since I know little to zilch about poison nor what the side effects are…. Not to mention this happened while Makarov was reconsidered the S-Ranked missions thing."

"Hey, try not to beat yourself up about it. Unexpected shit happens sometimes, and he's not the kind of person to hold it against you."

"Oh, and I totally freaked out some of our guild members. When Amir died he puked up blood all over me, so when I came back to the Guild Hall to clean up, looked like I had just walked out of a blood bath."

Bickslow grimaced, knowing how awkward that could be. Even on jobs where there weren't any deaths involved, there had been instances where he'd been covered in blood from an injury and had to approach a stranger. Upon seeing his odd clothing and the amount of blood on him they'd run for the hills.

"Sorry babe. That sucks."

"Changing topics: on a more pleasant note," She spoke, now smiling and leaning forward. "I'm babysitting Michael for the week."

"Michael's back?" Bickslow asked, not entirely surprised. "You told him I won't be back for a few weeks, right?"

"Yeah, but I think he just wants to be with anyone other than your mom." She explained. "Judging by your reaction, I'm guessing you can sympathize."

"Don't get me started." He grumbled. "Should I come home?"

Tiredly, she shrugged, and he noticed that she looked progressively paler and thinner than last time he saw her on the lacrima. It was probably the lighting and her posture, but at that moment he wanted nothing more than to cuddle her and shove an entire pizza down her throat.

"If you want. Makarov is helping me watch Michael, and they seem to be having a good time together. Since I'm otherwise hanging out to guard the Guild Hall, per say, it shouldn't be too eventful until you return."

By the end of his conversation with both Claire and Michael, he felt significantly more exhausted. Tossing the orb back to Laxus, he then leaned back on his cot and stretched his tired limbs, letting his babies take their usual cuddle spots on him.

"She seems to have bad luck on jobs as of late." Fried commented, recalling their last job with her.

"No kidding. She's around death more often than I am." Bickslow replied, taking deep breaths to calm down.

"Speaking of which… don't you guys think that she handles it a little _too_ well?" Evergreen asked the group, at which both Laxus and Fried looked over at her, giving her a weird look.

"No." They both replied.

7.

Evergreen's day was arguably everyone's favorite, aside from their own.

Unlike the others, she liked to focus more on meditation, flexibility, and balance. The abandoned Buddhist Temple was on the edge of a mountain range, so when they did Ever's exercises, they had a beautiful view. The surrounding area was completely empty and they were the only humans for miles, adding to the calm and serene atmosphere.

They woke up at 6 AM to do an hour of silent meditation (or a 'nap time', as Bickslow called it), and then proceeded with yoga for another hour, and then another hour of meditation. That second hour of meditation, however, would be more dedicated to strengthening and controlling their magic.

The rest of the day would repeat much in that fashion.

8.

Their fifth day was their 'do whatever and relax' day, or 'fun day' as Bickslow called it. Usually they would distance themselves from each other to get some space, since the previous four days had been in such close proximity to each other. The seith mage usually slept in, Evergreen continued her meditation and yoga, Fried read somewhere, and Laxus- well, he did whatever the hell he felt like.

After sleeping an extra 2 hours, Bickslow yawned and stretched, slowly waking up. He'd half expected his teammates to get back at him for waking them up on 'Bickslow's day', but he was glad to see that they were above that.

Sitting up, he looked around to see that he was the only one left in the room.

Smiling, he sighed and lay back on his cot again, stretching his limbs and resting his head on his interlaced hands.

This was nice.

He felt refreshed from the previous day, but he also felt productive and strong from the days before. Meditation and yoga actually made him feel better about his situation with Claire and his family, and he didn't realize how tense he'd been until afterwards.

His sisters had been arrested, and their kids were with his parents. Sure he hated them with a passion, but they'd always liked his sisters more than him, so he figured they were in good hands for the time being.

Assuming Makarov wasn't stupid enough to send her out on another job so soon, Claire would be fine until he got back. Despite his age the old geezer is one of the 10 wizard saints and considered everyone in Fairy Tail to be his 'child', so she would be fine. She was babysitting Michael and being supportive of his gift, or at least he hoped, and taking care of him until he returned.

His parents were alive, which is a shocker, but he didn't really care that much. It made things easier with his nephews and niece. Plain and simple.

… but he couldn't help but feel a nagging suspicion that everything wasn't alright, and that he should go home. It was irrational, and Claire said that she was fine….

After a few minutes of laying there and staring up at the ceiling, the knot in his stomach getting tighter and tighter, he eventually sat up and got dressed, minus his hood and visor. Digging into his leader's bag he pulled out his communications lacrima and sat back down on his cot, calling the Guild Master.

"Who are you?" The old man's grouchy voice permeated from the small device, and it took Bickslow a second to realize that he wasn't wearing his hood and visor.

"Bickslow." He said simply, watching as the Guild Master's expression turn from angry, to surprised, and amusement.

"Oh, Bickslow! I've never seen you without your visor before!"

"Well, now you have. Is Claire around?"

"No, she's, uh… out grabbing us some take out. But Michael is here, do you want to talk to him?" Makarov said, and despite suspecting that he could have been lying, nodded tiredly. "Michael, come in here and talk to your uncle!" He called out, and Bickslow smiled as he heard the little footsteps of his nephew padding loudly towards him.

"Uncle Bickslow!" He said happily, and as usual, wore that beaming smile on his face as he got closer to the lacrima and sat down on the empty chair.

"I'll leave you two alone for a moment." Makarov chuckled, and left the room.

"Hey buddy, how's it going? Are you and Claire having a good time?"

"When will Claire be back?" He pouted.

"Makarov said she just went to the store, so probably soon."

"No, she left last night with her brother." He said, and Bickslow refrained from cursing out the old geezer.

"Really?" The seith mage asked with a strained smile. "Did they mention what they were doing?"

Michael shrugged.

"Did they say anything about it being S-Ranked, by chance?"

"Yeah."

 _Fucking old man…_

"Claire said she'd be back by today."

"Then I'm sure she will be. Could you bring Makarov back into the room, Mike?"

The boy simply nodded and left, returning with the old man in tow.

"So Michael said that Claire is on an S-Ranked job?" Bickslow asked, watching the old man laugh awkwardly for a minute.

"He did, did he? He must have been mistaken. She's just going to the store."

"With her brother?"

"Oh, look at the time! We need to… bake those brownies!"

"Yaaay, brownies!"

"Oi, get back here!" Bickslow yelled, but then the lacrima went dark. "Damn it, Makarov!"

"What the hell are you yelling about?" Evergreen asked as she entered the room, going straight for her duffel bag.

"Claire is on an S-Ranked job!"

"Calm down, Bickslow. If she is, I'm sure that the master has a good reason for it. He would never intentionally put her in any danger."

"Then why did he lie about it?"

"Come on, why don't you join me for some yoga and meditation? Claire will be fine, Michael is fine, and the world isn't going to end if you're not there to guard her like a puppy."

Bickslow glared at being compared to a dog. When Claire did it it was cute, when Ever said it it was insulting.

"Come on." She insisted, and with a reluctant grunt, he got up and followed her out the door.


	14. Chapter 14

**Walking Cliché 14**

 _Triangles_

Makarov's eyes widened as adrenaline pumped in his veins, and like countless times before, was already yelling in rage before he'd fully gathered his thoughts together.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!" The Guild Master yelled, his blue eyes locking with the martial artist. On his arm was Claire, who grinned giddily at him, and on the other side of her was a paramedic, who was also helping keep her upright. "You said it was a simple job and she wouldn't get hurt!"

"Relax, she's going to be fine. A couple days of bed rest and she'll be right as rain." Bacchus assured him, and after Claire pointed to a chair she wanted to sit at, started guiding her to it. Clad in her pants and sports bra, the latter having a gapping hole in it, the majority of her body was covered in bandages that were singed in a few places.

"Are you the Guild Master?" The paramedic asked, turning to the older man.

"Yes, I am."

"Bacchus said that you have a resident healer. Claire should be monitored for the next few days in case her condition worsens. She should be fine, but given the serious of her injury, should have someone nearby in case that changes."

"I was harpooooneded." Claire said nearby, smiling at the old man. The chair she sat at was the same she'd situated herself in the previous day when Bacchus found her, and she propped her legs up on a nearby chair, just as before. "Harpoon. Ha."

"What kind of injury?" Makarov asked, turning back to the medic.

"I got hit by a magic harpoon." Claire giggled.

"She was hit by a harpoon, which missed her heart by only a centimeter. She's lucky to be alive." The medic spoke, ignoring her. "The bleeding has stopped and there's not too much internal damage, so with enough bed rest, she should be fine. She shouldn't eat solids for another 12 hours, and she should stay awake for at least another 6. I gave her a stimulant that cancels out her magic and dulls the pain."

"Dude, are there narwhals here?" The fire woman asked her brother, who was now sitting in front of her and across from the Guild Master.

"A side effect of the drug is-"

"Utter and complete happiness!" Claire interrupted, giggling again.

"I'll ask my healer to come here immediately." The Guild Master stated. "When I get back, you are going to tell me what happened." He glared at the young mage, who nodded and watched him walk away, hiding his nervousness of the guild master.

"Did you know that narwhals are like the unicorns of the sea? Dude, are there unicorns on this world?" Claire asked the medic, who took a seat next to her.

"What's wrong with Claire?" Michael asked, looking up at her brother.

"She was hurt, so this wonderful medic gave her some happy pills to dull the pain. She'll be a bit loopy for the next day or so." He explained, trying to smile for the kid, but instead making his eyes water up at the sight. Unlike his sister he wasn't good with kids. "She's not going to die. Stop crying."

"Michaaaaael Meyers! Did you make any more cool stuff today?" Claire asked the boy, and as he looked up at her, he smiled and nodded. "Why don't you show them to me?"

Again he nodded, turning to a nearby table and picking up a basket.

"Is he her kid?" The medic asked Bacchus, and he shook his head.

"Nah, he's her boyfriend's nephew, I think. She and their Guild Master have been watching over him the past few days." He explained, recalling the conversation with his sister. As he watched the woman look through the various dolls and fabric capes, his gaze lingered on the hole in her sports bra and bloodied bandages, where she'd been hit with the harpoon. It was still covered in her blood, and despite his earlier assurance that she was okay, knew that she'd come dangerously close to dying.

1 centimeter and he'd have lost the only family he had left. Technically he had Kelsey and Carl, but they were off killing people for dark guilds, so he didn't really count them.

"You made this?" The checker woman asked incredulously, admiring every stitch and cut and completely enamored by it. She was currently holding one of the many sparkly capes.

Michael smiled and nodded, and as she looked through the colorful objects in her high state, the boy started animatedly explaining each handmade object.

The Guild Master returned rather quickly, his harsh gaze locking with the S-Class mage. "What happened?"

"Everything went according to plan. Claire went in first in her fire form, and then the rest of us went in and took out the guild. Afterwards, when we were cleaning up and about to leave, she turned back to her human form. Apparently we'd missed one of the mages who used invisibility magic to hide, and attacked her with the magic harpoon."

"You didn't check for invisible mages?" Makarov asked, trying to keep his temper in check.

"We did, but he was using a kind that we hadn't seen before."

"Why did Claire get hit instead of the others?"

"Dumb luck, probably. He may have thought she was the strongest out the group, since her magic is more flashy that the rest of us. Claire immediately melted the harpoon so that he couldn't cause further damage than the initial hit, and grabbed the chain connecting it, using it to locate him and take him out with her fire magic."

"If she hadn't melted the harpoon so soon after it hit her, she'd be dead right now." The medic added.

"I got practice from my sister." Claire added, smiling at the medic.

"Kelsey?" Bacchus asked, and she nodded, but then was distracted again by Michael, who was holding up an odd red object to her. The group, minus the child and drugged fire mage, looked up when a man approached them.

Clad in his usual hat and red collar, the older man greeted the group with a sympathetic smile. "I came as fast as I could when I heard. How is Claire doing?" Goldmine asked, looking over at the giggling woman.

"On happy pills." Bacchus told him.

"I brought chocolate." Goldmine said, holding up a particularly large red box.

"She can't eat for another 12 hours." The medic told him, and he nodded, setting the box on a nearby table out of her sight.

"I shouldn't have let her go." Makarov sighed, looking back over at the injured woman.

"She's a good mage, Makarov. I wouldn't have recommended her if she wasn't." Goldmine stated, and grabbed a nearby chair, sitting at the end of the table next to Bacchus and the Fairy Tail Guild Master. "Try not to beat yourself up over it. From what Bacchus told me, it could have happened to any of the mages, and she helped save a lot of lives. Not to mention the Magic Council is giving her an award and extra bonus for the injury, which is good for your guild." He added, referring to the fact that not only did Fairy Tail get a percentage of each mage's job earnings, but awards from the government usually boosted their popularity with the Magic Council, which they so desperately needed.

"But she was already injured before she left, and she told me how long she's been using magic the other day…." Makarov spoke, looking back at Claire, who was drugged out of her mind. "I let my pride get the better of me."

"What about her magic?" Goldmine asked.

"She's only been using magic for a few months." He said, and Goldmine's eyes widened, turning to look at Bacchus.

" _What?_ " He absolutely seethed, narrowing his eyes at the purple sleeved man. "Exactly how long was she using magic before you two started working together?"

"Well, I don't know exactly…" Bacchus said, looking up at the rafters to avoid his Guild Master's gaze.

"A couple of months. She's been on this world for less than half a year, and magic didn't even exist on their home world." Makarov informed the fellow Guild Master, watching the all too familiar anger bubble within his old friend's face.

"You took your little sister on S-Ranked missions when she'd been using magic for a couple of MONTHS?!" Goldmine yelled at the man, slamming his fist on the table. "On jobs that _I_ sent you on and _approved_ of, nonetheless? What the hell is the matter with you!" He yelled, and slapped him upside the head.

"Ow! It's not like you ever asked how long she'd been using magic! I told you she was a powerful mage, which is true, and I made sure that she wasn't in any real danger."

"They're S-Ranked missions you dope! Of course she was in danger! It's a miracle she's not dead yet. Oh god, and I recommended her to help you take down the Blood Guild of all things. What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"What about the Blood Guild?" Makarov interjected.

"That's the dark guild they took out last night. Didn't Bacchus tell you?" Goldmine asked, and with that one sentence, Bacchus had both Guild Masters staring at him like they were about to rip him to pieces.

 _Uh-oh_. He thought, and reached for a drink from his pouch. "Well, I couldn't disclose too many facts, since it was top secret and all…"

"She's her Guild Master, you idiot!"

"You said it was a small dark guild, not one of the strongest Dark Guilds in the continent!" Makarov yelled.

When the yelling had started, Michael had started tearing up again, so Claire set the basket of dolls to the side and pulled him on her lap, hugging him close.

"Hey medic, can I have some more happy pills? My chest is starting to hurt." Claire asked the medic, and upon checking first to make sure the boy wasn't irritating the wound, nodded and reached for her pouch. Still significantly below the amount she should be taking, since she had an extremely low tolerance for it, the medic got her some water and handed her the pills.

"As of this moment, you're stripped of your 'S-Rank' title." Goldmine told him, watching the man's face drop in disbelief.

"You can't be serious. Who the hell is going to do all of the S-Rank jobs at the guild? You need me."

"There are plenty of other guilds they can go to. I can't trust your judgment anymore."

"Oh come on. I taught her tons of stuff on those missions, and turned her into an awesome mage. Just ask her. Claire?" Bacchus spoke, turning back to his sister.

"You…" She said with a grin, and touched her cheek. "Have triangles on your face."

1.

Bickslow hid from view of the lacrima, watching his leader closely.

"Stop staring at me like that." Laxus ordered, glaring at the seith mage that hid on the other side of his cot.

"I can't help it. The Guild Master will be more open with you than me." He explained, and as the lacrima lit up, finally making a connection with the one at Fairy Tail, he went back to staring at Laxus.

"Laxus." Makarov stated, not too kindly.

"What's up your ass, old man?" The blond asked, ignoring the face palm from his friend.

"I just got done dealing with Bacchus and his Guild Master, Goldmine. Let's just say that that little mutt will be in the doghouse for a while."

"Bacchus or Goldmine?"

"Bacchus. That little…" He grumbled, looking away and muttering to himself.

"What did he do? Does it have to do with Claire?"

"He lied to his Guild Master in order to get Claire to do S-Ranked missions with him, so when Goldmine found out, he stripped Bacchus of his S-Rank title." He explained. At this information Laxus's eyebrows raised, and he could see his friend making a surprised and oddly delighted face from his hiding spot.

"I wondered how she managed to get those missions, considering how green she is. She's got a lot of potential."

"I agree, especially if she's able to help take down the Blood Guild."

"The Blood Guild?" Laxus asked, recognizing the name. "Didn't they take the place of Grimoire Heart after we took them out at Tenrou Island?"

"Yes, and from what I've heard, they had some extremely powerful and lethal players. The Magic Council requested some of the S-Ranked mages from a select few wizard guilds, and given Claire's experience working with Bacchus, Goldmine recommended that she go with him. Of course when Bacchus asked for my permission he failed to mention exactly _which_ dark guild they were taking down, the little brat."

"If they were looking for S-Ranked mages, why wasn't I contacted?"

"There was a time limit." He said simply, and Laxus nodded. "You've been thinking of adding her to your team, haven't you?"

"Yeah. Training for the games would have been the perfect opportunity to test out her abilities." Laxus said pointedly, and the old man merely chuckled. "Who else did she work with to take down the Blood Guild?"

"Uh, let's see… Bacchus, obviously. Jura, and a woman from Mermaid Heel named Kagura."

"Only a four man team? Seriously?"

"Yes, and they had militia standing by for backup and to take the guild members into custody afterwards. The team that took them down are all getting awards from the Magic Council."

"That should boost our guild's credibility." Laxus commented, and the old man nodded.

"Why did you call, again?" Makarov suddenly asked.

"Bicks wanted me to call and see if Claire was okay." He said, smirking at the glare he received from the seith mage.

"Claire is fine. How is training going?"

"Good."

2.

Two days later, Claire was still recovering, but she'd switched to medications that didn't cancel out her magic and make her high as a kite.

Her chest wound hurt on occasion, but for the most part it went unnoticed, as she spent most of her time hanging out in the Guild Hall and resting. She'd gotten a stern lecturing from Makarov when she was coherent enough about how she 'shouldn't have let her brother take her on such dangerous missions', but she could tell that he was more angry at Bacchus than her. It's hard to be mad at someone that got harpooned in the chest.

Of course, Claire argued that she was glad Bacchus took her on those jobs, but the Guild Master scoffed and grumbled that she was too young and reckless.

Officially banned from doing any jobs until Porlyusica gave her a clean bill of health, she truly was stuck at the Guild Hall sitting on her ass. Some of their comrades visited on occasion to see how she was doing, and brought her food and various 'get well' gifts. Claire continued looking after Michael and Sky, although since she was injured, Makarov did most of the work taking care of Michael.

Both Makarov and Claire agreed that Bickslow should remain in the dark about her injuries until he returned.

3.

It had been a full week since she was attacked, and she was sitting around reading as she usually did while Michael ran rampant around the almost empty Guild Hall. She was surprised that his grandmother hadn't picked him up yet, but didn't have enough energy to go clear across town to take the kid back, so she figured she would wait until she showed up asking for him.

The familiar sound of heels tapping the ground caused her to look up, locking eyes with the woman in question. A man she recognized as Bickslow's father was not far behind, along with a woman Claire wasn't familiar with.

"Hello." The checker woman greeted, looking up at them with a polite smile. "We didn't make it clear when you would pick up Mike, or if I was supposed to drop him off, so I'm sorry if that has caused any trouble."

"Not at all." The blue-haired woman stated. "Do you mind if we take a seat?"

"Go right ahead, Mr. and Mrs. Yoshino. I'm sorry, what's your name?" Claire asked, turning to the brunette she didn't recognize. Like Mrs. Yoshino, she was dressed in a blazer and skirt, as if she'd just come out of the office. They all sat across from the fire mage.

"My name is Samantha, I'm here to oversee the proceedings of today."

"… proceedings? What's going on?" Claire asked, looking between the three adults.

"We don't want Michael. Either we're sending him to a military training camp, or you can take custody. If you take custody and change your mind, you can send him to the camp later on. We have the brochures and information with us." Mrs. Yoshino informed her, pulling out several papers and brochures from her briefcase.

"Whoa, what? Custody? Are you keeping Sam and Nathan?"

"Yes."

"Is this a money thing, then? If you talk to Bickslow, I'm sure-"

"We're financially fine." Mr. Yoshino stated, his harsh and steady gaze locking on hers for a moment. He looked absolutely nothing like Bickslow, neither in appearance or personality, with his military cut hair and intimidating presence.

"So why don't you want Michael?" She asked, turning back to his wife.

"He's a monster. I can't go through that hell again."

"Because he can see souls?" Claire clarified, and the woman nodded.

"It's disgraceful."

"What's the situation with his mom?"

"She is incarcerated, and will be in prison for at least 5 years. Custody automatically went to us, and now we're passing it to you."

"Why aren't you talking to your son about this? It's _his_ nephew." She asked, trying to keep her heart rate low and temper down.

"Michael likes you. You seem like a responsible young woman. I would rather deal with you than my… _offspring_."

"I… can't we make some kind of other arrangement? Are you going to completely cut yourself out of Michael's life, just because of something he can't control?"

"Yes. Now either sign the paperwork," Mrs. Yoshino stated as Samantha pulled out some papers from her briefcase, along with a pen, and sliding them in front of Claire. "Or he'll be out of all of our lives, including yours." Mr. Yoshino pulled out something from his pocket and set it on the table. When she looked closer, Claire realized that it was a substantial check.

"This check is either going to you or the military camp that takes him." He stated.

"Can I at least have some time to think about this?"

"You have two minutes." He replied.

Claire took a deep breath, looking down at the paperwork in front of her, and realized dimly that Michael had stopped running around the Guild Hall. She couldn't hear his footsteps anymore, but she could hear his breathing nearby, hiding just out of sight.

Glancing at the adults in front of her again, she reached for the pen and signed the papers.

"We brought the rest of his belongings. They're by the door." Mrs. Yoshino told her as her husband filled out the final details of the check.

Within 5 minutes the paperwork was finalized, and Claire couldn't help but feel utterly terrified. _What the hell just happened?_

Once they had gone, after giving her a copy of the papers she signed, Mike came out of hiding and hugged her.

 _What the hell just happened?_ She asked herself again, and without thinking, went to the Guild Masters office, hearing the voice of Laxus within. Knocking numbly, she got the attention of the Guild Master, who looked up at her in surprise. "You're talking to Laxus, right?"

"Yes, is there something I can help you with?"

"Bickslow needs to come home."

"… why?"

"His parents just gave me custody over Michael… I'm his legal guardian now."

4.

Being transported to an alien planet, she could handle.

Being ostracized for her magic, she could handle.

Stab wounds and almost dying, she could handle… with enough drugs.

Being the legal guardian of a kid?

Could. Not. Handle.

"She's just been sitting there for almost an hour, not saying anything." Makarov spoke to the men. "You're a single dad. Maybe you can talk to her or something?"

"I can try…" Macao said, and after another drink of his beer, walked towards the young woman. As he took a seat across from her at the table, she took a sip of her mixed drink, not looking at him. She looked completely out of it, not entirely unlike when she was on the 'happy pills', minus the giggling. "So, uh… how's it going?"

Her steel blue eyes looked over at him, and a shiver ran down his spine. "Peachy." Her voice was devoid of emotion, and she took another drink.

"Makarov filled me in on what happened… so you're Michael's legal parent now, right?"

"Yep."

"He's your boyfriend's nephew, right?"

"Yep."

"So, if you don't mind me asking, why'd you sign the papers?" He asked, and she took another drink.

"They would send him to a military camp, otherwise." She said, and after setting her drink back down, lifted one of the brochures from the side of the table and handed it to him. Macao picked it up, skimming through the shiny paper.

"I've heard of this place. It's more like a prison camp."

"I guessed as much." She said, her voice still low and even, staring at the wall across the room with a vacant expression.

"Have you talked to your boyfriend about it?"

"He's on his way here."

"How long have you two been dating?"

"Almost 5 months."

"Ya know, I had only been married for two months when I heard that Sier was pregnant. I was pretty terrified at the time, and it took me a while to accept it. But you're not his parent. You don't have to stay and take care of Mike, you're technically not his family. I mean, he's your boyfriend's nephew, not yours." The mage spoke, and when he saw Michael bounding towards them with a huge grin on his face, paused in his little 'pep talk'.

Claire looked down at the boy, a small smile on her face that didn't quite meet her eyes.

"What's up? What do you have there?" She asked, and Michael held up a drawing he had made for her, squirming in his spot. After handing it to her he ran back over to Romeo across the room, who was still working on his drawing.

After staring at it blankly for a moment she handed the drawing to Macao, who smiled awkwardly.

It was a stick figure drawing of Claire, Bickslow, Michael, and all of Bickslow's babies, which looked like weird brown circles. For each person was a label for them. 'Mommy', 'Daddy', 'side kicks'. As he looked at the drawing, Claire took another sip of her drink.

"What happened to his real parents?"

"His mom's a druggie, and was recently incarcerated. No idea who his dad is. Could be her dealer, for all I know."

"… good luck." He offered after a moment, unsure what to say. "Whatever you and your boyfriend decide, you've got friends at Fairy Tail. We're like family to each other, and if you decide to keep him, we'll help. I'd be happy to babysit, and I'm sure that Romeo will be happy to have a new friend."

"Thanks."

"How old are you?"

"23." She said, and took another drink.

"Does he have any other family? Maybe grandparents on his dad's side, or any other aunts or uncles?"

"Not to my knowledge. His grandparents gave him to me because they couldn't handle his ability to see dead people, so even if we did find his other grandparents, there's a chance they'll be just as close-minded."

"That's why they gave him to you?" He asked, and she nodded. "Romeo had mentioned that he had an imaginary friend…"

"Not imaginary. Just… dead."

"Wow, this place is a ghost town." A new voice announced, causing them to turn and look towards the entrance of the room. The Thunder Legion strode into the Guild Hall, as they tended to do when they arrived as a group, looking as if they owned the place. Upon landing his eyes on Claire, Bickslow walked slightly faster than the others to reach her, taking a seat on a nearby chair and turning it so that the back faced her.

"You are looking lovely today as usual. New haircut?" He asked with a grin, and his team followed close behind, taking seats around the table. Laxus stayed standing and walked over to the Guild Master at the bar.

"Wait, is _he_ your boyfriend?" Macao asked, looking between Claire and Bickslow.

"Yep. Can't you tell by the picture?" She replied, holding up the picture that Michael had made for her. "He's the one labeled as 'daddy'. He's even got the visor and everything."

"Let me see." Ever said quickly, grabbing the piece of paper and grinning. "Aaaw, that's so cute."

"Daddy Bickslow!" Michael yelled, running towards the seith mage and giving him a hug.

"… I prefer 'Uncle'." Bickslow said awkwardly, glad that he'd decided to unbind his souls for the time being. They would make things so much worse. "That's a pretty cool drawing you made."

"Thanks."

"Why don't you make me a drawing of something? We've got to do some grown-up talking." He said, and the little boy nodded before running off again to rejoin Romeo.

"Is he one of the kids that the police questioned us about that one time?" Macao asked, recalling the incident.

"Why didn't he draw the rest of us?" Evergreen asked with a frown, still staring at the drawing. Fried was looking over it as well, but he was smiling and admiring the young boy's art.

"Yep." Bickslow told the fellow blue-haired mage, trying not to hold it against him for bringing up a rather touchy subject for him. Looking back at Claire, he noticed that she was finishing a tall glass of whatever she'd been drinking, and was tempted to go get his own.

"Should you be drinking so much after what happened?" Macao asked the checker woman.

"Since I react weird to medications, Porlyusica suggested I drink alcohol to dull the pain instead of taking more meds. It's a bit counter intuitive, but you know… whatever works."

"What pain?" Bickslow asked.

"You didn't tell him?" Macao asked.

"I was going to after we got the Michael thing figured out."

"Does he not like us or something?" Evergreen asked, still obsessing over the picture.

"Tell me what?" Bickslow asked, looking at his girlfriend. "Claire."

"I'm recovering from a near lethal injury. I got harpooned." She said, smiling at the word 'harpoon'.

"How 'near lethal'?"

"Pretty near lethal. Barely missed my heart by a centimeter, and I'm going have a cool scar."

"Claire, why aren't we in this picture?" Evergreen asked, waving the crayon drawing in her face.

"Will you shut up about the picture?" Bickslow snapped. "Claire almost died and my nephew thinks I'm his new dad. We have a little more important things to discuss than why you're not in an 8 year-old's drawing."

"Someone's grumpy." Evergreen said, and stuck her tongue out at him. As much as Claire wanted to be mad at the brunette for being so immature, she didn't doubt that Bickslow would do the exact same thing if their roles were reversed.

Bickslow sighed, folding his arms to rest on the back of his chair and take a deep breath. "Could you guys give us a minute?"

"Mom and dad have a lot to talk about." Fried said, and before Bickslow could throw something at him, the group got up and left to go join Michael and Romeo. Once he was satisfied that everyone was far enough away, he scooted his chair closer to the fire woman.

"So let me get this straight. My parents gave _you_ sole custody of _my_ nephew… actually, why, exactly? You were vague as fuck over the communication lacrima."

"Because they're your sister's parents, and lower your voice, Bixy." She said, and watched him take another deep breath and rest his forehead on his folded arms. "People suck."

"Can we talk about something non-serious for a minute?"

"Totally. What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know."

"How about you tell me about your training?"

"You would have loved it. We did strength training, stealth, agility, meditation, reading… I hated most of it, but you would have loved it."

"Sorry I missed it."

"My babies missed you."

"I missed them, too. Speaking of babies, when do you want to meet Sky?"

"The dead kid next to you?"

"Yeah! He's been keeping me company since you've been gone."

"I was planning to talk to him when we weren't in the Guild Hall. Kind of gives people the wrong impression to talk to thin air. No offense kid, we'll talk business later." He said the last part to the soul, who was hugging Claire's side. "How often does he hug you like that?"

"He comes and goes. He gets a little more clingy when people are around me." She answered with a shrug, and he nodded, likely looking at the soul from beneath his visor.

"Sounds like he's been watching out for you. I like him." He said with a grin, and now that he felt a little better, went back to Claire, who seemed way too comfortable with the situation. Then again she'd admitted her 'medication' was alcohol, which he was sorely missing for such an important topic. "So how'd my parents talk you into taking Mike?"

"Threatening to put him in a military camp if I didn't."

"Oh, the familiar 'do as we say or you're going to military camp' schpeal. That's the main reason I left home."

"Regarding what to do with Mike… we don't have to decide anything right now. Ultimately he's your nephew, so it's your decision what to do."

Bickslow groaned, resting his forehead back on his forearms.

5.

He liked sleeping with Claire that night.

That was nice.

But then Michael burst into the room in tears, mumbling and stuttering about a bad dream, and apparently Claire let him sleep with her when he was gone. Not having the heart to turn him away, he grumbled and waved him over. The boy clumsily climbed over his legs and got between the pair, hugging the man and instantly falling asleep.

Since her chest injury, Claire had to sleep on her back to avoid pain. Sexy times was out of the question for multiple reasons, including that. Laying on his side, Bickslow stared at her sleeping face, admiring her cute nose and high cheek bones. She always looked so relaxed when she slept.

And then there was the wet-faced kid rubbing his snot and tears on his chest because he had a bad dream.

He wasn't nearly as cute as his babies, but the boy did have his charm.

6.

"Who are you?" Porlyusica asked, narrowing her eyes at the young man.

"Her boyfriend." He answered, trying to hold his own against her intense stare. In all his years as a mage he'd never needed her services as a healer, and he'd heard stories about her intimidating demeanor, but he'd never been so glad to be wearing his visor before now in his life. Ironically he wondered if she could control his own soul just by looking into his eyes, as her glare could rival the devil himself.

"Do you mind if he stays? He'll be quiet." Claire asked, tilting her head slightly with a cute smile.

"Why haven't I seen you until now? Are you a Fairy Tail mage?" The cold woman asked, glaring at Bickslow.

"I am a Fairy Tail mage, but I've never been injured enough to need your services as a healer." He explained.

"I mean why didn't I see you when she was first injured?"

"I didn't tell him about it until yesterday." Claire answered for him, seemingly unfazed by the woman's narrowed eyes that moved to her. "I told him the details of my injury but he wants to hear it from you. Can he stay during the check up?"

After a brief pause, the old woman's stare returned to Bickslow, making him jump. "… As long as he stays quiet and out of my way."

"Y-yes ma'am." He stuttered.

"Take your shirt off." Porlyusica told the young woman, and turned to get her supplies. Claire did as instructed, also taking her bra off, and then took Bickslow's hand in hers. Squeezing it gently, it brought his gaze back to her beautiful smile.

He didn't remember when he told her, but at some point in their relationship, he'd told her that he would kill anyone that tried to harm her. At that moment he wanted nothing more to fulfill that promise, as the pink-haired mage started unwrapping her wound and revealed a blood stain on the white cloth.

"Have you been doing everything I instructed?" Porlyusica asked Claire, who grinned sheepishly.

"To the best of my abilities."

"I told you, this isn't just a bruise you can walk off. You need to heal and the only way you're going to do that is by doing what I say."

"I've been sitting around doing nothing but drinking for the past week, and taking my meds on time, as per instructed."

"Have you also been avoiding stress? Lay down." Porlyusica instructed once they were down to the last bandage, and carefully lowered her onto her back, so as to not irritate the wound. "Have you?"

"… yes?"

"No." Bickslow spoke for her, glaring at the injured woman. _How are you going to get better when you lie to your doctor, idiot?_

As Porlyusica carefully pulled back the bandage to look directly at the injury, Bickslow peered over at it, keeping a straight face while doing so. Claire awkwardly looked up at the ceiling and wished she were somewhere else. It wasn't exactly painful to have the woman poking and prodding, since she used numbing equipment to dull the pain, but it was still unnerving to have someone staring at her insides.

"You opened up the medic's stitching, and your bone isn't healing as quickly as I'd hoped. I'm guessing that the harpoon you were hit with had anti-healing magic qualities to hinder the healing process."

"What does that mean? Will she be okay?" Bickslow blurted, forgetting her 'no talking' rule.

"It just means that I'll need to try and remove the anti-magic sections, otherwise it would take years for her to heal properly. I'll also have to fix the stitches next to her heart, which probably opened up due to unnecessary stress." Porlyuisca said, glaring at the injured woman for the last part.

"Ya know, glaring at me like that when you have a knife next to my heart isn't exactly stress relieving." Claire spoke, still staring at the ceiling and trying to take deep breaths.

"Will you be taking care of her?" Porlyusica asked, turning back to the seith mage.

"Yes."

"But you have training to do." Claire argued, glancing at the tense man.

"They can train without me, and besides, I have to deal with Michael so I'll be in town anyway. So stop stressing out." He said, and stuck his tongue out at her, showing off his Fairy Tail emblem. "Also, I'm going to bind Sky so that he doesn't drain your magic when you two hang out. No doubt his drain on your magic hasn't been helping."

"Who's been draining her magic?" Porlyusica asked him.

"A wandering soul got attached to Claire when I was gone, so he's been unintentionally draining some of her magic. If I had known she was injured, I would have told him to leave her alone until I got back."

"Hn." The pink-haired mage grunted, and went back to her work.

7.

"Sorry for causing so much trouble, guys. You should probably train without me." Bickslow told his team that night, finding them at the Guild Hall. While he and Claire had gone to do doctor stuff, his team had volunteered to watch Michael in his absence.

Evergreen had taken his nephew shopping for the day, and he had no doubt she tried to bribe him one way or another to include her in his 'family portrait' drawings. Shopping bags were littered around the table they had been situated at, and the seith mage was scared to ask how much she had spent.

"We're a team, Bickslow. We're not going to leave when you need us most." Fried told him, trying to give a reassuring smile to the taller man.

"Thanks, but you really should be helping Laxus train for the games. Fairy Tail needs to win." Bickslow stated, and looked up as Laxus walked over to the group, taking a seat at the end of the table next to him.

"How'd the doc appointment go?" He asked simply, drink in hand.

"Not great." The blue-haired man replied, sighing and slouching slightly. His dark green eyes drifted to Michael next to him, who was busy playing with a toy train he'd gotten sometime in his absence. "She broke some of her stitches next to her heart, and Porlyusica thinks there was some anti-healing magic stuff on the harpoon she got hit with."

"Sounds pretty serious." Laxus commented.

"Assuming she can get through this month without stressing out too much, Porlyusica said she should be back in the field by two months, maybe less. Once she gets past some of the more delicate parts of recovery, Wendy will be able to repair most of the damage with her dragonslaying mage."

"That's good." Ever commented.

"Asking Claire to 'not get stressed out' is like asking her to eat a bowl of nails." Bickslow said, and turned back to Laxus. "I'm going to be staying in town to take care of her and Michael for at least another month. I was telling the others that you guys-"

"I heard. And I agree with them." The blond stated, and with that the seith mage shrugged in defeat. "I'll also be replacing Claire in guarding the Guild Hall until she's better. The old man is feeling pretty bad about what happened to her."

"He should. It's his fault."

"Don't be so harsh on the Guild Master. If it's anyone's fault, it's Bacchus's." Ever defended.

"The Guild Master is the one that approved the S-Ranked mission knowing that she was still injured from Death Forest, not to mention the mission that went south with Amir… which, I'm sorry about, by the way. I know you guys used to be good friends." He added at the end, turning back to Laxus. The large man merely shrugged, seeming indifferent to the man's death.

"Where's Claire now?" Fried asked curiously.

"Outside on the hammock. Can you guys keep an eye on Michael and Claire for a few hours?"

"Why? Where are you going?" Ever asked.

"I'm going to try and track down Michael's dad while there's still some daylight." He explained, and when Michael looked up at him with wide eyes, the seith mage chuckled. "Don't worry, everything's going to work out."

8.

' _If you stress out you'll die.'_ Was the summary of her visit with Porlyusica.

Her visits with the old hag were always so relaxing… not.

Claire took a deep breath nonetheless, letting her body sway slightly from side to side with the breeze. Relaxing on the hammock had been her idea, and she had to admit, it was a pretty good one. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and there were a few white clouds drifting across the sky that looked like a horse.

She was alone for the first time in what felt like years. No kids, no ghosts, no ghost kids, and no boyfriend. It was a nice change in pace, but she still missed all of them. Even though they were a pain sometimes, she liked having people that cheered whenever she walked into the room or were excited for days about an offhanded comment she made. " _We're adorable!"_

The sound of someone's footsteps on the grass met her ears, and she peered over at the rickety building to see the stoic dragonslayer walking towards her, drinks in hand. He handed one of them to her, to which she gladly accepted, and recognized it as a mojito.

"How'd you know this is my favorite drink?" She asked as he took a seat nearby, leaning back on the reclining chair and crossing his legs comfortably.

"Fried told me."

"… how did _he_ know?"

"I dunno." He shrugged, and she took a sip of her drink, squeezing her eyes shut at the unexpected taste.

"… my mistake. I thought by the mint leaves it was a mojito."

"… it is."

"This tastes like straight tequila with a few mint leaves."

"Isn't that what a mojito is?" He asked, and she laughed at his serious expression.

"No, but I'll still drink it. I might get hammered pretty quick, though."

"Hey, doctor's orders, right?" He asked with a smirk, and again she laughed, nodding.

"Good point."

As she sipped at her tequila, he sipped his whiskey, and they fell into a comfortable silence for a while. Leaning back and stretching on the hammock, it again swayed with the breeze and her movement, and she found herself glad that the lightning mage had come out to join her. "So, you've known Bickslow longer than I have. If Michael's dad doesn't want him, what do you think Bixy will do?" She asked curiously, glancing over at the calm man.

"I honestly can't see him raising Michael. Although, I couldn't see him being in a long term relationship with a living girl before, either." He replied, and she chuckled. "What do you hope he'll do?"

"'Hope'?" She asked, intrigued by his choice in wording.

"Yeah. I mean, do you really want to play a mom role?"

"God, no. I don't mind when Bickslow's babies call me it, but I nearly had a heart attack when Michael started calling me 'mom'. Killing people and almost dying barely fazed me, but the idea of being a parent scared the hell out of me."

"Bicks told me about your injury. That's gotta be pretty rough."

"Yeah, it sucks. The job itself was pretty awesome until the whole harpoon thing. I got to fight with some really powerful wizards." She said with a grin, recalling the event. "Jura and Kagura? Like, holy shit could they kick ass. I felt like such a newbie fighting with them."

"You're pretty lucky to get that experience. Bicks and the others were jealous when they heard about it."

"They were?" She asked, and he nodded.

"They've only done S-Ranked jobs as a group with me. It was irresponsible of Bacchus to take you on those jobs, but it definitely gave you an edge against the other wizards at Fairy Tail. Natsu would freak if he found out." He said, chuckling to himself at the thought. Natsu would probably destroy half the town if he found out that a newbie fire mage had been allowed to go on those jobs and he wasn't, when he'd been itching to go ever since he learned what they were. Even Gajeel had been given top secret, S-Ranked jobs.

"Last I saw him, he was pretty happy about me burning his clothes. I'm surprised he doesn't challenge me to more fights, honestly."

"Consider yourself lucky." He muttered, and took another drink. "That kid can be annoying as fuck."

"Entertaining on TV, though." She chuckled, and upon the confused look, she looked away awkwardly. "Never mind, it's uh… home world joke."

He didn't say anything, shrugging off the strange response. "What do you think of the Thunder Legion?"

"It's a fun group."

"Are you saying that just because you're dating Bicks?"

She smiled, closing her eyes and resting the bottom of the glass on her stomach, enjoying the warm feeling spreading through her. "The bickering can get annoying at times, but I like you guys. I'm also not really sure where I stand with Evergreen and it's a little difficult to adjust to your guys' style of working, but I'm guessing the latter is just my inexperience as a mage."

"What's your beef with Ever?"

"She claimed that we were 'best friends' on the job, and then when we got back, she told Makarov that she was 'concerned' about how I dealt with someone dying. She could have at least given me a heads up or talked to me about it."

"Ever's not the best at communicating. I doubt she meant anything mean by it." He said, and rested his head against the back of the chair, enjoying the nice weather.

"Women on this world are so weird."

"Amen to that." Laxus replied, and a comfortable silence fell over them for a while. After a while he glanced over at her, wondering if she was asleep, only to find her staring absently at the clouds above them. "What was your dynamic like when you worked with Bacchus?"

"My little brother comes off as a drunk, but he's actually a genius. Well… when he wants to be. He made me do most of the work so I'd learn from it, and most of my learning was trial and error. Most of the time we'd run headlong into battle, and somehow it always worked out."

"On our last mission, Fried said you were pretty impulsive with the seith mage, just running after her at the first sight."

"I did put a little thought into it, I just didn't account for Fried being so physically weak. Which isn't an insult, he's brilliant, I just thought he was more… durable. When I first saw the seith mage she tried to use 'figure eyes' on me, and given how easy it was to break, figured she would be easy to take down."

"So you know how to break 'soul possession' spells?" He asked curiously, and she snickered, giggling to herself.

"After Bickslow used it on me the first time, I did my homework on it. He's strong enough that I doubt I could fight him off, but weaker seith mages I can."

"Does Bicks know that?"

"I don't think it ever came up in conversation. He knows I've been researching his magic."

"Why have you been doing that, if you don't mind me asking? Are you thinking of becoming a seith mage, too?"

"I considered it for a while, but pretty much every source says that only people already possessing the ability to see ghosts should learn it. Otherwise it's a death wish."

"Seith mages are pretty rare. That's one of the reasons I chose Bicks for my team."

"He thinks the world of you. They all do, actually." She commented, and took another sip of her tequila.

"What do you think of me?" He asked curiously, smirking at the young woman.

"Uh… I dunno. I don't really have a strong opinion of you one way or another. You seem like a good guy, and you're crazy strong. I was terrified of you when I first met you."

"Terrified?"

"You're an S-Class mage with crazy amounts of magic. I've gotten used to it now, but it's still intimidating sometimes."

"If you were terrified of me, why didn't you say anything?"

"It would be pretty hypocritical to avoid you for your magic, when people do it to me all the time." She told him, and he nodded, accepting her answer. "What do you think of me?" She countered, remembering in her tipsy state that it was only fair to ask the same question.

"You're weird." He said bluntly, and she laughed. Once her laughter had calmed down, he continued. "But you have a lot of potential, and Fairy Tail is full of weirdos, so it works out."

9.

"You guys are still out here?" Bickslow asked as he approached the pair. It was getting close to midnight, and according to his team, they'd been out there for close to 7 hours with only a brief bathroom/food break. Claire was drunkenly giggling at his arrival, and Laxus wore a similar grin on his face, both of them completely shit faced.

"We're bonding." Claire giggled.

"Why do you wear such weird clothes?" Laxus asked, also giggling. Bickslow couldn't recall a time he'd ever heard his leader 'giggle', even when he was too drunk to stand.

"Did you just giggle?" The seith mage asked, and then noticed that there were two bottles on the ground, both of which were nearly empty.

"Of course not." The man stated, but then giggled again. "I'm a man."

"Laxus likes to giggle~!" Claire teased.

"He does?" Bickslow's babies asked, hovering behind the seith mage.

"Babies!" Claire cheered, and almost fell out of her hammock. The small totems all zoomed over to her, nuzzling and tickling her as she drunkenly giggled and squirmed, simultaneously keeping her from falling out of the hammock.

"Be gentle with her, guys. She's still recovering and shouldn't move around too much." Bickslow reminded, smiling at them. It had been a beautiful day for them to hang out like they had, and even now the sky was clear and full stars. The night air was the perfect temperature, not too hot and not too cold, and fireflies were drifting in and out of the trees.

"We missed Claire." His babies said in unison, and found various places on her to rest and hum, calming her down and keeping the hammock rocking slightly.

"How was the thing with the thing?" The fire woman asked, looking over at him.

"Great, actually. Found Michael's dad and he seems like a great guy. Mike will be staying one more night with us while he prepares the spare room for him, and I'll be taking him over tomorrow." He explained, knowing full well that she wouldn't remember the conversation tomorrow. "Why'd you guys get so drunk?"

"Cuz why not?" Laxus said with a grin, and reached for the bottle at his side, finishing off the last of his rum.

"Laxus is a teddy bear." Claire said.

"Am not. You are a pyro psycho." He countered.

"Mind if I join you guys?" Bickslow asked, and they both grinned, Laxus handing him the bottle of tequila that was only a quarter full. Careful not to knock his girlfriend off the hammock, climbed in with her, using his babies to help steady him on the awkward ropes. Once he got situated she shifted so that she was cuddling into his side, his arm around her shoulders, and could still stare up at the stars. With his free hand he took a sip of the tequila, making a face at the less than pleasant taste.

"Is this a party?" Evergreen asked, approaching them with a chair in tow and Fried close behind.

"Who's watching Michael?" Bickslow asked, silently wishing that they'd go away. Neither of them could hold their liquor and got quite rowdy when they drank.

"He's sleeping upstairs. We told Makarov to call if he needed anything." Fried explained as they sat down. "Should we have brought alcohol?"

"I have a feeling these two are going to be done pretty soon, so it's your choice." He shrugged, referring to the giggly duo who were unusually quiet now.

"Oi, why'd you pryo rat?" Laxus suddenly asked, pointing at Ever and glaring at her.

"What?" Evergreen asked, surprised by the sudden question, if it was one.

"Don't coyote." He slurred.

"Laxus, you need to let up on drinking. No one can understand you." Bickslow informed him, to which the blonde shrugged and leaned back in his chair again, looking up at the starry night.

"Fuckers." He mumbled, to which the others exchanged an amused look, having never seen him act so weird while intoxicated.

"What have you guys been talking about out here?" Ever asked curiously, looking between the fire and lightning mages. "You've been out here for almost 7 hours."

"Claire's asleep." Bickslow informed her, both glad that she was resting but also wondering how he was going to get her home. For a hammock it was remarkably comfortable, especially with the cuddling factor, so he was tempted to just sleep here for the night. Of course he couldn't, because of the sleeping boy in the Guild Hall, but it was a tempting thought.

Evergreen and Fried looked to their leader, waiting for an answer, but he simply ignored them.

"What did you and Claire talk about?" Fried asked. Both of them had been occasionally eyeing the mages all afternoon, guessing and wondering what they were laughing and chatting about.

"Stuff." The blonde shrugged.

10.

"Sup blondie." Claire greeted, taking a seat across from Laxus. He merely grunted, quietly nursing his warm cup of tea and keeping his eyes closed. It was close to 10:00 AM and both of them had bags under their eyes, suffering the consequences of their excessive drinking the night before. On either side of the dragonslayer were Fried and Evergreen, who were leaning in close with wide and curious eyes.

"Laxus won't tell us what you talked about yesterday." Ever pouted to the woman, who merely smiled in response. "Tell uuuuuuuus."

"Was it inappropriate?" Bickslow asked with a grin, looking between the hung over pair.

"Why do you guys want to know so bad?" Claire asked, tempted to get her own cup of tea as she eyed the one Laxus was drinking. Her body felt sore and stiff from the previous night, since she'd fallen asleep with Bickslow on the hammock. Michael was still sleeping upstairs with Pippi watching over him.

"You guys were out there for 7 hours, and I've never seen Laxus so… drunk." Fried answered.

Laxus glared at the checker woman, and she grinned.

"You're so gullible when you're drunk." Claire stated, utterly amused by his seething stare and ignoring the fuzzy terrible feeling in her gut.

"You're a fucking bitch when you're drunk."

"I think the word you're looking for is 'awesome'." She corrected, and moved to stand up and get her own cup of tea.

"… that was a little harsh, don't you think?" Bickslow asked, unsure how to go about the situation. On one hand, he just called his girlfriend a bitch. On the other hand, it was Laxus, and picking a fight with him in this state would mean certain death.

"Have you never seen her drunk before?" He asked with a smirk.

"Yes?" Bickslow answered, more like a question, since he could never recall a time where Claire turned into a 'bitch' when she drank. The more he thought about it, he had seen her tipsy plenty of times, but last night was the most intoxicated he had ever seen her.

"Let's just say Bacchus isn't the only one that turns into a monster when he drinks."

"I warned you that would happen." Claire said as she returned to the table, a cup of cold water with a teabag inside. Heating it up with her hands and her breath, she brought it up to her face, hiding her smile.

"That what would happen?" Bickslow asked, utterly confused and looking between the two.

"When I drink too much, I get mean. A little past tipsy is the best place for me, but passed that into drunk territory and I make people cry. I'm sorry about your mom, by the way." She apologized, looking back to Laxus.

"You're a mean drunk?" Bickslow asked her.

"It's okay, I was asking for it." The blond said, tilting his mug to take another sip.

"You weren't too nice either, if I recall correctly." She said, still smiling.

"Wait, so, you guys were insulting each other the entire time?" Evergreen asked, and they mentally deliberated her summary for a moment before nodding.

"Pretty much." Claire answered, and then turned to her boyfriend, who was sitting next to her with his arm around her waist. "So you're taking Mike to his dad's today? What's he like?" She asked, effectively changing the conversation. A morning person she was not, and having so much attention on her furthered her oncoming headache.

"He seems like a pretty descent guy. He's got his own house, a bit of a bachelor, but when I told him about Mike he was actually really excited about it. I'm going to drop him off at 3 this afternoon."

"Did you tell him about Mike's 'gift'?" Claire asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, he was a little weirded out, but I told him that I would work with them on it. He said he's willing to at least try the whole dad thing."

"Why wasn't he in his life before?" Evergreen asked curiously.

"My sister never told him about Mike."

"Good morning, Fairy Tail wizards." Makarov greeted cheerily as he approached them, with a grin that set everyone on edge. He had that look of mischief in his eye, and everyone knew to dread it. "Claire, can I speak to you in my office?"

"… did I do something wrong?"

"Not at all. I just need to speak to you for a moment. Alone."

"… alright…"


	15. Chapter 15

**Walking Cliché 15**

 _Michael Myers_

Michael had been living with his dad for a week, and came back to visit Bickslow and Claire for the weekend.

It was a difficult adjustment for him, particularly because he'd been so obsessed with the idea of the two mages being his parents. He'd gone from one home to another, with varying degrees of mistreatment from his first two homes, and finally ended up with a man he had never met, claiming to be his real father. For the first few days he threw nothing but tantrums, and after that he only calmed down because his dad offered to let him stay with his uncle for the weekend.

Evergreen absolutely loved doting on him. Clothes, toys, food- she acted like a grandma around him, buying him almost anything he asked for. Bickslow tried to remind her that she was still in debt and was spoiling him, but she ignored him.

Fried created an entire learning curriculum for the boy, and even researched schools in Fiore for him to attend. Since his mom kept him out of school and didn't give him much education, the green-haired mage took it as a personal challenge to get him caught up with his peers. He assigned himself as Michael's personal tutor and visited him almost every day for 3 hours.

Everything was falling back into place. Bickslow's family was good, his girlfriend was recovering exceptionally well, and his friends were supportive of the situation.

However, the seith mage wasn't sure what to think about Claire and Laxus's new friendship. They acted like guys together now, constantly insulting each other, which was exceptionally odd since he had never seen Laxus have a typical 'guy' friendship before. He was usually the loner or leader of a group, standing above the rest; as a result the dragonslayer never really had a rival before, and given Claire's recent special treatment with S-Ranked jobs, Bickslow wondered if he viewed her as competition now. He'd finally found a rival to test and further his abilities.

Another theory Bickslow contemplated, was if Laxus wanted to train her. When she wasn't recovering from a harpoon injury she was exceptionally durable and strong, and she likely wouldn't be able to learn lightning magic, but it appeared to work very similar to her fire magic. In the Thunder Legion Laxus was technically the leader, but all of their magic was so diverse that they never saw him as a teacher.

Of course when the seith mage tried to ask him, he merely grunted and went back to his magazine, ignoring him.

1.

"Where's Claire?" Michael asked for the tenth time since they sat down at the restaurant, and Bickslow refrained from trying to kill him.

"She's at home. Resting. And that's not going to change by asking me about her every two seconds." He glared, looking down at the pouting brunette.

"Why not?"

"You know why. Now what do you want to eat?" He insisted, and tapped the menu in front of him. "I know that you know how to read. Fried said that you've been doing really good in your studies."

"Where's Claire?" Michael asked again.

Bickslow sighed. "Dude, I'm trying to be a good uncle and spend time with you. You're not making it easy." The thought of using 'soul possession' crossed his mind, but he had a suspicion that he'd get a stern lecturing from his girlfriend as a result. Or worse yet, Evergreen.

Bickslow was met by the expectant stare of the 8 year old, who he knew was just itching to ask the question again.

"Can I take your order?" The waitress asked as she approached the table again, smiling at the two customers.

"I'll take a burger and fries, this little man will take mac n cheese."

"I don't want mac n cheese." Michael retorted, glaring up at the man.

"Then what do you want? Pick something."

"I want Claire."

"I don't see her picture on the menu. Either pick something to eat, or you're getting mac n cheese." Bickslow said decisively, and when the boy didn't look at the menu and simply glared up at him, the seith mage took the menus and handed them to the waitress. "Mac n cheese it is."

"Do you two want anything to drink aside from water?"

"I'll take a coke, he'll have orange juice."

"I don't like you." Michael said, pouting with his arms crossed and cheeks turning red.

"It'll be about 10 minutes." The waitress told the uncle, who nodded and thanked her, then turning back to the angry little boy. He preferred Michael when he was shy out of his mind, which he knew was bad, but he couldn't help it. Whether it was Evergreen spoiling him or maybe he was just lashing out from the previous weeks, Michael had become progressively more rude to his uncle. As the boy continued to glare, Bickslow was reminded of why he'd ditched his real family for his babies.

"So how do you like living with your dad?"

Glare.

"He seems like a pretty good guy. You're lucky to have such a great dad. I wish my dad was that awesome."

Glare.

"… are you really going to sit there being mad at me this entire visit?" Bickslow finally asked, to which the brunette nodded, not looking at the waitress when she brought him his juice. Thanking the blond, Bickslow briefly looked away from his nephew, and took a sip of his drink. "You know, we're going to be seeing Claire after we eat. How do you think she'll react to hearing that you've been mean to me?"

Glare.

"I will do it. I'm not above tattling."

Glare.

2.

After a long and arduous lunch, they made it back to his apartment. Upon finding Claire was awake on the couch, reading, Bickslow followed through with his earlier threat.

"Claaaaire, Mike was mean to me." He whined childishly, to which she looked up from her book, raising her left eyebrow at him. The child in question ran over to the woman, giving her a hug.

"Was not." He replied indignantly, and stuck his tongue out at the older man. Bickslow leaned over the back of the couch and gave Claire an awkward side hug, giving her a kiss on the cheek in the process.

"Was, too." Bickslow replied, sticking his much larger tongue out at the boy and keeping his arms around his girlfriend. Confused by their odd behavior, she looked between the uncle and nephew, who were glaring and sticking their tongues out at each other. Despite the strangeness of the situation, she couldn't help but smile at how much alike they were.

"What happened?" She asked, looking between them.

"Uncle Bickslow was mean."

"Was not. I was a perfect gentleman. You were the mean one."

"Was not."

"Was, too."

"Was not."

"Was, too, plus one."

"Was not times infinity."

"Was too times infinity plus one."

"Was not-

"Am I the only adult here?" Claire finally asked, losing her previous amusement of the situation. Michael had latched onto her arm and Bickslow was still holding her, and their faces had gotten closer and closer as they argued. "Michael, you talk first. Tell me what happened."

"Uncle Bickslow hit me."

"You little- ow!" Bickslow yelled, initially trying to reach forward and grab the kid, but yelling out in pain when he felt teeth bite down on his neck. An annoyed whine filled the air as he looked to his girlfriend, who was now glaring at him. "You bit me!"

"After Mike has spoken, it'll be your turn to tell your side of the story, _Uncle_." She told him, emphasizing on the last word.

Grumbling, the older man relinquished his grip from the woman and strode over to the other side of the couch, getting some distance between the pair. With his back against the arm rest he stretched, laying his extended legs before him and resting his feet on her lap, while his hands found their place behind his head.

"Now Michael," Claire said, turning to the boy and looking him in the eye. "Did your uncle really hit you, or you just embarrassed over how you acted?"

Bickslow watched with a smirk, recognizing that stare. The boy squirmed under the intense look, the same that Laxus used time and time again to get information from people. He had never seen Claire use that look on adults before, but had no doubt it would have the same effect.

"Michael." She repeated. "Look at me."

But he was too busy looking at his shoes, embarrassed, his cheeks bright red.

"Michael."

"He didn't hit me…" He muttered quietly, twisting the toe of his shoe on the beige carpet.

"So what actually happened when you two went to lunch? I thought you were excited to spend time with your uncle?"

"I missed you."

"But you knew you were going to see me afterwards. That's not a good reason to accuse your loving uncle of hurting you."

"I'm sorry auntie Claire."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"I don't wanna."

"When you hurt someone's feelings, you should apologize. Uncle Bickslow's feelings were hurt, so you need to apologize." She explained, and looked over at the smug looking mage. Nodding her head to the kid, he coughed, clearing his throat.

"Right. Uh, yeah, you really hurt my feelings back there. I was trying to have a nice time with you, and it felt like you didn't want the same." Bickslow explained, and just like earlier that afternoon, he was met by the most scathing glare the 8 year old could muster. "When you look at me like that, it makes me sad."

"Why don't you like your uncle?" Claire asked curiously, looking between the two.

"He's mean."

"When have I ever been mean to you?" Bickslow asked.

"All the time." The boy said simply, and continued glaring.

"Well if you feel that strongly, maybe you shouldn't visit anymore. This is my home, and Claire is my girlfriend. I can call your dad right now and have him pick you up."

"No."

"Then you better warm up to me, kid."

3.

"I think you were wrong." Bickslow stated, staring up at the ceiling and gently stroking the woman's arm with his thumb. Peering up at him she raised her eyebrows, unable to see most of his face due to their angle.

"I'm wrong about a lot of things. What specifically are you talking about?" She asked, and not wanting to move her position, lay her head back on his chest. Her hands precariously touched the small totem on the man's abdomen, tracing the outlines of the soul's painted 'face'.

"I'm a terrible uncle."

"You didn't actually hit him, did you?"

"What? Of course not."

"Should I leave while he's here? Do you think that'll help?"

"No. I probably would have strangled the kid if you hadn't been here. I really wanted to use soul possession on the twerp."

"He was raised by a drug addict, his second home turned out to be your parents who dumped him on us, and then we dumped him on some guy he barely knows. It's no surprise that he's lashing out."

"Evergreen spoiling the hell out of him probably hasn't been helping."

"I think it's great that your friends are getting involved in his life. You should just be glad that he has a home to go to tomorrow that's not here. I don't want to be a parent."

"What about us?" The small totem in her hand vibrated, and she could feel the man under her chuckle.

"I don't mind you guys; I think I like wandering souls better than living kids." She said, and the soul hummed happily against her hand.

"We would be terrible parents. I see dead people and you can kill people without remorse." Bickslow stated, and she nodded against him.

"I agree. Now can we stop talking about kids and go to sleep?"

"That's the best idea I've heard all day."

1.

"So you've decided who is going to compete for the games?" Ever asked the Guild Master, and he nodded slowly. The small group of wizards looked at him excitedly, wondering what he had decided for the important event. Laxus knew he would compete, of course, but they didn't know who else.

"For Team A I have chosen: Natsu, Erza, Gray, Lucy, and Wendy."

"So… team Natsu, basically." Bickslow stated, frowning at the old man. "Lucy? Really? She's a terrible fighter."

"Don't underestimate her. She's stronger than she looks."

"I've fought her twice now. She sucks."

"If I recall you lost both of those battles." Laxus stated with a smirk.

"The first time was because I was going easy on her, and I didn't expect Loke to join the fight. _He's_ a decent fighter. The second fight Fried and I threw. They fought using bikini babes and cotton candy attacks." The seith mage stated, frowning at both memories. The only plus side was that she was hot, and when they fought, she jumped around… a lot. "Unless you chose her because she's cute. In which case, the cosplayer is a good pick."

"Stop being a sore loser. Besides, there's a second team, isn't there?" Evergreen asked, turning back to the Guild Master. He nodded again.

Bickslow's sour disposition didn't change, since he knew that he wasn't going to be chosen. Elbow on the table, cheek in his hand, he stared at the Guild Master from beneath his metal visor. The S-Ranked mages, Laxus and Mira, would take 2 spots. Then there was Juvia and Gajeel, who were S-Ranked at their last guild. If anyone else in the room got the last spot it would be either Fried or Claire, and according to Claire, he had already hinted at choosing her. Given the Guild Master's love for flashy magic, his girlfriend was the most likely choice.

"For Team B I have chosen: Laxus, Mirajane, Juvia, Gajeel, and Claire."

"Shocker." Bickslow muttered.

"Seriously? What's your reasoning for that?" Claire asked next to him.

"Are you complaining? I'd gladly take your spot." Bickslow told her, but was ignored.

"I don't have to tell you that." The Guild Master stated, simply smiling at her.

"Are you taking what I told you into consideration?" She asked. "And who's going to be the 6th member of each group?"

"6th member?" Evergreen asked, perking up from her earlier disappointment of not getting picked.

"Don't worry, I've already thought everything out. You're going to do great."

"6th member?" Evergreen repeated, looking to the Guild Master.

"She's talking about the back-up wizards in case anyone gets injured. For Team Natsu it will be Elfman, and for Team B I haven't decided yet. It's between Kana and a mystery person."

"Me?" Ever asked hopefully.

"No." He said immediately, causing her shoulders to slump.

"You didn't actually think either of us would get chosen, did you?" The seith mage asked, looking to his teammate.

"And why the hell wouldn't we? If the entire Team Natsu was chosen, why not the Thunder Legion?"

"Because they're our guild's cheerleader team. Our team surpasses them in power but we look like Halloween decorations."

"Speak for yourself." The brunette huffed. "I'm a lady."

"Fairy, green hair, checkerboard smiley faces, and I don't even need to say anything about me. This event is to boost our guild's popularity, not decrease it. It makes sense that he would choose Team Natsu for show and a second team for the power. Am I right?" Bickslow asked at the end, turning back to the Guild Master.

"There were other factors I considered, but yes, those were some of the main ones. As the Guild Master I have to consider both power and appearance."

"What if we got a new wardrobe? We can do cheers. Please let us compete." Ever pleaded, her eyes watering as she practically begged the old man to give them spots on the team.

"What possible reason do you have for choosing me?" Claire asked the Guild Master, wearing a similar pout as Ever.

"Are you really asking?" Makarov asked, ignoring the fairy woman.

"Your power is close to S-Class and your magic is flashy. You fit both requirements for showmanship and power." Bickslow answered for him. "Not to mention you'll be healed a month before the games, which also gives you time to train with Laxus and the rest of us."

"But why didn't you change the teams to better fit what I told you?" Claire asked, still looking at the old man.

"I have my reasons."

"Can I refuse? I think Fried or Bickslow would be a better choice. Especially for the first round when-"

"Nope. My decision is final and you're competing. I also don't want you to tell any of your teammates when you told me."

"Oh yeah, you can see the future." Bickslow said, turning to the checker woman with a wide grin.

"Bickslow." Makarov said sternly, but the seith mage kept staring at his girlfriend, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"So you know what's going to happen?" Laxus asked, a similar grin on his face.

"If you tell them, I won't let you compete." Makarov warned, only to make the grin appear on her face. "I mean, I'll make you compete, but I'll make your life miserable until then. I don't want you telling anyone what's going to happen."

"Wouldn't that give us an edge, though?" Laxus asked curiously, turning to the old man.

"The nature of her visions are delicate, and if the information isn't controlled, it'll be rendered useless. Assuming what she told me is true."

"But why keep me in the dark about your reasoning?" Claire asked.

"Don't worry, I have everything under control."

"But what if I fight Jura? He'll totally kick my ass."

"If that's your only concern, then think about the person you're replacing, and the selection process the judges make. Do you really think they're going to pair one of the 10 wizard saints with a girl who isn't even S-Ranked?"

"They paired Bacchus and Elfman, and that should have been a slaughter. Not to mention-"

"By accident, according to you. Which will change. Don't worry, I wouldn't choose you if I didn't think you were the best choice." He assured her, but she still chewed on the inside of her cheek, not convinced.

"You're not nervous because Jura and Kagura are going to be there, are you?" Laxus asked from nearby, sitting on a chair with his arms folded on the back of it. His blue eyes met hers for a moment, and he smirked.

"I got _harpooned_ in front of the strongest wizards from three other guilds. And I have stage fright. And what if I get injured before the dragon debacle of death and destruction?"

"Take it easy. We've got two months to prepare, you'll be fine." Laxus assured her, chuckling at her still nervous expression. "And Jura and Kagura aren't going to hold it against you for being injured. They probably won't even remember you." Even as he spoke, her mind raced to the images of the multiple dragons emerging from the door, and how his magic was utterly useless against them. Then to the dragon she met in person when she first came to the world, and how overwhelmingly powerful it was while it took her sister.

Carol.

That girl she used to punch in the face, and then five minutes later do her nails and talk about boys with. She would paint her nails because her sister's hands were busy pressing an ice pack to her cheek., and whenever it was the other way around, Carol would do her nails. Thanks to that dragon, Carol was gone and Claire couldn't wear nail polish if she wanted to.

"But things are going to happen and they're going to suck."

"You've handled worse. You'll be fine." Fried assured her from across the table.

"No, I've gotten completely and irrevocably screwed over by what happens after the games and Makarov still hasn't told me what he's going to do about that." She said, glaring at the Guild Master at the end.

"You're over thinking it, Claire. Don't worry, everything is under control. I've already contacted the correct authorities and everything is taken care of."

"You realize that if this is handled incorrectly it puts not only everyone here, but the entire world in danger?"

"Just what the hell are you guys talking about?" Bickslow asked, looking back and forth between the Guild Master and his girlfriend. They were having a glaring contest now, and their icy stares rivaled a snow storm.

"I'm your Guild Master, show a little respect. Trust me."

"You let a girl who'd been using magic for 2 weeks fight in your s-class trials. Sorry I'm not a little more trustworthy of your judgment."

"How long you've been using magic isn't the issue. Whether you want to admit it or not, you're one of my best wizards, and you're the most logical choice for the games."

Claire looked away, wanting to argue but instead taking a deep breath. Stress wasn't good for her injury, and pain wasn't a good sign. "Whatever. I'm getting some air." She stated and moved to stand, ignoring the stares of her comrades. Shoving her hands in her pockets she didn't look back, nor paid any mind to the flames dancing along her skin.

"What's her problem?" Evergreen asked once she had left.

"If she really doesn't want to compete, why make her?" Laxus asked his grandfather curiously. The old man looked troubled as he continued looking at the door she had just left, but then the look disappeared as he picked up his beer mug.

 _She's just like her damn brother._ Makarov thought dimly, eyeing the dragonslayer. _Like both of her brothers._

2.

Even when Bickslow walked over to her, she continued looking up at the tree leaves. That hammock had become her spot to relax the past few weeks, given her near lethal injury, so she felt it natural to come back to it. She was surprised it took him so long to visit her, but then again, had no idea how long she'd been out here.

"Evergreen is trying to convince the Guild Master to let her take your place." He said, and she heard him take the empty seat next to her.

"I hope she succeeds." She said simply, continuing to try and calm her breathing.

"I'm kind of surprised you're not excited to participate. Since you've practically been bedridden the past month, I'd thought you would be itching for a fight." As he spoke, a million responses popped into her head at once to explain how she felt, but none of them felt accurate enough to describe how her stance on the issue. He wasn't wrong about her wanting to fight, as she had verbally told him that she was bored out of her mind; however, this wasn't about fighting.

"There's a lot of reasons I don't want to be in the games."

"The last two times he sent you on a job, you almost died. It's understandable that you're apprehensive about fighting again." Bickslow commented, leaning back in the chair and resting his head on his interlaced hands. The woman on the hammock simply stared up at the tree, silent. "And he technically can't force you to do anything. If you refuse to do it, someone else will gladly take your place."

"After the Grand Magic Games, half a dozen dragons will destroy the city. Even Laxus's magic doesn't leave a scratch when we fight them." She told him, and he blinked in surprise, his foot accidentally slipping and thudding against the ground loudly. "The last dragon I dealt with killed my parents, kidnapped my sister, and stranded me on an alien planet. And Makarov just says 'don't worry about it'."

"That's, uh… a pretty good reason to want answers." He admitted, bringing his feet back up to the footstool. "And not to belittle that at all, but, uh… how does that relate to the games? I mean, if the dragon thing happens afterwards, what's wrong with competing?"

"Because I'm not the most logical choice. I've been pouring over my notes for months, going over what's going to happen, to figure out who would be the best candidates. I'm not one of those candidates. And I have stage fright."

"So that's what your 'secret journals' have been about?" He asked with a grin. "Can I read them?"

"Sure, why not."

"And why have you never mentioned your stage fright before now?"

"Never came up."

"Do you have any other fears?"

"Do you? What are you afraid of?"

"Spiders and children."

After another half hour of talking to her, he eventually resigned back to the Guild Hall, where the Guild Master waited anxiously to hear if he had made any progress with her.

"Well? Did she change her mind?"

"Nope. She's not doing it." He stated, and returned to his original seat. He couldn't help but laugh at Evergreen's still hopeful disposition, despite the fact that she's towards the bottom of a very long list of potential fighters.

"Given the chance to represent her guild and she acts like it's the end of the world." The old man grumbled, hunched over as he contemplated the situation.

"If you told her what your master plan was, she'd probably change her mind. Otherwise she apparently has severe stage fright and refuses to do it without a, in her words, 'good fucking reason'."

"Hmmm…" The old man hummed, and glanced up at his grandson before back to his beer mug. "Is Claire still searching for her brother?" He asked Bickslow, who paused awkwardly at the random question.

"… Bacchus?"

"No, her baby brother. I think his name was… Kale, was it?"

"She thinks he's dead." He said slowly, unnerved by the mischievous glint in the old man's eyes. "Why?"

"Tell her that if she competes, I'll tell her who her brother is. He is a resident of Magnolia."

"What? Why didn't you tell her before?! She's been thinking he's been dead this entire time!"

"Well he's not. And if she wants to meet him, she'll have to compete in the games."


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** Thank you guys so much for the awesome reviews! I've really enjoyed reading them, and love to get your guys' perspective on the story. :D Hope you enjoy the chapter! Peace!

 **Walking Cliché 16**

 _Grand Magic Games_

"You guys nervous?" Claire asked from her spot on the twin bed, and she got an array of head shakes and grunts. Everyone seemed lost in their own little world, mentally planning for the games or obsessing over Gray, in Juvia's case. Kana was passed out on the bed next to her. Claire sighed as she pulled out a switch blade from her pocket, deciding to fidget with it for the time being.

"Are you?" Laxus asked by the window, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. His gaze moved to the blade in her hands, which she was now opening and closing, and throwing it around slowly in ways he guessed Bacchus had taught her.

"Not really, but I am bored." She admitted. Makarov had insisted that their group stay in the room once they arrived, which had been an hour ago, and they still had another 5 hours until the preliminaries began. He'd also insisted that if they had to leave they should use the 'buddy system', since Claire had told him that Fairy Tail competitors would be targeted this evening.

"You could go to the store and get us some grub." Gajeel spoke nearby, munching away at his metal.

"Metal grub or actual food?"

"Food." He said with a sneer.

"Aren't you supposed to have a buddy?" Juvia asked, temporarily looking up at the woman.

"It sounds like Team Natsu has the same idea I do, so I'll just tag along with them. Pizza sound good to you guys?" Claire asked, moving to her feet. She didn't bother to mention that Gray was their chosen errand boy, since Juvia would undoubtedly try to either strangle her or join her. She'd used her heightened hearing to eavesdrop on Team Natsu, and she suspected that Gajeel had done the same, since he brought up food at about the same time they did.

The group nodded for the pizza, still seeming to be lost in their own world.

"Cool, I'll be back in a bit." Claire said, moving to the door quickly before anyone else decided to join or object. She pocketed the blade back into her loose dark brown pants, hurrying down to the lobby to join Gray on his pizza run. When she saw him, she called out his name, causing him to stop and turn to her.

"Uh… hi."

"I overheard that you're making a pizza run? Mind if I join?" She asked with a grin, and he smiled awkwardly.

"Uh, sure."

"You weren't going to leave without a buddy, were you? That's mighty irresponsible of you." She chastised, chuckling at the roll of his eyes.

"I can handle myself."

"So can I. Let's go." She said with a nod towards the door, not missing the small smile on his otherwise calm face. They both left the lobby through the main doors, instantly becoming immersed in the busy street. They walked side-by-side in silence for most of their walk, occasionally bumping into the hurried men and women on the street.

"So you're here to watch the games?" He asked, casually looking over at the checkerboard woman. Neither of them had really interacted much, and both of what they knew about each other was second hand information.

"Uh… yeah." She said, remembering that Makarov wanted to keep 'team B' a secret for the time being. "Are you excited to be representing Fairy Tail?"

"Yeah. We're going to win this year." He said with a confident smirk, just before they came to the pizza place they were both headed for. The line had 20+ people in it leading out the door, and both wizards were annoyed by the unexpected delay. "This is going to take forever. Do you know of any other pizza places?"

"No, but I'm not too familiar with this city. I'm guessing that everywhere is going to be busy though, since it's the day before the games." She told him, and he nodded with a sigh. They both got in line, hands in their pockets with nothing to really do. "So, uh… how long have you been in Fairy Tail?"

"Since I was a kid. You?"

"About half a year, I guess. Or I guess 7 years, if you count the Tenrou Island thing." She said, and he nodded.

An awkward silence followed, neither knowing what to talk about, or the things they did try to talk about ending in just a sentence or two.

"… so you and Bickslow, huh?" He asked, and she smiled.

"Yeah. We've been dating since Tenrou Island. He's a good guy."

"He changed a lot after the Battle of Fairy Tail. To be honest I don't really know much about him. Actually, I know less about you than him." He said, suddenly giving her an inquisitive look. "All I know is that you piss Natsu off with your fire, since you can get it to higher temperatures."

"Is he actually mad about that?"

"The fact that he challenges you to fight every time you enter the Guild Hall isn't a clue?"

"He doesn't do that _every_ time… and he challenges everyone to fights. And I thought he was happy after I helped get him get new clothes?"

"He's got the memory of a peanut. All he remembers is that your fire is hot like Igneel's and he wants to surpass you. I don't think he even knows your name, he just refers to you as 'weird fire girl'."

She couldn't help but smirk at that. It still astounded her that Natsu was intimidated by her fire, considering that it was _his_ element, and he'd been working with fire dragonslayer magic his entire life. Not to mention he was raised by a fire dragon- and yet, he could barely handle her fire at half the highest temperature.

"Where'd you learn your magic, by the way?"

"I'm the human counterpart to a fire dragon in this world. I was summoned from my home planet by mistake." She told him, not surprised by his shocked expression.

"Wait, you're like Porlyusica?" He asked, and she nodded. "Are you from Edolas, too?"

"Nah, I'm from another world called 'Earth'. My brother and I refer to it as Krypton, though." She said, chuckling at the reference. Bacchus and her, amid their various conversations reminiscing of home, had decided to refer to their planet as 'Krypton' since 'Earth' was just confusing. Laxus was 'Kal-El', since he was the youngest when he came to this world, much like Superman. Claire was Super Girl, and Bacchus was… well, they couldn't they couldn't remember any other specific characters from that planet, so they just called him Batman, since he uses martial arts.

"Krypton?" He asked, and she nodded.

"On my world, there was a really famous comic book character called 'Superman', and his home planet was called Krypton. He was sent to Earth to conquer it after his own world was destroyed, being one of only a handful of survivors, but he instead wanted to save Earth, so he became a superhero." She explained to him, happy when the line moved a few feet.

"So you see yourself as a superhero?"

"No, but I do have superpowers, which is fun." She said, raising her hand to make a small flame appear and dance along her fingers briefly before putting it away again. "We didn't have magic on my world, so- Get down!" She yelled, pushing a passerby out of the way of a fast moving object. It was enough of a distraction to keep her from dodging the next one, an all too familiar piece of metal lodging itself next to her collarbone.

Screams rang out at the sight of the attack, and the panicked people ran for their lives.

Gray was hit as well, crying out in pain and surprise. They were only able to look at the source of the chains about to hurl them forward for a split second, and Claire used the opportunity to turn her shoulder into fire to avoid being pulled forward.

The ice mage wasn't so lucky, cursing loudly as grabbed the weapon in his upper chest, being dragged to the forest on the edge of town.

Claire ran after him, keeping her shoulder in flames to keep her injury in stasis. As soon as her flames died out, she would start bleeding out and need medical attention.

But she didn't have time to think about that.

When he finally stopped moving, well into a forested area, she ran forward and shot her flames at the chain, melting it as she continued forward and tried to punch her sister, the source of the attack. Unfortunately she missed, and didn't see the person behind her.

Dodging her flames, the second assailant punched her upper abdomen, landing the hit on her lower rib cage. At the contact she felt and heard her bones crack, but also felt her magic instantly leave her body.

Flying back and landing near Gray, she held her bruised side and looked up at her opponents, realizing all too well that the flames in her shoulder had died out. Pain coursed through her body, and she was suddenly glad that she'd built up a pretty decent tolerance to pain.

"Fuck, are you okay?" Gray asked.

"He just drained my magic with that one attack. Don't get too close to him."

"Who are these guys?" He asked, shaking and flinching as he used his ice magic to freeze his injury, weapon still lodged inside.

"Raven Tail." The brunette said with a smirk, looking down at them with a blade in her hand. Her entire body was covered in chains and leather, tattoos littered across her exposed skin. Next to her was a cloaked man with a mask, who Claire guessed was Laxus's adoptive father and leader of Raven Tail.

"Gray, she's an assassin. Be careful."

"You said the other guy drained your magic?" He asked, keeping his eyes locked on their unmoving opponents.

"Yeah. I barely have enough to stay standing."

"Shit."

"Don't worry, we won't be killing you. Just distracting you both for the preliminaries." Kelsey said with a smirk, tossing the blade in her hands around expertly.

"It doesn't matter if you take us out. We have replacements standing by." Claire told her, managing to relight the flames in her shoulder to prevent further bleeding. "This attack is pointless."

"Exactly how much magic do you have left?" Gray asked her quietly.

"Enough for a couple of strong attacks, but no more."

"I wouldn't say pointless. Who better to practice my new magic on?" Kelsey asked, chuckling darkly.

"I think the cloaked guy uses illusion and magic draining abilities. Be careful." Claire told the ice mage to her side. "Any ideas on a plan of attack?"

"I'm guessing that retreating isn't an option." He muttered, and they both jumped out of the way as Kelsey threw her chains at them, whipping at the ground and causing it to crack under the force. "Does your magic work like Natsu's?" He asked over the sound.

"Kind of."

1.

"They've been gone for a long time." Laxus commented after an hour, his gaze moving from the window to his colleagues, who were sitting around reading or lost in thought. "Isn't the pizza place just down the street?"

"Relax, I'm sure she's fine. She and Gray can handle any trouble if it comes up." Gajeel told him, instantly regretting his words as Juvia was instantly on his bed, on her knees and staring him down.

"She's with my darling Gray?!"

"… He volunteered to get the pizza for his group." He said, having overheard the same conversation that Claire had.

"WHAT?! My darling Gray is with that woman!?" She said, and judging by her following rambles and far off expression, he guessed she was having one of her incredibly weird fantasies.

"Relax, Juv. She's already dating Bickslow." Mirajane said on the bed next to them, having been busying herself with a magazine. "From what I've heard, they're very happy together."

A knock came from the door, and a resounding 'come in' came from the wizards. The familiar face of their Guild Master appeared, smiling and arriving with Warren and Max in tow, who were carrying bags of food. "I thought you guys could use a snack."

"Claire left to get us food." Laxus informed him, unmoving from his spot against the wall.

"I told you guys to stay here! Did she at least take someone with her!?"

"Relax, old man. She went with Gray since his team was getting pretty hungry, too."

"The lines are pretty brutal right now for stores. We had to wait over half an hour to get these." Max spoke as he walked in, placing two grocery bags on the table. "I wouldn't be surprised if she's still in line, wherever she went."

"I'll let them know to come back." Warren offered, doing the same as Max and setting the bags on the table. Mirajane walked over to them, beginning to take out the food inside and get them organized on the table. Pressing his index finger to his temple, the dark-haired mage activated his telepathy magic. "Claire, Gray, can you hear me?" He asked, pausing and waiting for a response, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "... Claire? Gray?"

"What is it?" Makarov asked, looking over at the young man.

"I can't sense Claire, and I think Gray is knocked out somewhere, because I can sense his unconscious mind but can't link to it."

"Unconscious?" Laxus asked.

"Are you sure?" Makarov asked.

"It could be some magical interference that's making them difficult to track down, since there's so many wizards in this area, but I'm certain that Gray is knocked out. Claire isn't responding and I can't make any sort of link to her."

"I did hear some rumors about a fight happening down the street." Max spoke. "But they've been happening all over the city, so I didn't think anything of it."

"What are we standing around here for? Let's go find them." The iron dragonslayer announced, and his comrades seemed ready to go.

"Hold up, none of you are going anywhere. If our competing teams are being targeted, then we can't risk the rest of you being taken out. We'll form search parties for the pair and hopefully there's a reasonable explanation for this. Until we find out what happened, let's not jump to any conclusions."

2.

At that moment, Claire fucking hated this world.

So, so, so damn much.

She was pinned to a tree with little to no magic left, the stupid harpoon like object lodged in her upper chest, and her sister was sauntering towards her with a confident smirk on her face. The masked man behind her simply watched, doing and saying nothing.

"Get the hell away from me." Claire growled with as much menace and hate as she could muster, only to have her sister's creepy smile widen further. Her hand reached out to the fire woman's face, palm pressing against her forehead and pushing up, casting a spell.

The checker woman found herself in a completely different place, although her situation wasn't much different. Ropes were keeping her bound to a chair, and her injury hurt like hell.

Everything else was different.

She was in a room with several people she didn't recognize, and she was assaulted by a variety of scents that she didn't recognize, along with sounds that indicated an ongoing attack outside the walls of her entrapment. Screams of terror sang from outside, along with explosions and laughter. Smoke was a prevalent scent she could catch, and her attention was brought back to the scene before her.

There was a gun being pressed to her temple, and the hand holding it belonged to a man who hadn't bathed in weeks. He smelled like he'd just crawled out of a sewer, face covered in dirt, and a disgusting sneer added to his horrendous disposition. He was wearing an old pair of jeans that were torn and covered in stains, while a similar faded brown shirt clung to his average figure. Like him, there were 3 other men in the room pointing their guns at three people cowering in the corner. It looked like this used to be someone's living room, before it was broken into and wrecked. Shards of glass covered the floor, pieces of splintered wood were strewn across the space, and the remains of a couch was in the process of burning to the side.

The hostages cowering in the corner of the room were trembling in fear. One of them was an older man, looking to be in his early 30's, while the others were two children- a little girl looking to be less than a year old, and the other was girl looking to be 3 or 4.

"What's going on here?" Claire asked, looking up at the man pointing a gun at her.

He smiled, showing off his yellow and chipped teeth. "We're going to have fun with you."

"Where am I?" She asked, not liking the look in his eye. Her magic felt nonexistent, and she knew she wouldn't be able to fight; it felt oddly like back on Tenrou Island, and she hoped that she would be able to bluff her way out again. Wherever she'd been transported to.

"You're at home,

." He chuckled, and reached up to swipe his greasy hair to the side. Claire couldn't imagine a human being looking more disgusting than he did now, and upon thinking that, remembered her previous opponents before appearing here.

The masked man used Illusion magic.

"Should we kill these guys before or after playing with her?" One of the other men asked, nodding towards the trio.

"Don't you touch my wife!" The man holding the youngest girl asked, and not a second later a bullet went through his head.

The two year old screamed at the sound, clinging to the older man. The baby in his arms started crying.

"Your name was Margaret, right?" One of the assailants asked, smirking at the 2 year old.

"This illusion sucks. Couldn't you have created a Star Wars fantasy or something? I'd rather see what's her name in the bikini. We could have the whole 'Claire, I'm your sister' moment, I could start screaming about it's not true, blah blah blah," As she spoke, she looked up at the ceiling, talking to the iron weapon user.

"Who the hell are you talking to?" The man next to her asked, pressing the barrel of the gun further to her temple.

"But this is so much more fun." A feminine voice whispered in her ear, and Claire jumped at both the sudden sound and the arms that around around her shoulders. "We get to learn about my origin story. Haven't you been curious about your big sis?"

"What, some guys murdered your family in cold blood so you became an assassin? How much more unoriginal could you get?" The checker woman asked, screaming out in pain when the woman pressed her hand against the gapping wound.

"And what if that little 2 year old was raped? Would that be more original?"

"No, that would be unoriginal and just gross. Resorting to rape to just-" She screamed out in pain again, unable to finish her sentence. "Damn it, Kelsey!"

"It may be unoriginal, but you'd be surprised at how effective it is." Kelsey whispered in her ear, and Claire pulled away from the slimy appendage that touched her lobe.

"Go fuck yourself."

"Now why would I do that when there's a perfectly good, defenseless little girl here to do that for me? You're not that attractive, but you'll do." Kelsey whispered in a low voice, one of her hands grabbing the side of her head roughly, digging her claws into her scalp since her hair wasn't long enough to latch onto, and her other hand stayed on the wound. Biting down on her neck, Claire struggled again, screaming out in pain.

"Claire, Claire can you hear me?" The voice was faint, just above a whisper in the chaotic room, but she heard it nonetheless.

"Warren?" She asked, clenching her jaw tight at the pain that continued, trying to focus on the voice and not drown it out with her screams.

"Where are you?"

"Illusion." She gritted out, ignoring the kisses and licks of her assailant. "Can you get me out?"

"You're in an illusion? Do you have any magic left?"

"Not really."

"I'll try to break the spell from the outside, but the spell cast is pretty powerful, I can barely hear you. Fluctuate whatever magic you have left, and maybe we can break it." He instructed, and she was reminded of the process for breaking the 'soul possession' spell. In order to break the user's hold, fluctuating your magic was the best way to get rid of their hold.

Summoning the last of her energy, she did just that, sending out short bursts of her fire around her.

Everything around her crumbled; from the objects and people to the smells and sounds, she was suddenly being suffocated by silence.

Wherever she was was dark, and her breathing was ragged and shallow. Head fuzzy and disoriented, it took her a moment to realize where she was and to respond to the worried voice in her head. "Did you make it out? Are you okay?"

"Give me a second." She breathed, flinching against the object still keeping her pinned to the tree. As she took in her surroundings she realized that she was alone, in the woods, just where she'd last fought her sister and the masked man. The familiar scent of fir trees met her nostrils, and she couldn't be happier for the familiarity.

"You've been missing for almost 4 hours. If you tell me where you are, I can send people out to find you."

"Claire? Are you okay?" Bickslow's voice yelled in her head, and she flinched at the loud sound.

Grabbing the tree's bark behind her, she set it aflame, absorbing the resulting fire through her skin. Just like on her job with the Thunder Legion, it took less than a minute to reduce it to ash.

Reflaming her shoulder she took the metal object out, tossing it to the side. "Is Gray okay?"

"Gray got the shit beaten out of him and is in the infirmary. Where are you?"

"I'm going to head back to the hotel. What time is it?" She asked, feeling significantly better than before, but still light-headed. Aside from the stab wound she was relatively unscathed, with only a few bruises here and there. If she made back to the hotel fast enough, she might be able to grab a snack first.

"20 minutes until midnight." Warren told her.

"Where have you been all this time? We've been worried sick!" Makarov yelled in her head, and she groaned, realizing that there were a lot of people in her head at the moment. "You're the one that told me Fairy Tail members would be targeted tonight, so why the hell did you leave your team!?"

"I just replenished my magic and I'm on my way back. Hopefully I'll make it in time." Claire said, and once she got her bearings, started running back to the hotel.

"Are you by that huge pillar of smoke on the edge of the city?" Bickslow asked.

"Yeah, I refueled by torching a tree." She answered, moving her legs as fast as she could. Her body felt surprisingly stiff, as if she'd been sitting down for several hours, so stretching her muscles felt good. If she'd been stuck in that illusion for 4 hours, even though it only felt like a few minutes, it made sense. Realizing once again that her training to increase her speed was coming handy, she couldn't help but smile as she navigated down the path.

Once she made it to the city portion, instead of running through the streets on fire, she ventured to a different path, instead jumping onto a rooftop and running parallel to the street, leaping from roof to roof. Again, she couldn't help but smile, but this time thinking about all the movies she'd seen growing up, and how awesome she probably looked right now.

"Are you that crazy person running around on houses on fire?" Someone asked, and the smile disappeared.

"If you mean that fucking awesome person leaping from rooftop to rooftop like a bad ass, then yes." She answered. Back on Earth she would have been balling like a baby and wouldn't have even dreamed of doing this. Now she could run at this speed for hours if she wanted to and not be out of breath.

"Sorry Claire, crazy looks more accurate." Bickslow told her.

"Shut up."

"Seriously though, are you injured?" He asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'll have Porlyusica look at me after the preliminaries." She told him, and upon seeing the open window of her team's room, she leaped towards it, grabbing the edge of the roof to swing inside. Upon her entrance she narrowly avoided hitting Laxus, who'd been particularly close to the window. She rolled to a stop, and a startled cry rang out at her arrival. "You guys miss me?" Claire asked with a grin, turning to her colleagues.

"Where the hell have you been!? The preliminaries about to start!" The Guild Master yelled at her, and she merely glared before turning to her team, smiling again.

"Did anyone get food? I'm starving." She asked, and when Mira pointed to the table of food, she instantly went for it, shoving a donut in her mouth.

"You're covered in blood." Gajeel commented, having been next to the table and looking down at her shirt. He smell it as well, but her shirt was much more obvious.

"Oh -eah, I -ou- pro-ably -ange." She said through a mouthful of food, and after shoving another donut in her mouth, went over to her duffel bag on her bed.

"Would you slow down for 2 seconds?" Laxus asked, on the verge of getting a headache. She smelled like a tree and blood, both of which were filling the room, and she was moving so fast he thought she was on speed. Not to mention the earlier worry if she ws okay, since she'd gone dark for over 4 hours. "You've still got another 10 minutes."

Once she found a shirt that would work, she looked up at the wizard and winked at him, and upon further ignoring the Guild Master's questions, disappeared into the bathroom.

Fairy Tail Team B all exchanged a confused look, a mix of worry and relief filling the air.

The blond man watched the door, his arms crossed and body leaning against the wall. He quietly wondered how the little fire mage had gotten injured, again, while the rest of them were unscathed. The anxiety in his chest had loosened slightly upon her arrival, but he knew it would be back, considering what Erza had told him the previous day.

"Did she make it back? Warren cut off contact." Bickslow asked as he landed in the room, having hopped off of his babies. His eyes instantly searched the room, not locating her among the various mages.

"Is mommy Claire okay?" His babies asked.

"She's changing." Laxus said, pointing to the bathroom door.

"Covered in blood and on fire, but she seems otherwise fine." Gajeel chuckled from the food table, continuing to chow down. "Sure knows how to make an entrance, too."

"Considering how quick she got here, I'm guessing the wound was superficial. We also don't know if it was hers." Mirajane spoke sweetly from her seat on the bed, smiling at the seith mage. "She's fine, so you can stop worrying."

"Why are you worried about Claire when my darling Gray is dying in the infirmary right now!?" Juvia cried, on all fours as she sobbed on her bed. "It should be me in the infirmary, not him!"

"Porlyusica is taking care of him, don't worry. He's a strong guy and he'll be fine." Gajeel comforted nearby, knowing she was going to be a pain in his ass for the rest of the night.

Bickslow sighed, walking over to Claire's bed and jumping on it, folding his legs under him.

"Claire, you've got 4 minutes left." Mira spoke, having walked over to the door and knocked on it. "Do you need any help?"

"Nah, I'm good. Ruined my last long-sleeve shirt, though." Claire spoke from the bathroom, grumbling afterwards. A few seconds later she emerged, slightly less bloody than before, and adorning a red and orange tank top. Her shoulder was still on fire, keeping her wound from bleeding out. "I thought you said Raven Tail wouldn't be here?" She instantly asked, looking at the old man.

"Claire's back!" Bickslow's babies announced happily, flying over to her and bobbing happily around her in circles. She reached up and held one of them, but kept her eyes on the old man standing on a chair by the table.

"Raven Tail is the one that attacked you?" Makarov asked, turning to the young woman.

"Yeah, and it turns out that my sister, the bat shit crazy assassin, is one of their new members. She and the masked guy attacked Gray and I when we were getting pizza."

"AAAAAH I'M ON FIREE!" One of Bickslow's babies screamed, flying away from the woman and zooming around the room frantically. The wizard cried out in surprise as they dodged the little fire creature, and when it got close to Claire again, she reached out and grabbed it, bringing it to her lips and sucking in the flames. His comrades, the babies still dancing around her, snickered at him.

"You okay, Peppe?" She asked, smiling at the wandering soul, who then flew over to Bickslow to nuzzle into his safe arms.

"What the hell are those things?" Gajeel asked, giving them a weird look.

"They're wandering souls." Claire answered, and upon remembering that she was still holding her bloody shirt, tossed it over to her duffel bag next to Bickslow.

Kana, having just woken up, looked over at the woman on fire.

"Uuuuh… you know you're on fire, right?" The brunette asked tiredly, rubbing her sleepy eyes awake as she sat up.

"Really?" Claire asked, feigning surprise when she looked over and saw the flames.

"Did you seriously not wake up until just now?" Gajeel asked, dumbfounded by the alcoholic.

Distracted by the sudden argument erupting, Claire missed the worried eyes of her boyfriend, who was eyeing the bloodstains going all the way down her pants to her sandaled foot. He also reached over to the shirt behind him, grabbing it and laying it in front of him, frowning at all the blood on it. Laxus eyed it as well, noting that there was a hole in the approximate locate that the woman's shoulder was currently enflamed.

A loud bell chime rang out into the night air, announcing the beginning of the preliminary round.

3.

They finished the preliminary round with little trouble, making it second place. Sabertooth beat them by only half a minute, and it had been a close race for the finish line.

Upon finishing the round, they were instructed to enter a strange doorway that would lead to their quarters for the night. In order to keep who won the preliminary round a secret, they were instructed to not contact their guild for any reason other than a medial emergency.

After entering the doorway they walked into a hallway, which was lit with magic torches, and eventually led into a larger circular room. There were several couches and tables for people sit at and relax, while on the outside were doorways numbered 1-8.

"I suppose each door is for each team's placement in the round." Juvia surmised, and the other wizards, including Sabertooth, nodded. Sabertooth didn't say anything, and instead just walked to their door and disappeared inside.

"What is this room for? Socializing with other teams, maybe?" Mirajane asked, looking around the decorative room.

"Why the hell would we do that?" Gajeel snorted, walking towards the second door. "We should all get some shut eye for tomorrow."

"And I had thought we did well." A new voice spoke, causing the Fairy Tail Team B to turn towards the new sound. A loud growl erupted from Claire's throat, her narrowed eyes locking with her sister's and fire becoming more erratic.

"I'm surprised you didn't bleed to death, little sis. Guess I need more practice on my illusion magic." The brunette giggled, and licked her lips.

Laxus grabbed Claire's uninjured shoulder, holding her back before she ran forward and attacked her. "Save it for the games." He told her, ignoring the burns forming on his arm.

"You got a lucky hit earlier, attacking me in a crowd like that. Next time we fight I'll make a bonfire out of your corpse." The fire woman seethed, glaring at the still giggling woman.

"Ooh, I'm so scared."

"Laxus is right, save it for the games. We're going to annihilate them." Gajeel spoke, and grabbed her other arm to pull her back, not being as gentle as the blond. The abrupt gesture was enough to pull her out of her daze, and she yanked her arm out of his grasp and turned, making her way towards their door.

"Attack one of our own again, and we'll take you down." Laxus warned, glaring at the team. One by one, Fairy Tail retired to their room, eyeing the ominous group all the while.

The lightning dragonslayer was the last to enter the room, closing the door behind him. He was surprised by how luxurious and decadent the room was, as was the rest of the team, who stood around gawking at the beautiful tapestries and furniture. There were several couches in the middle of the room, a small table in the center with many snacks, and 5 beds for the team members to sleep on. On the far side of the room were two excessively large windows, taking up almost the entirety of the wall. Everyone looked around the room admiring it for some time, taking it in.

All except one. Claire had found her perch on a window sill, her firey side away from the glass, looking over the city. Fire danced along her skin, her back resting against the wall and hands interlaced on her one bent knee. Her forehead pressed against the glass, the cool surface helping calm her nerves.

"I wish my darling Gray were here." Juvia cried, making her way to one of the beds. She grabbed one of the pillows and hugged it, beginning her sobs and weird fantasies again.

"Nice place." Gajeel commented, making his way to one of the couches and propping his feet up on the table.

"Well, it is the King that's hosting this event." Mira spoke, taking a seat across from him and still looking around at the room.

Laxus made his way over to the little hot head, wondering if she would shoot fire at him if he tried to talk to her. Stopping a few feet from her and watching her for a moment, he instead took a seat on the opposite side of the window sill, just a couple yards from her.

"Sorry for losing my head back there." She mumbled, not bothering to look at him.

"Don't let it happen again. You're representing Fairy Tail right now." He told her, and she grunted, briefly glancing over at him. "You're also representing the Thunder Legion."

Claire closed her eyes, relaxing against the window and taking slow, deep breaths.

"So why's your shoulder still on fire?"

"So that I don't bleed out and die." She said nonchalantly. "I'm procrastinating getting up to go see Porlyusica, since I know it'll hurt like hell."

"We could probably have her come here. How severe is the injury?"

"I'll need stitches, for sure." She sighed, and opened her eyes again to look at the city below. They were still on the 'maze' contraption, so they could hear explosions and yells throughout the maze, but they were far enough away to not be bothered by it.

"I'll call Porlyusica." Mirajane spoke from the couch, smiling at the pair before walking over to the side of the room where the communication lacrima was.

"I'll go see if there's any booze here." Laxus said, and stood up, eyeing a small refrigerator across the room.

The blood loss was finally catching up to her, as she was getting progressively more light-headed. It felt like no time had passed when Laxus suddenly appeared in front of her, an open bottle in his hand and held out towards her. Gladly accepting the alcohol, she reached out and took it, drinking the cool liquid.

"She'll be here in about 10 minutes. Apparently Bickslow told her you were injured, so she's been waiting for the call." Mirajane said as she walked over to the fire woman. "She said that she'll try to repair any damage here, but if not, you'll have to go to the infirmary."

"Thanks Mira." Claire said, dreading the thought of seeing the pink-haired witch again. From what she'd gathered as of late, it was actually pretty rare for wizards to get serious enough injuries that they need the healer's help, so the fact that this would be her third major injury since joining Fairy Tail was saying something. "Still think I was a good choice for the games, Laxus?" She asked curiously, looking over to the blond.

"Better than Kana, at least." He said, and Claire chuckled, remembering that the brunette was chosen as the backup team member. Her laughter caused her to wince, suddenly remembering the hit to her abdomen. She'd been so focused on completing the preliminaries, she hadn't really noticing it until now. "Do you think you'll be able to fight tomorrow?"

"Hopefully. Depends on if my sister used that stupid anti-healing magic again, like on Tenrou Island." She grumbled, taking another drink of the liquid. Not feeling any effect of the alcoholic beverage, she looked at the label, finding that it was actually a higher percent of alcohol than normal beers.

"I forgot about that. We need to work on your dodging abilities."

"In my defense, I did dodge the first attack, but we were in a crowd of people, and I was too busy trying to make sure that they didn't get hit. Then the mask guy drained my magic, and Gray wasn't much help. Two against one I like to think I did pretty well."

"You could have done better." He said simply, and she groaned, going back to look at the city below. "You've been injured how many times now?"

"You're just jealous you're don't have as many sexy scars." She countered, and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Gray I love you!" Juvia randomly screamed, to which the team responded by yelling at her loud behavior.

A knock came to the door, and Mirajane got up to get it. "Has it been 10 minutes already?" Claire asked, surprised, but then shrugged and took a long swig of her drink.

At the sight of her cold, chilling stare, Claire's body tensed. If looks could kill…

"What the hell did you do this time?" The old woman asked, approaching the woman. She was carrying her medical bag with her, and close behind was Bickslow and his babies.

"How's Gray doing?" Claire asked with an awkward laugh, and at the mention of his name, Juvia was instantly at the old woman's feet.

"Is Gray alright?! Is he alive?! Has he asked for me!?"

"He's fine. Lucky for him, he was knocked out when I had to stitch him up. I'm guessing that you suffered similar injury?" Porlyusica asked, glaring at the young woman on the window sill.

"Maybe." She replied, her heart racing. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to run from the scary woman, and she hated her lingering fear of being trapped that gnawed within her chest.

"Are you going to stay on fire or let me look at your wound?" She asked, and Claire groaned.

"But it's going to hurt."

"That's what happens when you get stabbed. Now cease your flames so that I can look at it and decide if I can treat you here or take you back to the infirmary."

"I'll take that." Bickslow said, reaching over and taking the bottle from her hand.

Taking a deep breath, she caused her flames to disappear, feeling the pain once again return. The healer leaned in closer and eyed it from several angles, meanwhile Claire looked back to the city, clenching her jaw and gripping her leg.

"We need to teach you how to dodge better." Bickslow commented, and took a drink from the beer in his hand, walking over to stand next to Laxus. "So you guys finished the prelims, huh? How'd you place?"

"Second." The blond replied, watching Porlyusica work.

"Who'd you lose to?"

"Sabertooth." He replied, and the seith mage nodded, also watching the pink-haired woman work. Gajeel had decided to watch as well, wincing at the severity of it.

"Shit, you had that the whole time?" The iron dragonslayer asked.

"She's had worse." Bickslow stated, and the checker woman glared at him, but then refocused her gaze on the city below. Breathing was both necessary and painful, and she tried desperately to recall her brother's instructions on how to deal with pain. He'd taught her a pretty useful meditation technique to reduce pain, and it was working pretty well. Her teammate's conversation wasn't helping.

"I can stitch it here, but you should take it easy tomorrow. I'm guessing you've lost a fair amount of blood." The healer stated, and Claire nodded, not bothering to look at her. Porlyusica set her bag down on the window sill between her and Laxus, pulling out the necessary supplies.

"So what happened in the illusion?" Laxus asked curiously. "It must have been pretty powerful to keep you out for 4 hours."

Claire ignored him, trying to stick to her meditation exercise.

"Giant monster? Free falling?" Laxus continued.

"Standing on stage?" Bickslow added, smiling.

"I would give you a sedative, but it won't wok on you with the anti-healing magic. This is going to hurt." Porlyusica told her, and she simply nodded. A small whine escaped her despite her best wishes, squeezing her eyes shut at the pain.

"Free falling onto a stage where you had to fight a monster?" Bickslow asked. He was actually impressed that she was holding her own so well, given that last time she was attacked by her sister, he had to use soul possession to keep her still. He was ready to use the spell again if she needed it, which was actually the only reason Porlyusica let him come along.

Porlyusica was almost halfway done with the stitching when a small flame licked at her hand, causing her to jump back in surprise. "Sorry." Claire gritted.

"... it's probably good you did that now than later. You just burned all the stitching I did."

"Are you fucking serious?" She asked, turning to the older woman, still feeling the stinging pain from the needle punctures she made seconds ago. "We have to do this again?"

"Not with this string." Porlyusica replied, holding up the ball of string she'd been using.

"What about the string from her clothes? Those are strong enough to withstand her fire." Bickslow offered nearby.

"After sterilizing it, it could work. For safe measure I'm taking you back to the infirmary."

Another whine left their woman's throat, and as the healer repacked her bag, she lit her injury on fire again.

"We could use the thread from your shirt from earlier, since it's damaged anyway." Bickslow told her, feeling sympathetic to the young woman. Her shirt was covered in blood now, much like her previous one.

4.

Gray was bandaged up and awake when they arrived, sitting up at the sight of them. His eyes locked with the fire woman, who looked annoyed and pissed off.

"Glad to see you're okay." He said.

"Don't count me lucky just yet. You were lucky to be unconscious for your stitching." Claire told him, and after another look at him, disappeared behind the curtain that Porlyusica was drawing around one of the beds.

"Take your shirt off." Porlyusica instructed.

"Do I have to?" Claire whined.

"Better now than later, when your fire is out. Besides, you should be used to it by now." Bickslow told her, referring to her last two chest injuries. He was busy in the corner getting the thread from her torn shirt, using scissors to cut at the fabric and get to it. Upon watching one of her favorite shirts get further destroyed, she couldn't help but frown. "Stop being a baby and do as the doctor says."

"I'll give you a moment, while I get supplies together." Porlyusica told her, and then exited the small space.

Claire stared at the curtain for a moment, trying to rationalize the growing fear in her chest. Taking off her shirt, just as her boyfriend had said, was a regular occurrence whenever she visited the older woman. Nonetheless the idea of it made her want to throw up, and she found herself frozen.

Noticing that she wasn't moving, Bickslow looked up at her. "You okay?"

"Can't I just keep my shoulder like this for the rest of the competition? It's not really a drain on my magic and probably looks really cool." She spoke quickly.

"You've done this tons of times. It'll be fine."

"We believe in Claire!" His babies said in unison.

"I could just 'soul possess' you into doing it. That is why I'm here, after all." He told her, and she whined again, looking at the curtain again. "Is your issue with the stitching, or taking your shirt off? Do you want me to leave?"

She felt dizzy, and took a deep breath, gripping the bed beneath her.

"Why is your shirt still on?" Porlyusica demanded, startling her out of her reverie. Claire immediately took her shirt off, followed by her sports bra. "Is that thread ready?"

"Is this enough?" He asked, holding out a thread that was a little over a foot long.

"Yes." She said, and grabbed it from him. After doing a quick sterilization process with her magic, she set it to the side and grabbed a towel. Claire deactivated her fire with hesitation. Pressing the towel on her back where the exit wound was, she instructed the woman to lay down.

Bickslow stood next to her and reached for her hand, as he usually did in these situations. Although usually she had pain medications to help her, so he had no idea how she was going to deal with this.

Porlyusica cleaned the area around the wound once more, and was about to go back in to stitch it back up, when she paused. "... Claire, is there any chance that you melted some of the iron into the wound?"

"No?" Claire squeeked.

"Don't lie to your doctor." Bickslow chastised, sticking his tongue out at the woman.

"I'm going to have to make sure there's no metal fragments before sewing it up."

"No, can't we just assume that there's nothing in there?" Claire asked hopefully.

"How bad is that going to hurt?" Bickslow asked, although he already suspected the answer.

"You're going to have to use your spell to keep her still."

"No, I can handle it." Claire stated, her voice continuing to go up several octaves.

"Can't you use, like, some sort of magnet thing to get it out?" He asked.

"I have special healing magic that can, but the anti-healing magic inside her will just repel it. Going in there and pulling it out is the best way." Porlyusica explained, reaching over for her supplies.

"I don't want him to use soul possession on me." Claire stated, looking at her with wide eyes.

"It's the best way to deal with this. It'll keep you from moving, lessen the pain, and this'll go by faster."

"I don't want him to use soul possession on me." She repeated, becoming panicked.

"Relax, we've done this before, remember Tenrou Island? You said it's not that bad when I use soul possession on you." Bickslow told her, and when she looked over at him, found herself staring into his glowing green eyes. Just as she'd read and tried out with the other seith mage, she fluctuated her magic as quickly and violently as she could muster, breaking free of the spell.

In her panic she tried to get up and escape, but his hand came crashing down on her non-injury side of her upper chest, slamming her body back down on the bed. Meanwhile the other arm protected himself against her flailing legs. "Let go of me!"

"I would if you would calm down." He said, and used his babies to help hold her down. One of her hands tried to claw at him, but he changed hands so that one held down her wrist while the other held down her shoulder.

"I thought you could use soul possession on her?" Porlyusica asked, watching the struggle.

"I did, but apparently-"

"Let go of me!" Claire screamed again, still struggling frantically beneath him. It broke his heart to see her that way, and even though he had her pinned, she still squirmed and fought against him, flexing her muscles. He glanced at her wound, seeing that it had bled out considerably in the struggle.

"If not for her dragon abilities, she likely would have bled to death by now. We don't have time for this." Porlyusica told him.

Bickslow looked back to Claire's face, noting that she was looking at the ceiling and away from him, a low growl reverberating through her skin. Recalling the reason she was struggling, he leaned in closer to her, and got his mouth close to her ear. Pressing the sides of their faces together, he wouldn't be able to use soul possess from that angle if he wanted to.

"I won't use soul possession on you if you don't want me to. Please calm down, Checkers." He whispered, and placed a small kiss just below her ear. "Please calm down. I won't use soul possession on you." He repeated, and started to feel her body stop struggling, although she was still tense. "I just want you to feel better."

She jerked against him, but he didn't budge.

"You've lost a lot of blood, and we can't spend time struggling like this, or else you'll die. Do you understand?"

"I don't want you to use soul possession on me."

"I won't. I can stay like this the entire time if it'll make you feel better. I can hold you down the old fashioned way while the doc does her thing. Do you want me to do that?"

"... yes." She croaked, and he placed a small kiss on her ear.

"Can I start, then?" Porlyusica asked, and Claire nodded.

5.

"You guys better hope Claire doesn't fight today." Bickslow commented, looking over to the Guild Master. The old man looked at him confused, unsure what he meant. Their team had just been announced to have passed the preliminaries, and their entire guild had just finished cheering them on.

"And why is that?"

"Because she'll kill whoever she fights." He said simply, recalling the hellish night. Both him and Porlyusica had insisted that she stay in the infirmary and recover that morning, but the woman was stubborn as ever, insisting that she had to compete. Not only for her brother (the Guild Master was making her compete by offering his name in exchange for her cooperation), but the fact that her crazy sister was competing, and she wanted to destroy her. "You wouldn't believe the hell she went through last night after the preliminaries."

"What do you mean?"

"When she and Gray were attacked, they were hit by the same weapon, but she accidentally melted a huge chunk of the iron into her wound. Since it also had anti-healing magic qualities, Porlyusica had to dig it out manually with no anesthetic. So now Claire's out for blood."

"Jeez, that girl got injured again?" Macao asked from nearby, having overheard.

"... whose blood, specifically?" Makarov asked nervously. Being one of the 10 wizard saints, he doubted that she could kill him, but her flames were extremely lethal and unpredictable.

"Mostly her sister's, but I have a feeling anyone's will do at this point. Say, a Guild Master that blackmailed her into competing." Bickslow said, and he'd be lying if he wasn't amused by the nervous response from the old man. Turning to look back down at the field, he locked eyes with his bloodthirsty girlfriend on the field, who stood next to Laxus.

She was extremely pale with bags under her eyes, but she looked slightly better than earlier, so he guessed that she put make up on to look better. Her arm was in a sling, and it was obvious to any outside observer that she was injured. It undoubtedly looked bad for the guild, but given the chance to fight, Bickslow knew that she could morph into her fire form and kick some ass.

After the initial introductions of the teams and choosing their first fighters, all of the teams went to their observation rooms.

Claire readily took a seat on one of the chairs and propped her feet up on a chair in front of her, sighing as she closed her eyes.

"You look like a ghost." Gajeel commented.

"That's what happens would you lose almost half your blood. I can fight if I need to." She commented, and sighed again, melting into the uncomfortable chair.

"You better." Laxus told her.

"Don't be so harsh on her. If you're chosen to fight today, Claire, just do your best and you'll be fine. We'll love you all the same." Mirajane spoke sweetly.

"If you lose, you're off the Thunder Legion." Laxus said, and the white-haired mage punched his arm, glaring at him.

"What if I killed my opponent?"

"If you killed them, we'd probably be docked points." Gajeel told her, smirking.

"Damn." She muttered, and as the first round started, took a small nap.

"Claire, sweetie?" Mira spoke, gently touching her shoulder. Blinking her eyes open, she breathed awake, surprised at the blue eyes staring down at her.

"You're up. Get your ass moving." The lightning dragonslayer ordered from nearby, and she looked at him, trying to understand his words.

"... seriously? I'm fighting today?"

"Yes. You're fighting a girl named 'Flare', from Raven Tail." Mira explained.

"Flare? But Lucy was supposed to fight her." She said, and the mage shrugged.

"Guess not. You're the first fight of the game."

Claire pushed herself onto her feet, clenching her jaw at the pain that resulted.

"Good luck." Gajeel said nearby, nodding to her.

"Thanks." She waved, and left the room, following the signs that would lead her to the field. It was a fast trip to the battle ground, and she yawned just before leaving the hallway, pushing back the light feeling in her head. Too distracted by her injuries and opponent, she was able to avoid stressing about the thousands of eyes on her at that moment.

In the middle of the field was Flare, the red head that tilted her head creepily to the side way too often. She smiled eerily at her.

Keeping a deadpan face, Claire made it to the middle of the field to join her, keeping a few yards distance from her.

"You're looking a little pale, checker lady." Flare spoke, still smiling at her.

"Nice hair. It'll look nicer once it's on fire." Claire chuckled darkly, watching the smile disappear from the woman's face.

"Are you two ready to fight?" The pumpkin man asked, approaching them.

"Yep." Claire said, and the red head nodded as well.

"It'll be another few minutes until we can officially start. The announcers will make introductions, and then when I give the go, you can start fighting." He told them, and they nodded. He made his way back to the sidelines, and meanwhile the women stood around waiting to be told they could fight.

"Claire of Fairy Tail vs. Flare of Raven Tail! I wonder if the judges chose them for how their names sounded together?" One of the announcers asked.

"I haven't heard much about either fighters, but I'm sure it'll be a good fight." Another said.

"Claire has been dubbed 'the Dragon' by many, because of her extremely powerful fire dragon magic. Her brother is a member of Quatro Cerberus, another competing wizard guild."

"Dragon magic? Is that like dragonslayer magic?"

"I don't know the actual difference, but a human using dragon magic is unheard of, so I don't know the origins of it."

"She looks pretty injured. I'm surprised that her guild is letting her fight. This could prove to be a major disadvantage to the Fairy Tail mage."

"She's also part of the elite 'Thunder Legion', which is Laxus Dreyar's personal team of powerful mages, and 7 years ago were a force to be reckoned with. The Thunder Legion…"

On the battlefield, Claire sighed, shoving her free hand in her pocket and looking bored. Her gaze moved around the crowd, and upon landing on the Fairy Tail section, smiled at the sight of her boyfriend.

"What are you smiling at?" Flare asked, interrupting her 'moment'. Turning back to the red head she narrowed her eyes.

"None of your business."

"Boyfriend?"

"It looks like the fight is about to begin!" The announcer stated, to which Claire's gaze moved back to the pumpkin man, and saw him giving the signal for them to start. Turning back to Flare, she wasn't surprised by the hair already flying towards her for an attack.

Without moving, Claire's fire erupted from the uninjured shoulder, burning the woman's hair and trailing towards her scalp. The red head screamed out in horror and pain as her hair burned, and fire quickly covered her entire body. Stepping backwards she flailed, trying to get the painful flames off of her.

She fell to her knees and the flames disappeared, leaving her staring at her blistering arms, tears beginning to trickle from her wide eyes. Her body shook and trembled, pieces of burned hair covering the ground around her.

"If you get medical attention fast enough, those burns won't be permanent." Claire spoke. "I suggest you forfeit."

"How could… I-I…" She stuttered, hunched over and crying.

Claire glanced back at the pumpkin man, wondering if he would announce her the winner and let her get medical attention, or if he'd wait until she asked for it. She was tempted to walk over and knock her out by kicking her in the head, but figured it would be overkill.

"... the winner is Claire, of Fairy Tail!"

The battle had ended so quickly that the audience didn't know how to respond at first, but after a delayed shock effect, they started cheering for her. As Claire walked off the field, a medical team walked on to take care of the burn victim, who was still crying and stuttering.

Once the fire woman made it back to her seat, she looked at Laxus.

"I won without killing her. Am I still in the Thunder Legion?" She asked the man.

"It was a little more gruesome than it had to be, but you did okay."

"Gruesome? I went easy on her."

"You torched her entire body. That was fucking awesome." Gajeel laughed from nearby.

Back in the stands, Makarov stood gaping at the emptying field, disbelieving of what he just saw. Claire beat the young woman without taking a single step, reducing the girl to tears within seconds. His intel on Flare had indicated that she was a strong opponent, too.

"Told ya. And she went easy on her." Bickslow said, smiling at his Guild Master.

6.

Day 2 was the Chariot race, and Claire had talked her way into participating in it. After further teasing about being injured, not to mention the looks her sister had been giving her, she wanted to prove herself. She wanted to win.

She wanted Kelsey to die.

All of her siblings were competing in this round, at least the ones she knew about, and she knew it was going to be a difficult fight. Bacchus, Claire, and Kelsey were all participating.

"What the hell was your deal attacking our sister before the games even started? That's cold, even for you." Bacchus told his sister, wincing at the creepy cackle that erupted from the woman. She didn't say anything in response, and instead walked away to wait somewhere else for the game to begin.

Claire stretched her legs, preparing for the race. When she happened to glance up, she saw her sister staring at her with wide eyes, licking her lips. "Was she this crazy when you first met her here?" She asked, looking up at her brother.

"I think she's being crazy to you, not me. Maybe she knows it bugs you when she does that." He asked, watching the flames dance agitatedly across her body. "If you don't react so much, maybe she'll stop doing it."

"Did you know that Kale is alive?" Claire asked suddenly, and stood up, looking into his confused expression. "The Guild Master said that he knows who he is, and if I compete in the games, he'll tell me who he is."

"Seriously?" He gasped, grinning. "That's great. I'll be able to see my little brother again?"

"Assuming the Guild Master does like he says, yeah. We'll see our baby brother again."

"I'm going to WIN THIS!" Natsu announced at the top of his lungs, getting everyone's attention.

After the rules of the game were explained, the competitors took their positions.

"On your mark… get set… GO!" The pumpkin man yelled, starting the race. Natsu and Sting were immediately stalled only seconds after the take off, becoming slowed by their inevitable motion sickness. Everyone else sprinted at full speed, Bacchus and Claire sharing the lead.

Both siblings jumped when a chain nearly knocked them over, turning to see that their sister had been the one to swing it. Ichiya was caught by the chain and tumbled, while everyone else managed to get out of the way in time.

A variety of magic started being used, but ultimately most of the dangerous attacks were between Kelsey and Claire, both of their magic powerful enough that the others struggled to dodge and keep up. Despite her injury Claire avoided all of her sister's attacks and even managed to land her own, while maintaining her status of one of the top three runners.

Upon getting her fire to hit Kelsey's legs, she effectively burned her bad enough to make her stumble and fall, rolling off of the 'chariot'.

Just after her small victory, the ground beneath her launched her in the air, and she saw her brother running ahead, laughing hysterically. Midair she used her fire magic to launch herself forward, running after him. Unfortunately she wasn't able to catch up with him before the finish line, only managing second place.

7.

She didn't go back to her team after the race, nor to the bar to celebrate with her guild. The infirmary was probably where she should have been, since her wound had opened during the race, but she didn't go there, either.

Instead she found herself in some random cafe, which wasn't really a cafe, but it was close enough. She sipped on her tea and doodled on a piece of paper she'd gotten her hands on, not wanting to face her friends yet. Once it got dark outside she left and wandered to a random rooftop, where she lay down on the shingles to star gaze for the evening.

Warren contacted her at one point to see where she was, but she simply told him she was fine and wanted to be alone. Laxus made a comment about her being childish for running off, and her boyfriend congratulated her on getting second place.

Hours passed as she lay there, thinking about her life and what had become of it.

"What a pleasant surprise. Mind if I join you?" A strange voice asked, and Claire looked up, surprised at the visitor. None other than Jura, one of the ten wizard saints was standing there, smiling down at her.

"Sure." She replied, and as he sat down next to her and lay down, she returned her gaze to the stars above. "So, do you frequently stargaze on rooftops?"

"On occasion. I felt rather crowded, so I thought I would get some space up here. Being one of the ten wizard saints has its disadvantages at times." He said, and she nodded. "I was impressed with your battle yesterday. You did a good job."

"Thanks." She replied, unsure what else to say on the matter. The rock mage had yet to fight in the games yet, so she couldn't exactly say the same about him.

"Do you frequent rooftops to stargaze?" He asked, returning the earlier question to her. Considering that he was up there to escape the crowds, she was surprised that he was so talkative.

"Not on rooftops, no. I was feeling a bit crowded, too."

"I'm surprised that you're not celebrating with your guild after your victory today. It was an exciting battle to watch."

"After hearing the 50th person tell me that I did good 'despite my injury', I got tired of being around people. If I go back to the guild Laxus is going to complain that I didn't get first place, my boyfriend is going to cling to me and tell me I did great, and the rest are going to remind me every two seconds that I get injured all the time."

"How often do you get injured?" He asked curiously. "I know the once, but any of us could have been targeted. That was dumb luck more than anything."

"Tell that to my team. Since I joined Fairy Tail about 9 months ago, I've received… let's see… Tenrou Island… that one mission… Death Forest… Blood Guild… and then the other day, totalling to about 5 semi-major injuries, two of which were near lethal."

"Were most of those from S-Ranked jobs?"

"Yeah."

"I got injured frequently when I first started those missions as well. Most people do. Don't be too harsh on yourself."

"It would be easier if people stopped giving me shit for it. I'm honestly thinking about quitting Fairy Tail because of it."

"I'm sure they're just worried about you."

"Maybe." She sighed, continuing to stare up at the stars. The smell of food stands on the street drifted up to them, and she realized that she hadn't eaten for most of the day. Pushing away the thought, she stayed where she was, contemplating a variety of things.

"How long have you been using magic?" He asked curiously.

"About 8 months."

"Less than a year? Your Guild Master let's you do S-Ranked missions with that little experience?" The mage asked, glancing over at the smiling woman.

"It helped that Bacchus took me on those jobs without telling him how long I'd been using magic. I have so much raw magic that people assume I'm much more powerful and experienced than I am. He didn't tell his Guild Master, Goldmine, either, so when they found out after the harpoon incident they stripped him of his S-Rank title. Goldmine has probably given it back by now, but he was pretty pissed at the time." She explained, and the older man laughed loudly at the story.

"I never would have guessed."

"How long have you been using magic?"

"Since I was a child. My parents were both wizards and taught it to me at a young age."

"What's it like being one of the 10 wizard saints?"

"Tiring, mostly." He chuckled. "People constantly recognizing me, challenging me to fights, all the interviews…."

"Do you like it?"

"There are aspects that I enjoy, yes. There is a great amount of respect involved."

8.

Walking into the observation room, she walked over to the table of snacks to grab a small plate of food, and then made her way back to her usual seat. She didn't miss the glare from Laxus as she walked in, but she tried to her best to ignore it, snacking away at her food.

"Good job on the race yesterday." Gajeel complimented, and she looked up at him, smiling and nodding, since she had a danish in her mouth.

"Thanks."

"Gray would have done awesome if he wasn't injured." Juvia muttered nearby, barely loud enough for the dragonslayers to hear.

"First loser." Laxus commented by the railing, his arms crossed in their usual fashion and his 'I don't care' attitude.

"If there's a competition for who can be the biggest asshole, I'm sure you'd get first place." Claire told the blond, and smiled mid bite at the seething glare she received. Her feet were propped up on the chair in front of her, as per usual, and her plate was sitting between her stomach and legs.

"At least I would get first place." He smirked after a moment.

"Guys, don't fight. We're supposed to be a team." Mirajane requested sweetly from the sidelines, but Gajeel shushed her, snacking away at his iron nails.

"Last I checked, I've gotten more points than anyone on the team. 18 to your… oh wait, you've got 0." She said, and held up a donut ring to represent his zero, and then bit into it.

"And if you hadn't been stupid enough to get injured, you would have gotten 20."

"Big talk from someone with 0 points."

"It's still early in the games. It's only the third day, and it hasn't even started yet."

"Sounds like an excuse to me, blondie. What, are you waiting for the word of the day to be 'tickle'?" She asked, watching the stray electricity lines erratically appear along his skin. "I can see you're just itching to get into a

fight."

"I'm itching for you to shut your mouth."

"Ooh, clever. The Great 'God of Lightning' wants me to shut up, because he can't think of a better comeback."

"I want you to shut up because they're just about to announce the first round." He countered, and she looked over to the middle of the field, where the pumpkin man was taking his place to announce the event.

"Saved by the pumpkin. You're a regular Cinderella." Claire told him, to which the blond rolled his eyes and stared at the middle of the stadium. She was actually surprised that she won that round of banter with him, considering how sore and self-conscious she still was over the previous days. She half expected herself to destroy the room upon her arrival, given how emotionally raw she felt. Somehow, venting and defending herself helped her feel slightly better, and 'winning' made her feel a little more stable.

When Laxus announced that he was going to represent the group for the round, she couldn't help but smirk. She'd actually rattled him. 'Pandemonium' was a round that she remembered very well, and if went according to memory, he wouldn't even get the opportunity to get first place. That is, assuming it went according to the original storyline.

"Do you two talk that way to each other a lot?" Mira asked curiously, taking a seat next to the checker woman as Laxus made his way to the pumpkin man. There were quite a few major players on the field, consisting of two S-Class mages and one of the ten wizard saints. The crowd was excited for the battle when they saw who was competing, and they cheered and hollered for them with as much enthusiasm as they could muster.

"Yeah, we talk shit to each other a lot. His lightning doesn't hurt me, so he can't really intimidate me into keeping my mouth shut. I'm surprised I pushed his buttons enough to compete this round, though."

"He

a Fairy Tail wizard, and you called him out on his hypocrisy. It doesn't surprise me in the least that he decided to compete this round." She said, and giggled. "Why didn't you come back here after you competed yesterday, if you don't mind me asking? We were worried about you."

"Yeah, you missed out on a some pretty awesome fights." The iron dragonslayer added from nearby.

"When I saw Porlyusica this morning, she seemed pretty upset at you." Juvia spoke up.

"When is that woman not upset?" Claire muttered, looking at the group of wizards forming in the middle of the coliseum. "I just needed some alone time. I told Warren that I was fine, and he should have communicated it to everyone else."

"

you fine?" Mira asked, looking at her young friend sympathetically.

"Yes. Let's just watch the stupid games."

9.

Claire grinned at the blond.

He glared, returning to his original spot in the room.

"First loser." She told him, snickering at the hardened stare she received, and absolutely giddy. "I had an injury to explain why I lost the 2 points. What's your excuse?"

"That it wasn't possible for me to win, since Erza went first. I got first place for the strength portion."

"Sooo… you were the first loser." She repeated, and he merely grunted, looking away with his arms crossed. "Laxus got second plaaaace~" She teased, giving him a big toothy grin. "Leader of the Thunder Legion got second place to

. How does that make you feel?"

"Claire, it's rude to make fun of someone like that." Mira chastised from nearby.

"Pfft, he did the exact same thing to me this morning."

"Even better reason for you to be the better person and support him. Didn't it make you feel bad when he did it to you?"

"Well, duh. That's the reason I'm giving him shit right now."

"You know I can still kick you off of the Thunder Legion." Laxus reminded her.

"Why? Am I hurting your feelings by calling you out on your earlier bullshit?" She asked, again snickering at his glare. "Is Laxus a sensitive teddy bear?"

"Ssssh, they're announcing the first fight." The iron dragonslayer hushed, listening to the competing wizards being announced.

The people competing went just how it did in the show, and Claire found herself relativey bored with the first two rounds. The third round would be Laxus's fight, to which she knew he would end up fighting all of Raven Tail. The idea of having her 'leader' fight her sister was a little scary for her, but she was also interested to see how he would fair against her.

10.

"Stop it." Laxus ordered, looking away from the 'I told you' stare of the younger woman.

But she didn't.

Grinning, she sat on her knees on the bed next to his, watching him squirm and flinch as the healer took the object out of his shoulder.

Laxus Dreyar had won the fight against the entire Raven Tail team, but unlike in the anime, he didn't win unscathed. Her sister's signature iron object had been lodged into his shoulder, and the pink-haired woman was in the process of trying to get it out.

"We should work on your dodging abilities." She giggled, still staring at him.

"You should work on your ability to show up to get your bandages replaced." Porlyusica glared at her, and Claire squirmed in her seat, not expecting the response from the older woman.

"But I'm not the patient. Laxus got injured instead of me. For once. Now you guys can't give me crap for getting hurt all the time." She said, and stuck her tongue out at Laxus.

"This is my first time seeing Porlyusica in years. How many times have you seen her just in the past few months?" He countered, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Twice. But I'm not the hot shot S-Class wizard."

"Have you seen Bickslow today?" Gray asked from his bed, looking over at the checker woman. She turned to look at the bandaged ice man, having forgotten that he was there.

"No, I haven't gotten the chance to talk to him. Why?"

"He fell asleep here waiting for you last night." He told her, and her face fell.

"He did?"

"That's pretty col-d-ow!" Laxus tried to comment, but jumped at the sudden pain and glared at the healer.

"Why was he waiting here for me?" Claire asked the dark-haired man, her heart sinking at the idea of leaving her boyfriend waiting all night. Conflicting emotions pulled at her, but the strongest was guilt for potentially hurting Bickslow's feelings, especially after he had stayed with her the night she was injured.

"Why do you think? You were supposed to come straight here after the games, but instead you ran off somewhere. He came back here hoping you'd show up after you had cooled off."

"Knock, knock," Speaking of whom, the man walked into the room, announcing his presense. Fried was close behind, and the green-haired mage started crying when he saw Laxus, running over the injured man. As Bickslow entered the room, he first noticed Elfman and Evergreen sleeping in the corner together, and he smirked before making his way over to Claire and Laxus.

"You waited for me last night?" Claire asked the seith mage, and absently reached up to hold one of his babies in her arms when they flew around her, happy at her presence.

"Yeah." He shrugged, and turned to the blond, who was wincing and pushing Fried away. Not entirely unlike Claire, he got more vocal about his pain as the healer pulled at the object in his shoulder, and the green-haired mage wasn't helping. Like Claire he also tried to mask his obvious pain with little success. "Ha, ha, Laxus got injured." Bickslow teased, since it was only fair. He did it to everyone he saw regardless of the circumstances. Just because the dragonslayer was his leader, didn't mean he would hold back.

"Would you idiots shut up." The man seethed, looking between Bickslow and Fried. The seith mage let his tongue hang out at he stared at him, while the rune mage continued crying about how he was 'so brave and amazing'.

"Just be glad Erza isn't trying to pull that out. Remember that, Claire?" Bickslow asked, turning to the young woman. He blinked in surprise to find that she wasn't there, and looked around the room, finding that she had disappeared. Pappa was gone as well, and he could easily track him down with his magic, so he didn't pay much mind to the disappearing act and went back to focusing on his leader.

After another half hour of being unhelpful to the mage, and then further teasing to Evergreen when she woke up at Elfman's side embarassed and awkward, he decided to go look for his strange girlfriend.

Ever since their first time talking on the communications lacrima, he'd suspected that she was going to snap sooner or later. Despite his efforts to make her take it easy and not stress too much, she still did, and continued acting less and less like herself. Finding out that the Guild Master knew about her brother for some time added to her stress, not to mention being forced to compete in a competition she didn't want to be part of, and it was just a matter of time before she broke down. He wasn't sure what the Guild Master was planning, but if he was testing how far he could push her past her limits, he'd succeeded.

Claire had gotten pretty for from the infirmary, and Bickslow found that Pappa was inside a storage room. Knocking on it quietly before entering, he peered inside, finding the fire woman sitting against the wall.

The room was fairly large, and only a 5th of it was filled with supplies. Chairs, tables, and decorations were against the far wall, and otherwise it was empty space. It could probably be converted into a conference room.

"Thanks for taking Pappa with you this time." Bickslow commented, and closed the door behind him after his babies levitated into the room. He found that Sky was sitting next to her, and his little totem was hovering in front of her, looking over at his seith mage.

"Took you long enough." Pappa told him, and he chuckled.

"I had to make sure Laxus was okay, and teasing Ever about Elfman was too good to pass up." He explained, making his way over to the woman and sitting down in front of her.

"I'm sorry for making you wait last night."

"You're the one that needs to replace her bandages, missy." He told her, sticking his tongue out. Her bandages had bled through, and it was obvious to any observer that they needed replacing. "It must have been pretty nice to see Laxus get beat up by your sister, though. I'm surprised you didn't join in the teasing."

"I already did before you got there." She said with a small smile, still hugging her knees close to her chest.

"So when did you learn how to counter my soul possession spell?" He asked, watching her shift slightly. "If I had really tried I could have recast it and kept you still, but it caught me off guard when you did it. It scared me when you freaked like that."

"After Tenrou Island, I did a little research on your magic. I also did research on Evergreen's petrification magic."

"But what's the point in me using soul possession for medical purposes if it doesn't work? Why didn't you talk to me about it, so that I'd be ready in a situation like that? You were bleeding out so much that you could have died."

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her gaze stayed focused on a piece of the floor, and after a moment of not being able to speak, hugged her knees closer to her chest and hid half of her face behind them.

"I'm not your enemy, Claire. I just want to help you, and I don't know how to do that when you don't tell me what's going on."

Claire's chest surged in pain, and she didn't know if it was from her injuries or her emotional pain at the moment. She kept repeating in her mind what she wanted to say, to just blurt it out, but it never made it past her lips. Her throat kept clenching shut whenever she tried to speak, and the images from the illusion kept flashing in her mind.

It wasn't the first time that she had closed up like this to him, and it bugged him that this was her response to stressful situations. At least this time he had an inkling as to what was bothering her. Last time it was about her family, and this time it likely had something to do with them, too.

Her body was shaking now, and he could tell that she was internally struggling with whatever was going on. Unlike last time this happened, she didn't simply shut down with that empty expression on her face. Now her face was full of conflicting emotions, and he could tell that whatever was eating her up inside was doing a good job of it.

He sat there patiently for a while, wondering if she was going to say anything, when she abruptly unraveled herself and jumped into his arms. Burying her face into his chest, he immediately reciprocated the hug, softly hushing the sob like sounds coming out of her shaking body.

11.

"Good job. Your wound is infected." Porlyusica glared.

"So she can't go to the water park?" Bickslow asked the old woman, who merely turned her cold stare to him in response. His shoulders slumped, having been looking forward to the event.

"Natsu and Gray are going to destroy the entire water park. I may have left out that small detail when I was relaying the information from my visions to the Guild Master." Claire told him, to which he cheered up slightly. "You can go without me, sweetie. I'll be fine here if you want to join in the chaos and destruction."

"No, I'll stay. Gotta make sure you don't run off again." He said, and let tongue hang out, watching his girlfriend flinch as the pink-haired woman did her job. "When was the last time you ate, by the way?"

"I had some donuts this morning."

"What about last night?"

"Uh…"

"Stupid child." Porlyusica grumbled, and was particularly rough on a certain part of her shoulder, causing the girl to cry out in pain. Given the time aspect of the injury, the old woman had let Claire keep her shirt on while dissecting the wound, much to her gratefulness. The trio didn't bother pulling the curtain around them as a result, allowing whoever happened into the room an eyeful of blood.

"Did you eat anything yesterday?" Bickslow asked.

"I had some tea and a sandwich for lunch." She replied, and whined particularly loudly at the not-so-gentle handling of her healer.

"What do you want for dinner tonight? I vote teriyaki." He said animately, jumping on a nearby bed and bouncing on the mattress.

"Sounds good."

"Hey, why'd you let the other people go, by the way?" Bickslow asked the healer, realizing that they were the only ones in the infirmary. It had been full of people just a couple hours ago, with Elfman, Gray, and Laxus all injured. He thought he saw Lucy bandaged up to, but hadn't interacted with her at the time.

"Because they did what they were told and got bandaged up like they were supposed to. So long as they avoid strenuous activities, they'll be fine." She explained.

"But why not Claire?"

"Because her wound is infected, coupling with the pieces of iron we couldn't get out the other night, and the fact she keeps disregarding my orders to rest. It's a wonder she's not dead."

"Well I am a wonder to behold." Claire said with a cheeky grin, and flinched at the harsh movements of the woman.

"Don't be snarky."

"Ha, ha, Claire got called out on being 'snarky'." Bickslow teased nearby.

"You two are the absolute worst." Porlyusica grumbled, recalling the checker woman's earlier teasing of Laxus. They were remarkably alike in how they treated their injured friends.

"Snarky, snarky." Bickslow's babies echoed as they got closer to glare, but then flew away scared when Porlyusica glared at them. She hated his 'babies'.

Peppe flew into Bickslow's arms, while the others hid behind him.

"Are your souls usually so… scared, when you first start training with them?" Claire asked, looking at the little soul in his arms. That soul in particular she'd seen hide in his arms a few times now, and although it happened on occasion to the other souls, it seemed to happen rather frequently with that one.

"Not really. Peppe's just special." Bickslow replied, chuckling as the little soul slipped under his poncho, humming scared against his chest. "He also hasn't gotten used to you, so he's a little extra nervous. Laxus was a jerk during our first training session, which didn't help. I'm thinking about having Sky and Peppe go back and forth with the vessel, since Sky seems a bit more up for the task, and it would allow Peppe to have a little more time to get used to everyone without the pressure of having a body."

"If Sky is ready to be one of your babies, why not just give his own vessel? Is there a reason you only have five?" She asked, and he chuckled.

"Do you have any idea how impressive 5 bound souls at the same time is? Most seith mages just have 2 or 3."

"So... it's a magic thing?" She asked, and he grunted.

"Magic, and the fact that they are separate entities, and it requires a lot of concentration to maintain and train them for battle scenarios. Not to mention day to day stuff, when I have to keep track of them and keep them from wandering off."

"So five is your limit forever, or are you eventually planning to expand to more?"

"Again, do you have any idea how impressive and awesome your boyfriend is for having

bound souls at a time? I'm fucking awesome at what I do. I'm not part of the Thunder Legion for nothing."

"Not to pop your bubble sweetie, but I've only met two seiths mages. You and the psycho one that bound 20 at the same time." She told him, making another whiny sound when the pink-haired woman tugged on her wound. All considering Claire had distracted herself pretty well with her conversation with the man, and although she felt the pain, he was a good distraction.

"5 is a good number." Bickslow said, and stuck his tongue out at his girlfriend. His babies peered over his shoulders, eyeing the healer carefully.

"I'm not saying it's not, I think it's a great number. You're a great seith mage and I never doubted your abilities."

"But you have no one to compare me to, so you don't know how awesome I am." He pouted, and Porlyusica glared at him, causing him to jump at the sudden hostility and his babies to hide again.

"Weren't you going to get food?" She asked.

"Well, yeah, but it's still early. I was going to head out at 5, which is 20 minutes from now. Oh hey, Guild Masters. 'Sup?" Bickslow asked, noticing the short man entering the infirmary. Behind him was the First Guild Master, whom the seith mage had interacted with well before the Grand Magic Games.

"Hello, Bickslow. Claire, Porlyusica." He said, nodding to them and jumping on a nearby bed, sitting down and looking at them. The other Guild Master floated over to Claire, looking interested in the injury that Porlyusica was still dealing with.

"H-hi." Claire stuttered, smiling awkwardly at the floating woman and flinching when her muscles around the wound tensed. She'd only

a dead woman once before, so it was strange to say the least to both sense her soul and be able to see her.

"You're Claire, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Mavis. It's nice to meet you in person. Makarov has told me a lot about you." She said kindly.

"What brings you guys to this nick of the woods? I thought you guys were going to the water park with everyone else?" Bickslow asked, looking back and forth between the Guild Masters. Mavis was getting particularly close to Claire's face, getting only a could inches from her face and studying her curiously.

"We are, but we wanted to stop by here first. Have you guys heard about the change in teams?" Makarov asked, and Bickslow shook his head. "Since Raven Tail is no longer competing, they want both Fairy Tail teams to combine into one, so that it makes it easier for the judges to arrange the games."

"Who's going to be on the new team?" Claire asked.

"If you can see the future, why don't you tell us?" Mavis asked, her green eyes peering into Claire's blue ones.

"... sometimes I'm not always right. Last I checked it would be Laxus, Erza, Natsu, Gray… Gajeel?" Claire asked, and the spirit tilted her head to the head.

"You can't actually see the future, can you?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"I've been around for a long time, and I've met a lot of people that can see the future. From what Makarov tells me, I suspect that you're being untruthful."

"I, uh… well, I'm not lying when I say that I've the future. The how is just complicated. Was I right about the team?"

"In your original prediction to Makarov, you didn't account for your sister." She commented, and Claire barely refrained from saying 'no shit' to the 80 year old ghost.

"Look, are you going to make me continue fighting or not?" Claire asked, looking over at the 3rd Guild Master.

"No. You will not be fighting." He answered, and she smiled.

"How did you know about the future?" The dead Guild Master asked, her face moving so that it stayed in front of Claire's staring her down.

"Does it really matter? My knowledge of the future isn't very precise after the games anyway."

"I'm sorry, Claire." Makarov spoke, and at his tone in voice, the fire woman shifted her body to look at him, her eyes widening at the palace guards behind him.

"What's going on?" She asked, and Bickslow stood from his spot, his babies getting into formation behind him. Mavis moved over to Makarov, a sad look on her face.

"Can whatever is happening wait until after I've finished sewing up this wound?" Porlyusica asked, eyeing the sudden newcomers.

"No. We have healers that can take care of her." The lead guard stated, stepping forward.

"Her wound has anti-healing magic. I have to take care of her now."

"At least tell me what's going on." Claire told them. "Hey!" They grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet, turning her to slap handcuffs on her hands. It was soon apparent that they canceled out her magic.

"Claire, just tell them everything you told me, and they'll let you go." Makarov instructed her, looking her dead in the eye.

1.

"My healer tried to tell you that there's anti-magic whatever in there." Claire glared at the guard sitting across from her, who watching the healing mage attempt to bandage up her wound. "It's infected and my healer was trying to patch me up when you so rudely interrupted."

"Just slap a bandage on it and go." The guard instructed the medic, and he nodded, quickly putting a bandage on both sides of her wound and then wrapping it up. Once it was 'good enough' he left the room with his eyes to the ground, likely instructed to so so around prisoners.

"How do you know about the device?" The man asked, and she relaxed in her chair, briefly wincing at the wound.

"Ya know, it's not a big secret. If you had just asked me for a cup of tea, calmly asked me how I know what I know, I would have told you. In fact, I will tell you everything if you bring me a cup of warm tea."

"I'm the one in charge, here."

"And you're doing a shit job of it. You're intimidating me to talk, but that's only going to make me shut up. Be a little nicer and I'll be very talkative." Claire said with a sweet smile.

2.

Claire made a small whining sound for the umpteenth time that day.

Finding that at least her magic worked down here, she lit her wound on fire, along with the poorly done bandages from the stupid medic. No, not stupid because he was just doing his job, the stupid guard was stupid. And his tea was terrible.

Standing up, she looked around the strange place she'd been sent to. She vaguely recalled it from her time watching the show, but didn't remember much of it. All she knew was that Lucy and her team were supposed to be down there. Not her. And they fought the crazy knight executioner people, who were trained in lethal magic, and the Fairy Tail mages barely escaped with their lives.

Before being put down here, she'd heard one of the guards whispering in the back about her being put into the 'Abyss Palace', which was a giant maze under the palace, and that the 'Garou Knights' would take her out. According to the guard she had talked to, he had deemed her a 'threat to the state' and had to be put down.

"Hey Sky, would you be willing to do a huge favor for me?" Claire asked, looking at the soul by her side. Upon being arrested, the little soul had stayed loyally by her side, and she couldn't help but be glad by it. She also wondered if had the soul not been there in the first place, if he would have sent another one of his souls with her.

She felt the cold hand of the soul touch her arm, indicating for her to continue.

"I need you to get back to Bickslow and tell him what happened. I'm going to wait here as long as I can, a few hours, before trying to find a way out. After talking to Bickslow come back here and let me know if he wants me to stay and wait or continue and find my way out. The 'Garou Knights' are going to try and kill me, so you'll need to hurry. Can you do that for me?" She asked. "Tap my arm twice if you understand."

Two taps met her arm, and she smiled.

"Thank you Sky. Good luck."

Before leaving, Sky gave her a small hug, and then disappeared from her 'sensing' range.

Looking around her, another whine left her throat, along with a loud gurgling sound from her stomach. She wasn't sure how long she'd been held for questioning, but she guessed that it had been a day at least. She wished they had waited to arrest her for another hour or so, so she could have eaten the delicious teriyaki that Bickslow was going to get. All they had given her was the tea that she had asked for, and as stated earlier, it tasted terrible and was luke warm.

Her stomach gurgled again, and she turned and looked around her for anything she could burn and consequently eat. The walls were covered in green, and there were a few little plants here and there, but the resulting flames weren't enough to satiate her. Her magic had been drained considerably, and if she was forced into a fight, wouldn't last very long.

Sighing, she explored the immediate area a little, and determined that there was an air current. When Sky got back she would follow it, hopefully to an escape.

There were some skeletons nearby which proved useful to burn and eat the flames, and she was glad that she was alone. If anyone had seen her do that, it would have majorly grossed them out.

Eventually getting bored, she took a seat by the entrance, waiting for Sky to return.

3.

"They're going to kill her! What the hell, Makarov!?" Bickslow yelled at the old man, seriously peeved.

"And they took Lucy!" Natsu yelled, growling loudly next to the equally pissed off seith mage.

"Both of you calm down. We're going to get all of this straightened out. I swear Bickslow, they only said they wanted to question her, and they promised me her safety." Makarov spoke, locking his eyes with the mage's visor. "Let's just figure out a plan to get them out. Claire is on a time table, yes?"

"Yeah. Sky said that she would wait a few hours until she heard back from us, but if she doesn't hear anything, she's going to find a way out on her own. Considering that they're sending the Garou Knights after her, I don't want her fighting them unless necessary." The seith mage explained, trying to hold back his growing anger for the short man.

"Is she with Lucy?" Natsu asked, and Bickslow shook his head.

"What a mess." Makarov sighed.

"How quickly can Sky get to and from Claire?" Mavis asked.

The seith mage looked over at the unbound soul. "It's pretty deep underground. He doesn't know exactly how long, but he guesses around a half hour. Wandering souls aren't the best at keeping track of time so I'd take it with a grain of salt."

"If we do a rescue plan, we'll need to get both Claire and Lucy out at the same time. The most ideal time to do this would be during the games, when their guard would be down." Mavis explained.

"But Claire doesn't have that much time. She doesn't have food or water, not to mention her injury and asthma, so she can't just wait around for two days." He told her, and she nodded.

"Well let's get them out!" Natsu yelled, fired up. "Standing around doing nothing won't solve anything!"

"Neither will getting arrested, Natsu." Happy told him. "We have to come up with a plan before running in there, or else we could get Lucy killed."

"Aaaaah, this sucks!" The fire man yelled, pulling at his hair.

"Sky, go back to Claire and tell her to stay put while we form a team. Once we figure out anything else, I'll send one of my other souls to contact you guys." Bickslow instructed.

"Wait, can Claire use seith magic? Can she speak to Sky?" Mavis asked, and upon her questioning the small soul paused.

"She can sense them when they're nearby, but that's it. She's pretty limited to yes or no questions."

"So even if we had useful information for her, we'd be unable to tell her?"

Both Bickslow and Mavis looked over to Sky, and the seith mage burst out laughing. "That's true."

"What the hell are you talking to?!" Natsu asked, looking over at the empty space that both Mavis and the tall man were facing.

"He's a wandering soul, and our way to communicate with Claire."

"Can he communicate with Lucy, too?!" Happy asked excitedly.

"No, unless Lucy can see dead people." He replied with a grin, and the pink-haired mage gave him a blank expression. Turning back to the Guild Master, he continued talking. "Claire has been doing research on my magic, so it's possible that she can try to bind Sky's soul to something and communicate through it. It's a pretty big if, though, and if she does it wrong it could hurt Sky pretty bad. Are you sure you want to try, Sky?" He asked, turning back to the soul. "Alright, then get going, and we're going to come up with a plan. Keep her safe."

"Who are you talking to!?" Natsu yelled again, yelling out in frustration.

"A wandering soul, you idiot!"

"What the hell is a 'wandering soul'!?"

4.

As the fire woman waited patiently, the sound of a scream met her ears, soon followed by a familiar blond tumbling to the ground in front of her. Claire instantly recognized the woman, and looked behind her for any other wizards, frowning when she realized that she was the only one to appear.

She was wearing a blue and white shirt with a black skirt, and as she jumped to her feet, straightened out her outfit.

"Sup, cosplayer?" Claire asked, and at the sound of her voice, Lucy jumped and turned to her. The fire woman grinned, happy to see a familiar face. "You're not by chance here to rescue me, are you?"

"'Rescue'!? What are you even doing here!?" She asked loudly, turning and looking around at the barren and charred cave.

"I'm here because I tried to stop a cataclysmic event from happening, and they accused me of being a terrorist. You're here because… well, I don't know. Something about your celestial magic, probably."

"Where are we?!"

"Underneath the palace." Claire explained, leaning against a large boulder tiredly. "And I'd appreciate if you kept your voice down. I'm trying to keep an ear out for the executioners that are going to try and kill us."

"'Executioners'!?" She screamed. At her loud tone again, Claire raised an eyebrow at her, silent. "Sorry. Executioners?" Lucy asked quieter, and walked over to the sitting woman, eyeing her fire shoulder as she took a seat near her.

"Long story short, shit is about to go down, and for some unknown reason, people want us dead because they know we'll stop it. Or there's a plethora of misinformation going around, so they don't know what to believe, so they're just… killing us for shits and giggles."

"You're really bad at explaining things." Lucy told her, and Claire grunted.

"Whatever. I'm waiting to hear back from Bickslow's wandering soul before doing anything. Sky left about an hour ago, I think."

"W-wandering s-s-soul?" Lucy stuttered, and Claire chuckled at her terrified expression.

"They're probably a lot cuter when you're not fighting them." The fire woman commented, recalling that Lucy had fought her boyfriend a few times now. "I've spent so much time around Bickslow and his babies that I can sense souls in the immediate area. When they dumped me here I asked Sky, a wandering soul that likes to follow me around, to go tell Bickslow what happened. They're probably devising a plan rightnow."

"How can you like that guy? He's so creepy." The blond shuddered, and again, Claire chuckled. She suddenly understood why Happy and Natsu picked on her so much. Her reactions are adorable.

"He's a lot cuter without the visor."

"He's more terrifying that way. He tried to steal my soul."

"Don't tell anyone, but he only says that to freak out his opponents. He can control souls, but he can't actively steal them from a living body." She told him, but despite being told that, she still seemed unconvinced. "Do you have your spirits with you?"

"No, they took my keys." Lucy whined, looking around her again.

"So if we run into trouble, you're going o be useless?"

"Hey, I'm not useless!"

"Do you know how to fight without your spirits?"

"I have my…" She started to say, reaching for her side, but then frowned. "... never mind."

"I'm guessing you usually rely on your friends for fighting in battles?"

"I do some fighting to! I just.. most of my usefulness is in intellect, not battle."

"Well, that's something, at least." Claire sighed. "If we run into trouble, I'll do most of the fighting. Hopefully I can take them out like Flare from the other day."

"What's with the fire?" Lucy asked suddenly.

"I got a pretty bad injury the other day. Switching to my fire form puts it in stasis, so that I don't bleed out."

"Do you want me to have a look at it? I'm not the best medic, but I do know a little from hanging around Wendy so much."

"Thanks, but what I really need is for Porlyusica to stitch it back up. According to her I've lost so much blood I should be dead, and they arrested me in the middle of my check up with her. I shouldn't have been participating in the Games at all."

"So why did you?"

"Because the Guild Master sucks." She growled, but then smiled. "Hey Sky, glad you're back. Tap my arm twice if they want me to stay put."

"Th-th-the s-soul?" Lucy asked, her eyes wide and staring at the empty space that Claire was looking at.

"Yeah. Apparently Bickslow wants us to stay here for the time being. I should probably send Sky back to let them know you're here, now…." She trailed off, senseing that Sky was doing something weird, and seemed agitated and frustrated. "What's wrong? Is there something else you needed to tell me?"

"So can you actually hear him?" Lucy asked.

"No, I can only sense him. 'Yes' and 'no' questions are the best we can do." Claire explained, and frowned, looking at the soul moving around. "Uh… are you hurt? Are you acting this way because something is affecting you? Three taps for 'no'."

"Can't it, like, possess a doll and talk or something?" Lucy asked, and at that, Claire felt two taps on her arm, along with the calming down of the soul.

"Bickslow can because he's a seith mage, but I'm not a seith mage…" The fire woman said, but at the hug and sudden calmness of the soul, she wondered if Sky wanted her to try. "Do you want me to try and bind your soul to something, Sky?"

Two taps.

"I've never tried it before, and it seemed really complicated in the book I read…" Claire spoke, unsure of herself.

"So you need to bind him to something so that he can communicate?" Lucy asked.

"I guess so. I've never tried it before, and it could hurt the soul if I try, but it seemed like Sky is up for it… we need to find something hollow to use as a vessel for him to possess." She told the blond, who nodded with a determined expression. "It needs to sealed tight, so that the soul can store its energy inside."

"We can do this!" Lucy cheered, jumping to her feet.

"You are quite the cheerleader." Claire teased, causing the blond to turn and yell at her for the comment, her face turning red. "Sky, why don't you return to Bickslow and tell him that Claire is here, and in the mean time we'll try and find a vessel for you to use."

Two taps, and the soul was gone.

"Something hollow…" Lucy whispered, walking around and looking around the area. "Are you going to help look?" She asked, turning back to her friend. "You don't look so good."

"I need to conserve my energy, especially if I'm going to try and bind Sky and potentially fight our way out."

"Don't worry, I'll find a good vessel. Leave it to me." She said with a cute smile, and went back to searching.

5.

An hour later, Lucy had found a makeshift 'vessel' for Sky, and the little soul had returned from reporting to Bickslow. Claire could only imagine how pissed off Natsu and Bickslow were at that moment.

Lucy had found a few oddly shaped rocks, all of which were hollow, and a little bigger than a baseball. Taking a deep breath, she picked up Sky's favorite one, holding it in the palm of her hands. Recalling the magic style involved when she read about it, and how she was supposed to push her magic into the object while the soul was inside, she took another deep breath.

Her fire encompassed the rock, and she made sure the flames stayed at a low temperature, and she could feel her magic bonding with the small soul. As she poured her magic into it, very slowly, and circulating inside, she felt the familiar hum resonate from it.

"This is heavy." Sky spoke, and both of the girls grinned.

"Awesome! It worked!" Lucy cheered happily.

"So what do you need to tell us?" Claire asked, feeling rather proud for accomplishing the bind. "And did I hurt you too much?"

"It hurt a little at first, but I'm fine. This vessel is heavy. The Guild Master is in the process of trying to get you both out of here legally, and raising a storm about it. They're preparing a rescue team as we speak, but there's a lot of guards in the area. Daddy's babies are checking the perimeter for the best way to get you guys out."

"How are Natsu and the others?" Lucy asked.

"They're mad." Sky said simply, and both of the women chuckled. "Daddy is worried about you. Poppo will be checking in on us when they have new updates, and to check up on you. Daddy doesn't want you fighting the Garou Knights."

"By the sound of it, we may not have a choice. Did the others say anything about their fighting style? How strong they are?" Claire asked.

"They're really strong and trained in execution style magic. Don't fight unless you have to."

"I'm starting to lose energy fast, and I'm getting tired of waiting around. We need to get moving and find our own way out." Claire said, briefly closing her eyes.

"Does it take a lot of magic to keep him like that?" Lucy asked.

"Not particularly. I haven't eaten since I got here, and before that I hadn't had a full meal in a while, not to mention the blood loss. Magically I'm fine, physically not so much."

"What if I scout ahead to try and find a way out?" Sky asked.

"But you could get lost."

"No, now that you've binded me, I'll be able to find my way back. Even when I'm not actively bound, I can always find Daddy by a faint magic leash. We're always connected. Just like I am with you!"

"So you could find a way out for us?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah! Just unbind me and I'll go searching. I won't let mommy down!"

"Alright, I'm counting on you." Claire chuckled with a smile, and relinquished the spell keeping him bound. The soul quickly floated away, and the fire woman looked up, realizing that the blond was smiling at her. Every time they spoke, a small echo resulted in the empty and dank cave.

"I'm guessing 'Daddy' is Bickslow?" Lucy asked, chuckling at the faint blush that spread along Claire's cheeks. "And you're right. They are cute when they're not trying to kill me."

"They're a lot like your spirits, actually, just more childlike. They're Bickslow's family."

"So you and Bickslow are pretty serious, huh?" The blond asked, and moved from her seat to sit in front of the checker woman.

"Is this really the best time to talk about my boyfriend?"

"Well, what else should we talk about? We're waiting for Sky to find a way out, waiting for our friends to rescue us, and waiting for the executioners to kill us. Why not talk about your boyfriend while we're waiting?"

"I suppose you have a good point. I thought you said Bickslow was creepy, though? You really want to know about him?"

"Well, he matters a lot to you. He can't be all bad." She said with a shrug.

"Bickslow is a great guy. He doesn't deserve the bad rap he has at Fairy Tail."

"In our defense, he does threaten to steal our souls and helped Laxus try to overthrow the Guild Master. Not to mention he uses dead people to fight for him."

"You use spirits too, yours just aren't from this world." Claire pointed out. "But yeah, his threatening to seal people's souls doesn't help. I think he's started to stop doing that as often, though."

"He's been a lot nicer since the 'Battle of Fairy Tail'." Lucy commented. "Weird and kind of perverted, but definitely a lot friendlier."

Claire sensed Sky return, much quicker than she'd anticipated, and instantly bound him back to the rock still in her hands.

"I found the way out!" Sky exclaimed, causing Lucy to scream at the sudden sound. "Only problem is that there's a bunch of people heading this way, and they look scary!"

"The Knight people!?" Lucy screamed, at which Claire pushed herself back to her feet.

"How far are they?" Claire asked.

"About a quarter of a mile. The exit is about 3 miles from here." He explained, and Lucy groaned.

"3 miles?" The blond whined.

"Lucy, are you a fast runner?" Claire asked, turning to look at her.

"I, uh, kinda?"

"I'll carry you, then. I'm pretty sure I have enough stamina to make it that far." Claire stated, and caused the flames on her shoulder to disappear. Before the celestial mage had arrived and she was waiting for Sky to return, she'd created a makeshift bandage of her own with her shirt and cloth belt. It was hardly a permanent solution, but it would help a little for the time being.

"Poppo is here!" Sky is announced, and Claire sensed the soul approach her.

"Poppo?!" Lucy asked, confused.

"Poppo, tell Bickslow that we have to fight our way out. Sky has found the exit, and when we get there, we'll need help. Sky, can you fly with this vessel, or is it too heavy?"

"Too heavy."

"Alright, Lucy will have to hold you while we're running, and you can give us directions. Lucy, get on my back." Claire instructed, kneeling down.

"I- wait, hold on, slow down for a minute. You're injured!"

"A quarter of a mile isn't that far, and I can sense them approaching. We don't have time to argue, just think of me as Natsu. I promise to keep you safe." The fire woman stated, looking the blond in the eye. After a second, Lucy temporarily stunned at the fierceness in her gaze, then nodded and jumped on her back. "Hold thi-"

"OW!" Lucy screamed when she tried to hold the rock, accidentally dropping it and causing it to break in half on the ground. Both of the girls stared at the broken object for a moment, disbelieving that their only way out had just shattered in the blink of an eye. An awkward pause enveloped the pair, before panic gripped at Lucy's pounding chest. "AAAAH I'M SO SORRY!"

"Don't yell in my ear!" Claire told her, extending her knees and grabbing the woman's thighs to hold her body against her back. She was tempted to make a comment about her weight, but though better of it. The blond's arms instinctively wrapped around the woman, and judging by her hold, Claire guessed that she really was carried by Natsu frequently. "Sky, hopefully you can keep up with me when I run. When I need to turn, tap on the arm corresponding with which way I need to go. Right for right, left for left. Got it?"

Two taps.

"I'm so sorry I didn't know it was hot I'm so sorry." Lucy cried, still staring down at the broken rock.

"No use in crying over spilled rock." Claire joked, and took a few steps forward, gaining speed and momentum, breaking out into a run. "And try not to scream in my ear again."

"Yes ma'am." Lucy said deflatedly. Claire's eyes locked with some figures up ahead, readying her fire magic in her belly.

"Excited to be executed?" One of them spoke, a woman clad in a pink dress spoke in front of the group. As Lucy gripped Claire's shoulder tighter, she fought back the brief dizziness that overcame her.

Giant plant vines hurled towards them, and the fire woman dodged them with ease, launching her own fire at them and sucking up the flames as she ran towards the source. She immediately launched her fire at the group, who chuckled as the fire didn't hurt them, merely burned at their clothes a little.

But the flash of fire was enough to distract them into letting her run past them, jumping over them skillfully and doing a flip, launching another fire attack at them.

Although the fire didn't do immediate damage, Claire caused the fire to increase in intensity and get to their skin, burning their flesh.

"What the hell is this!?" One of them screamed, and as the fire woman kept running, kept her magic eating at their flesh. Only one of them wasn't hit, because he was wearing too much metal armor, and he was arguably the strongest of the group.

Claire leaped into the air as the scythe swiped at her feet, turning and effectively dodging a myriad of blows aimed at killing her. "Lucy, I'm going to set you down to fight this guy. When I do that, run and hide until I get you." She explained, and jumped particularly far from the executioner, skidding to a halt. One of her knees buckled to the ground painfully, and the blond did as she said, running to safety.

"What odd magic. I've never seen fire magic like yours." The masked man stated, and started doing a weird thing with his scythes. Two hands on his weapons came together. "A criminal like you will be punished for your sins." He stated, and Claire glanced down, seeing a few hands appear on her body.

"What the hell are these?"

"Your sins."

"Pfft, whatever. I'm only here because I tried to save lives. If I have to do a few 'sins' to save the lives of this city, then I'll gladly do so." She said, letting her body turn to flames.

"You will be punished for your crimes."

"But we didn't do anything!" Lucy screamed from the sidelines. "This is all a misunderstanding!"

"If you are here, that means you are guilty." The scythe wielder stated, preparing himself against the fire woman running towards him. He tried to swipe his blade at her, but at the contact, it melted and splattered on the wall. She punched him as hard as she could, sending him flying back, while simultaneously enveloping him in flames. Like the others she didn't make it lethal, but made it do enough damage to cause them immense pain and be temporarily immobilized.

"How did you do that!?" Lucy screamed, staring at the fire woman with wide eyes. Returning to her human form, Claire walked over to her, taking a deep breath as she stumbled. "Are you okay?!" She asked, running forward and catching her before she fell to the ground. "Claire?!"

Her blue eyes opened, and she shook her head awake, pushing herself back to her feet.

"You had me worried for a second." The blond said.

"We need to keep moving." Claire retorted.

"You're not looking so good. Maybe we should rest for-"

"I tried to avoid killing them, since we're trying to show them that we're the good guys. There's no telling when they'll recover and come after us." Claire interrupted, but grabbed Lucy's shoulder to steady herself. She started walking, pushing the blond along with her.

A scream erupted in the cave, and they felt the walls shaking around them.

"Get on my back again, we need to run."

"You can barely stand."

"I'll be fine, it was just a small weak spell. Let's get moving."

6.

"WHERE IS LUCY!?" Natsu screamed, roaring as he punched and hit everyone and anything in sight. Close behind was the Thunder Legion, who let the rampaging dragonslayer do most of the damage for them.

"Claire and Lucy are fighting right now!" Poppo announced to the group.

"How long have they been fighting?" Bickslow asked, suddenly felt the ground rumble beneath them.

"Claire's in bad shape. She was super pale when I left."

"WHERE IS LUCY!?" Natsu roared again, and Bickslow ran forward, joining the fight.

7.

Claire cursed as she ran, running as fast as her feet could carry her. She could sense their enemies catching up to them, and judging by the screaming and shaking of the caves, guessed they were pretty pissed.

"Behind us!" Lucy warned, and just in time. Claire jumped, narrowly missing the plant vine that had hurled towards her.

"Thanks." The checker woman replied, then jumping on the wall, turning, and sending a pillar of fire at the assailing plants. She let her fire magic run rampant on the plants as they made their escape. Her feet stumbled and fumbled to a stop, however, when she came to a dead end. "Sky, what the hell?!"

"Are we supposed to break through the wall?!" Lucy asked with wide eyes, then looking behind her at the firey path behind them.

"He says yes." Claire told her reluctantly, and ran forward, punching at the rock with her hottest flames. It gave way relatively easily, to which the fire woman was glad. As the wall fell she ran forward into the darkness, hoping that Sky was leading her true.

A tap on her arm indicated to the right, so she turned in that direction and continued running.

8.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

A large man, standing over 6 feet tall, demanded as he strode forward past his unconscious men. He glared at the group of wizards, adorned in fancy armor and looked to be high in status.

"You kidnapped our friends and ordered their execution without a fair trial!" Bickslow informed him, his babies glowing menacingly around him.

"The fire woman has been sentenced to death because she is a danger to the state."

"What about Lucy!?" Natsu yelled, baring his teeth at the man.

"Lucy is in our prison cell. You were told that she would be returned to her after the games, and-"

"She's with Claire in your 'Abyss Palace', fighting for their lives!" Bickslow corrected, stepping forward. The knight paused, seeming confused by the informtion.

"Where did you hear that?"

"I've been using my wandering souls to communicate with Claire. Both Claire and Lucy are in the maze right now." He informed him.

"That's not possible."

"Give us Lucy, damn it!" Natsu yelled, losing his patience, if he had any in the first place.

9.

"We made it! We actually made it!" Lucy said happily, hopping off of the woman's back when she relinquished her grip. They both walked over to the door, relieved at finding the exit, and Lucy pushed he heavy door open.

Their hearts fell, eyes wide, at the dozens of guards waiting for them on the other side.

"No way." Lucy murmured, looked back over at Claire when she heard a sound. "Claire!" The blond reached her arm around her waist and pulled the woman's arm around her shoulder, trying to pull her back to her feet. "Wake up! We're not out yet!"

"You both are wanted for treason against the state, and ordered to death." One of the men announced stepping forward as he drew his sword.

"This is just a huge misunderstanding!" Lucy screamed. "NATSU!"

The sound stirred Claire from her unconscious state, and her eyes blinked open just in time. She instinctively reached out and grabbed the sword aimed for Lucy's chest, stopping it just an in chest from her skin. The metal melted in her hand, dripping to the ground as the guard gasped in surprise and pulled back.

"LUCY!" The familiar voice screamed, and both women smiled, falling back as the wall across from them exploded.

As the dust cleared and the guards groaned from the impact, two figures emerged, along with several glowing eyes. "Natsu! Thank goodness!"

"Lucy!" Happy exclaimed, swooping into the room and flying over to her. As the two male mages entered the room, the guards gaped at their intimidating presence.

"It's about time." Claire grumbled, and sat up, flinching at the wounds.

"You look like crap." Happy told her, to which she stuck her tongue out at the cat, and looked over to her boyfriend approaching her. Unlike usual, he was wearing his older striped fighting uniform, which made him look much more menacing than his newer fighting outfits. Skulls on his shoulder pads, no purple pony tail, and neon green arm warmers contrasting against the red and purple cloth.

His babies worked with Natsu to take care of the guards, and close behind was the knight and the rest of the Thunder Legion. Their location was quickly becoming the meeting place for multiple high ranking people, as more guards and officials arrived.

Bickslow unabashedly leaned down and kissed his girlfriend on the lips, tasting the blood and ash on her breath. When he pulled back he looked at her, hand on the side of her face as he inspected her for injuries.

"Ooooh~" Happy squealed from nearby, and Lucy blushed, having been sitting next to the fire woman.

"I could have handled these guys." Claire said with a smirk, referring to the people that Natsu and his babies were actively beating up. They didn't stand a chance. The rest of the Thunder Legion was trying to reign in the dragonslayer and talk to the people in charge, trying to clear everything up and get the situation sorted out.

"Uh-huh." He replied, said sarcastically. "I'll bet you couldn't stand if you wanted to." He said, and watched her eyes close, leaning tiredly against his hand.

"She needs medical attention." Lucy told him, and he nodded, not looking at her.

"Did she take any damage down there?" He asked.

"I don't think so, but she carried me all the way here. I told her not too since she was injured, but she wouldn't listen and insisted. She managed to take down all of the Garou Knights." The blond explained hurriedly, and the seith mage listened closely, drowning out the surrounding sounds.

"How far did she carry you?"

"I don't know the exact distance, but Sky said it was about 3 miles." She explained, and Bickslow smirked.

"What did you guys use as a vessel?" He asked curiously.

"A hollow rock. He couldn't fly like your babies, but he could talk to us… until I accidentally broke it…"

"A hollow rock? I've never tried that before…" He muttered, and noticed that his girlfriend's face was unusually cold for her.

10.

When Claire awoke, she flinched at the pain from breathing.

"You're awake." A feminine voice spoke, and Claire realized that she felt soft fingertips gently brushing against her scalp. The back of her head was warm, and when her eyes opened, was met with white and blue. Upon looking past the white and blue mounds, she saw the brown eyes of her friend and her kind smile. "You've been out for a while now."

"She's awake?" A more masculine voice asked from across the hall, and Lucy nodded. Claire turned her head, looking around the room, and found that they were in a cell together. On the bunk above them she saw a familiar brunette look down at her, smiling.

"You had us worried, idiot." Ever snapped, glaring at the woman.

"What happened?" Claire asked her.

"After you passed out, there was a lot of arguing, and until they can get everything sorted out they put us all in jail cells." The brunette stated sourly. "Fried and I talked them into letting Porlyusica fix up your wound."

"How kind of them." The fire woman said, and tried to move, but found just breathing to be immensely painful.

"You need to rest. Besides, we're not going anywhere for a while." Lucy said, continuing to pet her hair.

"You should have seen Bickslow and Natsu. 'Lucy!', 'Claire!', 'Lucy!', 'Claire!'. It gave me a headache." Evergreen mimicked.

"If it had been Elfman, you would have done the exact same thing." Bickslow said from across the hall, and Claire tried to shift so that she could see him, but gave up at the resulting pain. Unlike the previous days when it stayed relatively secluded to the puncture wound, her entire body ached, and she was painfully aware of the fractured ribs from her fight with her sister. She'd been pretty good at ignoring it until now, but her running and fighting in the maze likely worsened it.

"Claire!" Natsu yelled, jumping to his feet and grabbing the cell bars, looking over at the checker woman.

"Yeah, Natsu?"

"Thanks for taking care of Lucy."

"You're welcome. Can't have our favorite cheerleader get hurt, can we?" She asked with a smile, looking back up at the blushing blond. "Ow!" The blond lightly tapped her wound.

"I'm not a cheerleader." Lucy huffed.

"Then why were you wearing the cheerleader outfit when we first met?" Bickslow asked, letting his tongue hang out. She looked over, blushing madly at the memory of fighting him.

"It was for the beauty competition!" She stammered.

"Uh-huh." Bickslow snickered.

Claire's stomach growled loudly, filling the mostly silent room.

"Anyone have food? I haven't eaten in days." The fire woman asked.

"They haven't fed you since you've been here?" Bickslow asked.

"They gave me some tea, and I burned a few plants in the Abyss Palace, but otherwise no." She explained.

"How are you even alive right now?" Laxus asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Who the hell knows. Do they do pizza delivery here?"

"If I had my keys, I would have one of my spirits get us food, but they still have them." Lucy told her, and the fire woman pouted. The blond's stomach growled as well.

"I'm hungry, too!" Natsu whined from his spot. "Gaaah, we're spending our free day waiting in here, when we should be training for the last day of the games!"

"I think we have more important things to worry about than training." Fried informed him. "At this rate, we may be convicted of treason."

"Sorry I roped you guys into this." Claire spoke up.

"Hey, it's not your fault. Besides, we get into trouble all the time." Lucy comforted.

"Honestly, I think everything will work out." Evergreen spoke, no longer peering over the side but laying on her back again. "Once we got the right people involved. They were pretty pissed about Lucy being down there with you."

"Why me?" Lucy blinked.

"Because you and Yukino can open the gate." Happy answered her.

"Has anyone run into future Lucy yet?" Claire asked, but she was only met with a blank stare.

"Huh?" Lucy asked.

"Nevermind."

"Did you hit your head back there, Checkers?" Bickslow asked.

"In my visions, a Lucy from the future comes back to warn us of impending danger. But I've fucked up the timeline so much that everything happened too early, in the wrong order, and every time I think about it I get a headache."

"Don't stress about it too much." Bickslow told her.

"Remember that one time when Makarov said he had everything under control, and then I was stabbed, arrested for treason, and sentenced to death? Cuz I do, and I'm still sore about that. Literally and figuratively."

"You can't blame everything on the old man. It's not his fault you can't dodge for shit." Laxus told her.

"You're one to talk!" She yelled, flinching at her tensed muscles. The dragonslayer chuckled. "And I dodged plenty in the maze! With a cheerleader on my back, no- OW, would you stop doing that?"

"I will when you stop calling me a cheerleader." She said back, and they both glared at each other.

"I sense a cat fight in the making~" Bickslow teased from his cell. "Naked mud wrestling? Anyone know any mud magic to get this started?"

"I- sh-shut up!" Lucy stammered, her face red.

"Or maybe you have some cat costumes hiding somewhere, cosplayer?" He asked, and with the extra waggle of his tongue, the blush on her face intensified.

"How are you dating that guy? Like seriously?" Lucy looked down, surprised at the amused look on the checker woman's face. She was looking away, smiling fondly at the wall and chuckling softly. "How do you think that's funny?!"

"Because it's utterly ridiculous." Claire replied.

"Hey, a man can dream." Bickslow said defensively.

"Bickslow and Claire are in loooove~" Happy said nearby.

"Yeah." He shrugged, and Natsu and Happy blinked at him in surprise.

"Really?" Natsu asked, more at Happy being right (for once) with his annoyingly repetitive 'they're in looooove'.

"I was _right_? And you acknowledge me being right!?" Happy asked excitedly, his eyes sparkling as he looked up at the seith mage.

"I'm in love with my girlfriend. What's wrong with that?" He countered, and the blue cat squirmed happily in his spot.

"Who else have I been right about?" The cat said darkly, looking over at Lucy.

"OI, just because you were right about them, doesn't mean you're right every time you randomly say two people are in love!" She yelled, but the look in his eye stayed, and she suspected that the boost in the stupid cat's confidence would stay there.

"Will you guys shut up? You're giving me a headache." Laxus ordered, glaring at them.

"Who is Lucy in love with?" Bickslow asked the little cat, ignoring his leader.

"Natsu." Happy snickered.

"No I'm not!" The celestial mage replied, her face still red.

"Natsu and Lucy sitting in a tree~" Bickslow teased.

"I'm hungryyyyyy." Natsu groaned, lying on one of the two bunk beds in the cell.

"Natsu, go get us food." Claire told him, to which he groaned and fell off his bunk.

"If I knew a way to get food, I would!" He snapped, to which the checker woman snickered quietly to herself.

"Lucy is also in love with Loke." Happy told the seith mage.

"Ooh, a love triangle?" Bickslow asked, intrigued. "Those two did seem awful chummy when I fought them back in the day. Who do you think will win Lucy's heart?"

"I'm right here, you know!" Lucy yelled at them.

"My money is on Loke. Natsu's an idiot."

"Who are you calling an idiot!?" Natsu yelled, entering the conversation.

"No one." Happy replied cheekily, sweating under the intense stare of his friend, whose face was so close that their noses almost touched.

"That's what I thought."

"How long have you and Lucy been dating now?" Bickslow asked the mage, to which the fire mage looked up at him, staring at him blankly. Then he burst into laughter, falling on his back and kicking his legs in the air.

"Da-Da-dating Lucy. That's hilarious!"

"And why exactly is that hilarious!? What's wrong with the idea of dating me!?" The blond huffed, glaring at the men in the cell together. Laxus was wearing a similar expression, although he was closer to murdering all of his comrades if they didn't shut up.

"Yeah, Lucy's pretty hot. Why don't you date her?" Bickslow asked.

"Oooh, you think Lucy's pretty? Are you in loooove with her too?" Happy asked.

"Of course not. Just because I'm taken doesn't mean I don't have eyes. Just look at that rack."

"OI! NOT APPROPRIATE!" Lucy yelled, shifting in her seat with the fire mage still on her.

"I agree with Lucy, Bixy. It's not nice to talk about other women's boobs, no matter how nice they are. And Lucy, you're being a terrible pillow." She said, which the blond apologized, grabbing a pillow nearby and carefully replacing her legs with it.

"I apologize for complimenting your breasts, Lucy. It won't happen again." Bickslow said, his tongue no longer hanging from his mouth. She was a bit startled by his suddenly appropriate behavior, as he was now sitting upright with a straight face, and she paused before responding.

"I… thank you for the apology."

"Her boobs are pretty massive." Natsu commented, riling up the blond again.

"Shut up!"

"And she does lose her clothes a lot." Happy added.

"Not on purpose!"

"I know right? She's practically naked by the end of each mission." Natsu commented, ignoring the pissed off celestial mage.

"You guys are such jerks!" She yelled, and finally the lightning dragonslayer snapped, electrocuting the obnoxious mages in the two cells. Fried, Evergreen, and Claire were left unscathed, while the others twitched on the ground, small smoke trails floating from their bodies.

However, electrocuting them wasn't a long term solution. It wasn't long before they were talking and picking at each other again in their boredom, so Laxus resigned to laying down on one of the two top bunks, taking a nap.

"Claaaaaaire, talk to meeee. I'm bored." Bickslow whined, looking over at his girlfriend.

"It hurts to breathe, nonetheless talk."

"How did it feel to use seith magic?" He asked nonetheless. He didn't want to verbalize his concerns and worry her, but the idea of her falling asleep and never waking up again terrified him. Porlyusica did say that she was supposed to be dead, and he didn't want to tempt fate.

"It was cool, until Lucy dropped the ball."

"I'm sorryyyyyy." Lucy apologized for the billionth time.

"Sky said it hurt a lot to be bound, so we'll have to work on making it less painful for him." Bickslow explained from his spot. He was currently sitting against the wall of his cell, arm resting against the cell bars, and gaze on his injured girlfriend. Natsu and Happy were currently on the ground, groaning about how hungry they were, and Lucy was silently sitting next to Claire on her bunk, just glad that her teammates were leaving her alone.

"I hurt him that much? He said it didn't hurt too bad."

"He lied." He said simply, and heard his girlfriend make a small whining sound, likely feeling guilty. "He's not going to hold a grudge. It was an emergency situation and he knew the risks when he volunteered."

"I still feel bad about it."

"Well don't. Besides, it would be stupid not to take advantage of the fact you can use seith magic now. It'll be super helpful on future jobs."

"But what if I hurt him again?" She asked. "I don't like hurting your babies."

"I think Sky is more of your baby than mine, but don't worry about it so much. It took me a long time to get the hang of it, too."

"Why do you call your souls your 'babies'?" Lucy asked, looking over at Bickslow.

"Because why not?" He asked with a grin.

Evergreen chuckled from her spot above the two women. "They call Bickslow 'Daddy' and Claire 'Mommy'. They're practically parents."

"So you guys _are_ serious." Lucy commented, smiling down at the checker woman, who blushed in response.

"'We miss Claire', 'when is Claire time?', 'Mommy made Daddy upset', 'Mommy looks weird today'." Fried quoted from his bunk, unable to see the glare from his teammate.

"When did they say I look weird?" Claire asked, making a face.

"When you were covered in bandages." He replied, and she a small 'ah' sound.

"You two have kids together?" Natsu asked, confused.

"I- No! We're talking about my wandering souls!" Bickslow yelled at the pink-haired mage, who was currently laying down in front of him, looking at him upside down. The seith mage stared back, flustered at both the insinuation that he had kids with Claire and the general inept nature of Natsu.

"Then why are you talking about babies?"

"Because that's what I call my wandering souls."

"What are 'wandering souls'?" He asked, again. The seith mage quietly fumed, trying not to murder the boy. He'd already explained the concept several times now, and every time it came up, he got that blank look on his face like he had never heard of them before. Having no idea whether he was really that stupid or messing with him, he took a deep, calming breath.

"Natsu, he's already explained it five times now. How do you not remember?" Happy asked him.

"Eh? He did?"

"Yes, you blubbering idiot." Bickslow told him, glaring at the fire mage.

"When did you and Claire have babies? I don't remember seeing her pregnant." Natsu asked, grinning up at the frustrated man. He seemed genuinely happy at the news, oblivious to the older mage's anger. "Congrats! What are their names?"

"You stupid-"

"They have five babies." Fried interrupted, furthering the seith mage's anger. "Pappa, Peppe, Pippi, Puppu… what's the other one?"

"Poppo?" Evergreen asked.

"Those are weird names for kids." Natsu commented, scrunching up his nose. "'Puppu'?"

"They're not children! Claire and I don't have kids!"

"Your souls aren't your babies?" Fried asked, peering over at the annoyed man. It was pretty rare that Fried went out of his way to tease his friend, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. Bickslow was rarely annoyed by the typical teasing from fellow guild members, but when it came to his babies, he could get flustered pretty quickly.

"I- of course they are!"

"What's it like being a father?" Natsu asked.

"What's it like being a mommy?" Lucy asked over in her cell, looking down at the still blushing woman.

"What's it like losing your clothes on missions all the time?" Claire countered, sticking her tongue out at the woman.

11.

Eventually they were released, on the condition that they would fight with their guild to defend the city against the predicted 10,000 dragons.

Claire, of course, knew the real ending. Not wanting to spend more time in jail however, she went with her guildmates to fight off the horde of dragons, knowing that Lucy was going to be at the gate when it happened.

Upon the condition that she stay in her fire form, Claire was allowed to join the fight against the dragons. She had to keep her distance from her fellow wizards since she'd already burned several of them by accident.

"Are you pumped to be fighting

?!" Bickslow asked the woman, looking over at his firey girlfriend. This was the second time he had seen her flush in her fire form, so he couldn't help but stare on occasion, fascinated by it.

"Are you ready to get your ass kicked by dragons?" She countered, and his grin faltered. "People die tonight, and it's dumb luck that time goes back a minute and un-kills them."

"Uh…"

"... yes, I'm excited to be fighting dragons, but please don't get killed." Claire told him, to which he happily bounced on the balls of his feet.

"Dragons! Dragons!" His babies echoed.

"Keep your wit about you." Fried warned him.

"Yeah, if they're as strong as Claire says they are, we're in for one hell of a fight." Laxus added, glancing over at the fire woman.

"Yeah, yeah, death and destruction, yadda yadda.

" He said giddily, to which his comrades rolled their eyes.

"And don't get separated from the group." Claire reminded him.

"Dragons." He 'hee hee'd, completely ignoring them.

"It's no use. He's gone." Evergreen commented near him. "How many dragons are we going to be fighting, anyway?"

"In my original vision, it was 7. Since I've fucked up the timeline, it could be 10,000. Or it could be zero for all I know."

"So why don't you just have another vision?" Laxus asked.

"Cuz, uh… fresh out of them." She said awkwardly.

"Uh-huh."

The ground shook beneath them, and a thunderous roar filled the air.

"Guess 'zero' is out." Claire said, a little nervous by the excitement of her boyfriend. Just as in the anime, the entire Fairy Tail Guild stood together as a massive dragon approached them, its fire magic overwhelming beyond imaginable.

But then Claire grinned, running forward despite the yells and warnings of her friends, approaching the giant fire dragon. "Did Bickslow and Claire just switch bodies? What the hell is she doing!?" Evergreen screeched, watching the fireball run towards the bigger fireball.

"Mommy and Daddy switched bodies?" He babies asked in unison.

"Dude! I know you!" Claire yelled up to the dragon, stopping just in front of it. Unlike last time she encountered a dragon, she didn't feel scared or frightened by it, and instead felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity. Their fire reacted, and as they approached each other, their flames reached out to barely touch the opposing fire.

She was the dragon, and the dragon was her.

"How do you have my magic? Are you a wizard?" The fire creature asked, and lowered its head to look down at the fire woman, tilting its head curiously.

"I'm your human counterpart from another world! I was summoned to this world by mistake!"

"A human... counterpart?" He asked, and she nodded.

"Didn't see that coming." Laxus commented by their friends.

"Yeah! I'm the human version of you! When I came to this world, I somehow got your magic!" Claire said excitedly. "What's your name?!"

"My human counterpart… is a little girl?"

"Hey! That's 'woman' to you! Although it suddenly explains a lot that I'm a dude in another world…"

"I am Atlas Flame. How did you come to this world?"

"A water dragon accidentally summoned me and my family."

"If you wish to return to your world, I can send you back." He said, and she paused, not expecting that response.

"Time moves differently here. If I went back now, I would probably die."

"I can send you back to the moment you were transported here, along with your surviving family." He offered, and she stared up into the black mass amid the burning flames, considering his offer. After all the pain she'd been through, all the heartache, the thought of returning home was a comforting one.

But so was Bickslow; and her brother was happy here, and there was no way her sister could adjust going home. How could she live in a world without magic again, after all that had happened?

"Thank you, but I've made friends here, and my family and I wouldn't be able to live on my world knowing what happened here."

"I see. Are you with these… humans, here?"

"Yes."

"I have been ordered to kill them. If you choose to die by their side, that is your choice."

"Hey, hey, whoa, couldn't you like, not kill my friends? Since we're the same person it would be like killing your friends."

"I don't have human friends." He said, and she could sense that he was creating a massive building up of energy in his chest.

"Claire, get out of there! He's going to attack!" Bickslow yelled to her as Fried ran forward to create an enchantment, to try and protect their friends from the attack that was about to hit them.

The fire woman got out of the way, not because it would hurt her, but because it would accomplish nothing.

She is the dragon, and the dragon was her. They were both fire, and it would do nothing but destroy the clothes she had worked so hard to acquire.

Off to the side, she watched as the enchantment was destroyed, and fire reigned down on her friends

Running back to them, she yelled to see if everyone was alright, and there were resounding 'yes's in response.

"Weren't you the one telling me to be careful!?" Bickslow yelled at her, running over to her amid the smoke and yells.

"He can't hurt me. Our magic is the same." She retorted and although she stuck her tongue out at him, he couldn't see it. "Any attack I make won't do anything against him, it might even give him more energy."

"Is there anything you

do against him?"

"I can probably redirect his attacks if he fires at us again." She said, and he nodded, along with Laxus next to him.

Soon a dragon soared through the sky, eggs dropping in its wake, and the Fairy Tail guild found themselves surrounded by baby dragons. The Thunder Legion opted to fight Atlas while the others fought the little ones.

The Thunder Legion used some of their strongest magic in one go, minus their little fire mage. When the fire dragon merely laughed at their attempt, Claire got an idea.

"Claire, what do you- hey! Stop running off like that!" The seith mage yelled, watching the woman run off again, speeding towards the massive dragon of fire.

"She's not much of a team player." Laxus commented.

"Damn it, Claire!" He yelled, and was about to run after her, when he felt the hand of his leader on his shoulder, holding him back.

"She can't be hurt by his fire, remember? You can."

The fire woman was suddenly launched into the air by the annoyed dragon, what she did Bickslow had no idea, but his eyes widened when the dragon attacked her mid-air with its fire. "Claire!" He yelled, watching his girlfriend's fire blend with the dragon's.

Suddenly the fire swirled in the air, converging on one point, and then suddenly launching at something in the distance. Claire's fire became visible as she fell, falling to the rooftop that Fried was currently standing on. They all felt the roar and scream of a dragon in the distance, along with seeing a ginormous fire in the distance.

"What did you do?" Fried asked, looking over at the woman that landed nearest to him.

"I can't attack this dragon, but I can use his magic to attack other dragons." She explained. "I just killed the one that Gajeel was fighting."

"How dare you use my fire!" Atlas roared, and then felt an odd object land on his head. "What is this?!"

"I'm eating your fire!" Natsu announced, sucking up the flames.

12.

The Thunder Legion found itself facing off against the emerald dragon, and just before Claire was about to run forward and attack Laxus, her magic changed.

It froze.

Laxus launched its lightning powered punch at the dragon, only to have it laugh at his attempt.

"Ha ha ha, not bad for a dragonslayer... but I wonder what that little girl is behind you? A dragon, perhaps?" The green dragon spoke, chuckling at her.

Unable to make her fire body move, she shifted back to her human form, falling to one knee.

"My magic repels other dragons when I feel like it. What are you, exactly? Human, or dragon?"

Laxus looked back at her, disbelieving of the situation. She had enough power earlier to kill another dragon, and now when she could help him take this one down, she was on her knees?

"Guess I better get rid of my dragon magic, then." Claire said with a smirk, and pushed herself to her feet, eyeing the large dragon. "And you better hope none of my flames touch you, because they will eat you alive!"

Stepping forward, she ignored the sickly feeling of her magic churning within her. Walking turned into a run, gaining momentum in her speed towards the creature.

"Is that so?" The dragon chuckled, and Laxus used the distraction to launch another attack at it, effectively punching the dragon in the face and sending him flying backwards. The disruption in the giant creature's magic caused the anti-dragon magic to falter, allowing Claire to switch back to her fighting form, continuing in her sprint. She sent a pillar of fire at the dragon, and upon hitting her target, got the desired effect.

Unfortunately as her flames started to gnaw at his tender scales, she again lost control of her magic and switched back to her human form. "Damn it that's annoying." She muttered, breathing hard as she fell to her knee again.

"Didn't that just take him out?"

"No, it just pissed him off. Whatever spell he's using to repel my magic is crazy strong. I can't maintain my fire form and I used up most of magic just now."

"Fall back to the others. I'll take care of him."

"Good luck." She told him, and he simply nodded.

13.

"Ha, ha, you got injured." Claire teased, looking over at her injured boyfriend on the bed. His leg was in a cast, and he was frowning at the young woman sitting next to him. She was supposed to be on her bed, laying down and resting, but of course she couldn't stay over there when there was a perfectly embarrassed boyfriend ripe for the picking.

"Whatever. First time I've needed Porlyusica's help in… what, over five years? That's a pretty good run." He replied, a soft blush on his cheeks as he looked away from her sparkling eyes.

"You gooot iiinjuuuured~" She said in a sing song voice, grinning at him.

"You're going to be injured longer if you keep moving around. You're on the wrong bed, missy." Bickslow said, and lightly tapped her nose.

"You're cute." She said simply, and he stuck his tongue out at her. He was wearing a black wife beater shirt and no visor or hood, so she got to see the entirety of his face for once in public. For a moment she admired his dark green eyes, and the little tattoo swirls in the corners of them. "And you got iiiinjured~"

"You really wanted me to get hurt, Claire? Your own boyfriend?"

"Well I didn't want you to die, of course. But after all the relentless teasing at my expense, I'm definitely enjoying the payback."

"Oi, aren't you going to lecture her about staying on her own bed?" Bickslow asked Porlyusica, who had just walked by them without a second glance. She paused, her cold stare landing on him, and he instantly regretted trying to rope her into their spat. "Sorry, didn't mean to bother you."

"When has the girl ever listened to me? Secondly, as long as she not actively moving around, she's fine." She said curtly, and walked away.

They weren't the only people in the infirmary as a result of the attack, but they were the only awake ones aside from the healer.

"How are you not exhausted right now after all that fighting yesterday?" Bickslow asked, eyeing the girl that continued looking at him with a wide grin. "For that matter, the past week?"

"You're cute." She said simply, and reached up, lightly tapping his nose. "Boop."

"Seriously, though. You were on the verge of death when we found you at the palace, and now after some sleep and food, it's like you're ready for a fight again."

"Do you really want to know?" She asked, tilting her head to side and still smiling. Nodding slowly, the man eyed her curious expression. "Becaaause I'm Super Girl."

"'Super Girl'?" He repeated, a sweatdrop forming on his head.

"Yep. Bacchus is Batman, I'm Super Girl, and Kale is Kal-El, or 'Superman'." She explained.

"Is that so?" He chuckled. "Are you going to the big party tonight?"

"I wish you guys had cheap video cameras in this world. Natsu is going to be hilarious tonight."

"Is that a 'yes'?"

"I'm not going if you're not. You stayed behind when- well, you volunteered before I was arrested- you were going to stay behind when you thought all our friends were going to the water park."

"My injury isn't as bad as yours was. You should go."

"So? My boyfriend is injured and he needs company. I'll bribe someone into getting us food before they leave for the fancy smancy party, and we can have dinner together. Is that okay with you?"

"But you're going to miss out on a party with the King. At the royal palace. You should go."

"What's the point if I can't show up with my hot date? I'll be alone to fend off all the male suitors trying to dance with me. Not only that, but I don't have a dress, and I burn anything I wear."

"He can go to the party tonight." Porlyusica interrupted, having re-entered the area and overheard part of their conversation. "If he's okay with wearing crutches, at least."

"Woohoo!" Bickslow cheered happily. "I love you, Porlyusica!" He added, only to cringe at the glare he received.

"So… we're both going?" She asked apprehensively, and he nodded.

"We should get to the castle, then everyone that's going has already left to get fitted in their outfits and stuff. Let's go!"

14.

"Your bandages and broad shoulders make you look terrible in everything." Ever informed her, not for the first time.

"I know." Claire gritted, crossing her arms as she looked at herself in the mirror. It was incredibly difficult to keep her magic from singing the clothing, and Evergreen's constant voice wasn't helping.

"Why don't you try a suit?" Lucy suggested, and the pair looked over at her. "I'm sure we can find a feminine one, and it's actually a pretty progressive style for women to wear male styled suits. I'll go see if I can find one." The blond offered, leaving the room to go find one for her.

"How ironic would it be to show up wearing the same suit as my date?" Claire asked the brunette, jealous that she was able to pull off the beautiful red and gold gown she was sporting. Her hair was already done and she'd been ready since before the checker woman arrived. In fact, everyone was ready except for her, and the ball started in only a half hour.

"You have such a great figure. How do you look so bad in everything?"

"It's probably the hair. Not to mention my muscular arms." She sighed, tugging at a stray frilly part of her dress. Currently adorned in bright purple fabric, they dress itself looked beautiful, but her body just couldn't pull it off. As she started undressing to her undergarments, Lucy returned with three suits draped over her arm.

"And your broad shoulders." Ever added.

"Here, I found some that might work. We can make a few adjustments to make them fit you better." The blond said with a kind smile.

After trying on the suits, she found that she actually pulled off suits better than dresses. She eventually settled on a dark blue and black one with silver tassels and decorations. It hid her bandages, made her broad shoulders look slightly more slimming, and complimented her odd hairstyle much better than the others. Sure, she didn't really match her female companions, but she had a suspicion that some of the more athletic female mages would be jealous of her attire.

"I wonder if you're going match Bickslow?" Evergreen mused as they made their way to the ballroom, walking with a larger group of women.

"Maybe." She said with a shrug. "I can't wait for the food. It should be pretty awesome."

"Beautiful gowns, handsome men, wonderful music, elegance at its finest- and you're excited for the food?" Evergreen asked, baffled by the woman.

"Honestly, I was hoping to spend the night with Bickslow and eat pizza or something. I was never a huge fan of girly things or parties."

"But this isn't a girly thing. This is elegance. Beauty in its finest form." The brunette tried to explain, stars in her eyes as she described it.

"I am a little excited at the fancy suit." Claire admitted. "As for 'elegance', I'll trust you that it's a beautiful thing."

"You really are a boy, deep down inside." Ever huffed, giving up. When they finally arrived at the main room, it was already filled with people, and the brunette's face instantly filled with happiness.

Claire wasn't as impressed by the elegant ballroom as Evergreen was, or perhaps mesmerized might be a better word to describe the brunette's entranced state. The checker woman went straight for the food table, joining some of her male colleagues in the grub. "Hey guys, sup?" She asked, stuffing her face with whatever random delicious thing she had thrown on her plate.

"Hey Claire, how's it going?" Gray asked, clad in practically nothing except black shorts, which left nothing to the imagination. The checker woman was just clad he bothered to wear that.

"Pretty good."

"Dude, I heard you took down one of the dragons! That was manly of you!" Elfman yelled, turning towards her.

"I could have taken him down myself, if you hadn't interfered." Gajeel told her nearby, clad in a particularly nice suit.

"Looking good, Gajeel. Diggin' the suit." She told him, ignoring his comment.

"Thanks. You too." He said, just glad that someone made a positive comment about his suit. The other guys had been making rude comments about it just before she arrived, so it cheered him up a bit.

"I think Claire pulls of a suit better than you do, Gajeel. You just look weird." Elfman said, causing the dragonslayer to glare.

Across the room, Evergreen made her way over to her team, chuckling to herself. Laxus had women hanging from his arms while Fried tried to shu them away, and it was a pretty amusing sight. Bickslow was staring off into space, standing on one leg with his crutches securely beneath his arms, appearing oblivious to the situation.

"Bickslow, I think you have a little competition." Evergreen spoke, snapping him out of his daze. He looked in the direction that she pointed, his eyes widening.

"Why is Claire talking to a half-naked guy? Why is she surrounded by guys and laughing? And what is she wearing?" He asked quickly, his heart racing.

"It's a suit. She couldn't pull off any of the dresses, so Lucy got her a suit to wear. I think she looks quite handsome, actually." She commented, but he was already hopping away to his Checkers, who was surrounded by guys and chowing down on food. Evergreen felt a little bad for disrupting the girl's fun, since she seemed to be genuinely having a good time with their Fairy Tail comrades, but seeing Bickslow's expression was priceless.

"Bickslow! Have you tried the food yet? It's awesome." Claire said happily as he arrived, having hopped over to the small group that had been forming. Upon seeing her he had moved as fast as his crutches could carry him, and couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious when he arrived at the group. The small group was filled with some pretty strong players, most of whom were extremely buff guys.

"No, I haven't." He said, snapping out of his little reverie.

"Do you want me to make you a plate?"

"Could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure! See you guys later!" She said cheerfully, and followed her boyfriend to the sidelines, still carrying her plate of food. Instead of stopping on the side of the ballroom, he continued out the door, and Claire followed him into the empty hallway. "What's up? Crab puff?" She asked, holding up the small food item.

"No thanks… why were you hanging out with all those guys?" Bickslow asked, and at the change in conversation, she stared at him for a moment, confused by his serious expression.

"What do you mean?"

"Why'd you let them climb all over you like that?" He asked, clearly unamused.

"Were you jealous?" She asked, smiling up at him. Setting the plate on a nearby shelf, she set her hands on either side of his waist, stepping closer to him. The fabric felt nice against her skin, and he did look rather dashing in his navy blue and gold outfit.

"A little." The blue-haired mage admitted, smirking down at her. Claire blushed, feeling butterflies in her stomach at the look he gave her. "I didn't think you were serious when you said I needed to protect you from male suitors asking your hand to dance."

"They weren't asking me to dance. We were eating food and they were complimenting me on my fighting yesterday. I slayed a dragon, you know."

"Yeah, but don't let it go to your head."

"I slayed a dragon and you gooot injured~" She sang happily, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "And I found a fancy outfit that looks decent on me. And I have a cute boyfriend that got jealous when I talked to some guys. And there is delicious food to eat. And did I mention that medications now work on me?"

"So that's why you've been so energetic and chipper. You're drugged." He chuckled, wishing that he could put his arms around her. "You're beautiful, by the way. I'm sorry for not mentioning that earlier."

"Thank you, and you're super handsome." Claire told him, staring into his beautiful green eyes.

"Evergreen mentioned that dresses aren't your thing."

"Do you not like the suit?" She asked, pouting slightly. The man leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, closing his eyes in the kiss, and then nuzzled their noses together softly.

"I love it."


	17. Chapter 17

**Walking Cliche 17**

 _Too Good to be True_

"I've got 12 so far. How many you got, Checkers?"

"This isn't a competition." Claire grumbled into her ear piece, and jumped into the air and took down another bandit, effectively slamming him to the ground and knocking him out. Fried wasn't far behind, casting enchantments around the people she caught so that they could round them up later without worrying they would run off.

"I've got 8." Evergreen said over the ear piece.

"... Claire's gotten 7." Fried added, and the checker woman turned to glare at him. "Like you said, this isn't a competition. This job is for building teamwork not money."

"Well, if it's okay with you guys, I'd like to actually complete this job, and in order to do that I need my hearing. There's three left and they're running away from my position in different directions, one of them is headed your way, Bixy."

"Roger, roger." Bickslow replied, and with that, their communications fell back to silence as they went back to running and taking people down. Their mission had started perfectly, with going into the forest in a wagon and posing as bait, to lure out the bandits they were hired to take down. The word mage had put up enchantments all over their route beforehand, and it was relatively easy to catch them; unfortunately, they weren't the only ones with a word mage on their team.

There were around forty in total, and some of them got caught in other enchantments when they tried to escape, while others managed to avoid them.

Claire wasn't entirely sure about their reasoning in pairing Fried with her, but she guessed that he was going to try and make her less impulsive. Or something. At the moment he was pretty helpful in casting his enchantments to trap the knocked out bandits, so she gave him that.

She didn't dislike working with the green-haired mage, but after last time when he got knocked out after one hit, she was nervous about working with him. She knew he was strong, but his strong enchantments took time, and in the middle of a battle he was more of a liability than help.

Another bandit down.

One more to go.

"This should be the last one, Fried." She called back to him, and he nodded, not far behind. Running ahead to meet her opponent, she knew that Fried would catch up by the time she took him down, pushing her legs to move faster. On her planet she never enjoyed running, but here, she couldn't help but like it a little.

Definitely had its advantages.

Just like the others she ran forward, planning to grab the back of his shirt and pull him down as she flipped over him, but that didn't happen this time. As it very rarely occurred, this guy was way too strong for her to take down with the simple move, so she had to push off of him at the last second to avoid getting swiped at by his massive hands. She landed a few yards in front of him, blocking his path and forcing him to stop.

Something changed with her magic.

She felt it weaken, and her body change slightly with it. Reaching for her earpiece, she turned it back on to talk into it. "Fried, be careful. This guy used some kind of spell to mess with my magic, and he's pretty strong."

"I'm almost there. Don't do anything impulsive until I get there."

"So I'm allowed to be impulsive as long as you're around?" She asked, and then grabbed her pants, realizing that they were too big for her now. The woman hadn't gotten significantly smaller, but it was enough that she had to tighten her belt quickly.

"Why are you not smaller? Just how much magic do you have?" The man asked in front of her, staring at her. He was a large and bulky man, and wore a bandana to cover the lower half of his face, not entirely unlike his fallen comrades.

"We've already taken down the rest, so we're converging on your position." Bickslow informed her, and she turned off her earpiece so her words wouldn't be heard by the entire group.

Her hands lit on fire, and the creature before her chuckled darkly.

"You think you can take me down with fire magic?"

"Pretty sure my counterpart called it 'hellfire', so I wouldn't write it off just yet." She said with a smirk, although sensing that her flames were considerably weaker than normal. "What did you do to my magic?"

Fried arrived just then, and was about to cast an enchantment, when suddenly he started changing. The green-haired mage shrunk down, his body changing in appearance to now look like a 5 year old.

Their opponent turned, chuckling at the mage who stared down at his hands, confused at the transformation. "Fried, you okay?" Claire asked, looking back and forth between them, and not liking the dark look in her opponent's eyes.

While the word mage was still trying to comprehend what just happened, the bandit charged forward, and Claire cursed as she bolted forward. There was too much distance to get Fried out of the way in time, so she leaped onto the side of the tree, and then launched herself at their opponent, using her body to knock him off balance. Unfortunately he expected that, and although it knocked him off balance a little, he simply grabbed her arm and swung her body around like a rag doll, smashing it to the ground. She tried to use her fire magic to burn him, but to her amazement, her magic wouldn't leave a mark.

"Why the hell won't my fire burn you?!" Claire asked, but was simply punched in the stomach by his massive hand, causing cracks to form in the ground below her.

"Claire!" Fried yelled, and grabbed his sword, starting to cast an enchantment despite his current size. Another punch met her stomach, and she cursed, finally able to get at an angle to kick her assailant in the face. Using her angle and position to her advantage, she landed a second and third kick, causing him to stumble back.

The enchantment was supposed to keep him in the barrier, but for whatever reason, he passed right through it without a pause.

"What? That's impossible! My enchantment should have stopped him!" Fried yelled, watching as the man turned to start running again.

"Get back here, you stupid… thing! You're going to be my 9th!" Claire yelled while on fire, rolling back onto her feet and running at the creature full force, ignoring her partner's yells for her to stop.

She dodged a punch aimed for her, and started a myriad of attacks and dodges, trying to land a hit to take him down.

To her dismay, none of her attacks proved to hurt him in the slightest. He had diminished her abilities significantly, so she was at a disadvantage physically, and her fire wouldn't burn him like normal objects. Her fire could burn dragons to cinders, but this guy- it's like he had no magic in his body for her fire to latch onto.

It only took one mistake for him to take her down, throwing such a powerful hit that she was sent flying back down the path towards Fried. Her feet caught and she rolled onto her back, and then back to her feet again, skidding to a halt mere yards from her friend.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" Bickslow asked as he arrived, Evergreen close behind. He looked back and forth between his girlfriend and the now very short shorter mage, confused.

"He did something to mess with our magic so that he could escape." Claire sighed defeatedly, and made a small whining sound as she fell back on her butt, taking a seat. Glancing over at Fried, who was trying to walk over to her while holding his pants up, she couldn't help but smile. "You look adorable."

"You guys look like kids. Is that permanent?" Evergreen asked as she approached them, crouching down to look at them.

"Checkers looks more like a teenager, but Fried…" The seith mage commented, and then looked down the path. "So you lost him?"

"If you want to join Fried in Kindergarten, be my guest and try to catch him." Claire said, but the man shrugged.

"We've already caught the other ones. This will be enough to get our reward and make our clients happy. It's not worth the effort to catch him." He explained, and walked back over to his girlfriend. "Hopefully this is temporary, though. I don't think I could handle dating a pre-teen."

"He broke through my enchantments like they were nothing." Fried told them, pouting.

"My fire wouldn't burn him. It's like he didn't have magic." Claire added.

"No magic?" Ever and Bickslow asked in surprise, and she nodded.

"Thank you for protecting me back there, Claire. I'm sorry if it opened up your stitches again." Fried said, turning to her.

"Claire got injured again?" Bickslow asked, letting his tongue hang out.

"No…. Shut up."

"Is Mommy hurt?" His babies asked in unison.

"Mommy is fine."

1.

"Mommy is not fine. We need to visit Porlyusica." Bickslow said, looking down at his bruised girlfriend. The woman made her usual whining sound, which was beginning to be indicative of either pain or her not wanting to do something. In this case both.

"I'll be fine. It looks worse than it is." She tried to argue, pouting at her boyfriend. They had just been in the middle of a make out session, and upon taking her shirt off, he'd instantly become distracted by her bruises. Hands on her waist and gingerly touching the edges of her discolored skin with his fingertips, her muscles tensed under the contact. Her legs were on either side of his, and after the beat down, she'd been looking forward to a little stress relief. 'Agitate her wounds lovingly', as they liked to put it, when they'd have sex after she was injured.

"We need to visit the healer and make sure that there's no internal damage or fractured ribs." He said decisively, looking back up to meet her gaze.

"Caaan we make out first?"

"How about we stop by the Guild Hall for a drink, chill out for a while with our friends, and then head over to the healer?"

"Is that a 'no' to lovingly agitating my wounds?" She asked, still pouting up at the tattooed man. Bickslow reached behind her, still clad in most of his clothing and armor, and grabbed her shirt. She took the opportunity to kiss his neck as he had leaned forward, smiling sheepishly at his resulting expression.

"Thank you for protecting Fried today, but he can take a few hits. You've taken plenty as it is."

"In his condition a single hit could have killed him."

"It could have killed you, too. You were also under the effects of whatever spell he cast."

"But I'm bff's with death, didn't you get the memo?" She asked as she pulled the tank top back on, covering her earlier bruises.

"That's not funny. You're not indestructible, you know."

"Really? I had no idea."

"I'm being serious, Claire. You're taking a lot of unnecessary risks and I don't like seeing you get hurt. I don't know what I would do if I lost you."

"Relax, sweetie. Aren't you the one telling me to not stress over the little stuff?" She asked, tilting her head slightly and placing one of her hands on the back of his neck. His gaze softened slightly as he leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers.

"You're not one of the 'little stuff'. You're the big stuff." He said, and then poked her ribs unexpectedly, causing her to let out a surprised 'ow!'. "Now stop stalling."

2.

"FIGHT ME!" Natsu's voice bellowed through the already loud Guild Hall, and Claire looked up just in time to see the fireball flying towards her. Acting on instinct she immediately redirected the punch and smashed his face with her forearm, thrusting it forward with enough force to send him flying back, crashing into a table. The people sitting at said table started yelling at Natsu for ruining their meal, with the mage in question knocked out and laying on the various broken and food filled plates.

When he lay there unmoving for a moment, Claire awkwardly scratched the back of her head. "Sorry Natsu… you shouldn't startle people like that… guess I overdid it…"

"Man, you're really fucking up today." Bickslow snickered by her side.

"And you're really… shut up." She countered, causing him to snicker even more. Despite her boyfriend's unimpressed response, a few whispers about how easily she took down the fire mage spread through the Guild Hall, and she couldn't help but feel a little pride over it. Half a year ago she was terrified of the fire mage, now she could take him out with a single hit. Not entirely unlike Guildarts, Laxus, and Erza.

The pair wandered over to the bar to order their drinks before making their way to an empty table. Their new Guild Hall was packed with people, most of them new members, and extremely rowdy. Bickslow and Claire found a small table to the side of the building, avoiding some of the more obnoxious groups, and took their seats. It would probably be a while until Mirajane got them their drinks and fries, considering how busy the Guild Hall was. Gajeel was helping run the bar, but he got so much crap from the other wizards, he ended up spending a lot of his time defending himself rather than working.

"There's a lot of new members." Claire commented, looking around the building. It seemed like more people were in the guild now than 7 years ago. Mages of all levels were littered around the center of the building, yelling and hollering and occasionally throwing punches.

"The Games attracted a lot of new members. Most of them will probably leave after their first job, when they realize that being a mage actually requires work." Bickslow commented, also looking out at the crowd. "Apparently a rumor has been going around that you're dating Laxus."

Claire snorted, bursting into laughter.

"Claire dating Laxus?" His babies asked, and the seith mage nodded.

"It's just a rumor. Rumors of Laxus dating the other S-Ranked wizards circulate all the time, and occasionally of his teammates. It's one of the reasons that Laxus hates hanging out at the Guild Hall, and those rumors are bound to get worse with all the new mages in the guild."

"I thought he avoided the Guild Hall for the fangirls?"

"Those too." He shrugged. "Laxus problems." He chuckled, smiling.

"I wonder what kind of job he's on now?" She wondered, recalling that the lightning mage was currently on an S-Ranked mission, but hadn't bothered to indulge the details to his team.

"Who knows. With the recent influx of jobs, we're all going to be busy. I heard that you got quite a few job requests, specifically." He said with a grin, watching as her eyes lit up.

"Yeah. Since I got so many though, and they didn't specifically need me, Mira has been sending other people to do them. Every time someone requests me though, I get a small percent of the job earnings."

"What? Seriously? You don't have to do anything, they just say your name and suddenly you get money?" He gaped, suddenly extremely jealous. "And you didn't even want to join the games!"

"Well, now I'm glad I did. Even though Makarov went back on his word about my brother, at least I'm getting practically free money. I can't even imagine how much Laxus is getting."

"Do I get anything for the Thunder Legion being requested?"

"I dunno." Claire shrugged, and just in time, Mira came over to them with their drinks and fries.

"Mira, is it true that Claire gets free money whenever her name is requested for a job?" Bickslow asked, turning to the white-haired mage. She paused, her mind running a mile a minute with all of the orders and things she had to do.

"Yes, we've always done that."

"Do I get anything when the Thunder Legion is requested?" He asked, wondering if the extra money had simply been tacked onto his other rewards and he simply never noticed the small 'bonuses'.

"Since Laxus is the leader, he gets it."

"What!? Since when!? How much are we talking?!"

"Well, before Tenrou Island, the Thunder Legion was requested quite a bit."

"So a couple hundred dollars maybe?"

"I'd guess closer to the thousands. I'd always figured that he had split up the money after we gave it to him. Since Laxus was the designated leader of the group, the money was always forwarded to his account."

"So with 'Team Natsu', does it forwarded to Natsu whenever they're requested?" Claire asked curiously, letting the information sink in for her silently fuming boyfriend.

"No, it actually gets forwarded to Lucy. Since they do so much damage on their missions, and Lucy needs it the most, the group generally agrees to let her have it. For team Shadow Gear, the money is forwarded to Levy, and her teammates usually let her have it since she does most of the work. When 'dragonslayers' are requested, we rotate who gets the bonus between the four dragonslayers in our guild, so it's a different amount every time."

"So Laxus has been scamming us out of thousands of dollars this whole time?" Bickslow asked, looking up at the shapeshifter. She smiled sympathetically at him, shifting her weight to her other foot.

"Try not to be too mad, Bickslow. It's possible that it got mixed in with the requests for him personally, and he just didn't realize they were for the team. You know how forgetful he can be when it comes to that kind of stuff."

The seith mage mumbled something under his breath, and grabbed his drink.

"Thanks Mira. Good luck today with all the new mages." Claire told her, knowing that the mage wanted to get back to work.

"Thanks, have a nice day, you two." She said sweetly, and hurried away.

"I wonder if Fried and Ever know about this." Bickslow spoke, and the woman shrugged, reaching for her drink and popping a french fry in her mouth.

"I dunno honey. What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to talk to Fried and Ever, and then we'll talk to Laxus about it. Mira is probably right. He probably didn't realize that _our_ bonuses were getting mixed with his. Which, once Fried goes through the books and gets it sorted out, I'll be getting a pretty nice paycheck." He said with a grin.

"Awesome. Then maybe you can take me out on that super wonderful birthday date that you promised me months ago." She said with a grin, chuckling as the man cursed.

"How do I keep forgetting that? It's going to be-"

"YOU!" A voice yelled, and Bickslow looked up in surprise when a blade was suddenly at his throat. The infamous Erza Scarlet was standing there clad in her armor, glaring at the mage appearing ready to kill him. Nearby was Lucy, who seemed just as surprised as they were. "I recognize that voice! You were the one that snuck into my apartment several months ago!" She accused, and the couple blinked at her in confusion. Suddenly Bickslow's eyes widened in realization, terrified at the fact that she had caught him. _When I accidentally fell into her bathroom, I cursed…. Fucking hell._

"L-look, Erza, there's a logical, reasonable explanation for that. Have I mentioned that you look particularly dashing in your armor today? What kind of polish do you use?" He asked, and managed to duck out of the way of her blade, doing a summersault to avoid her attack. Claire quickly grabbed her drink and fries before the table toppled, and upon finding an empty table nearby, hopped onto the surface to watch the fight. Criss-crossing her legs beneath her, she munched away at her fries while the seith mage expertly dodged the mage's attacks.

"Bickslow is the one that snuck into her apartment and started the ban on men in the girl's dormitory?" Lucy asked Claire, and the checker woman nodded, taking a sip of her mojito.

"He was drunk, and his babies took him to the wrong window. When he realized they'd taken him to the wrong apartment he ran." She explained.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Erza yelled, trying and failing to land a hit on the seith mage, who snickered and laughed at each miss. Although she missed the seith mage every time, she did manage to break several other tables and chairs, along with damage the walls.

"His babies thought it would be a funny prank." She further explained to the blond, and looked up when one of Bickslow's souls flew over to her, trying to nuzzle and hide under her arm. Instantly recognizing it as Peppe, she chuckled. He really was a scaredy cat, although against the wrath of Erza, she couldn't blame him. Usually the little soul ran into Bickslow's arms whenever something 'scary' happened, but given that he was in the middle of a fight, guessed that she was a good enough hiding place for now.

"Wow, she hasn't landed a single hit so far." Lucy commented, watching as Erza continued single-handedly destroying their brand new headquarters.

"Bixy is good at dodging. Want some fries?" Claire asked, offering her some from her basket.

The trio continued watching the chaotic battle, munching away at the fries.

3.

"At least Erza didn't destroy the new bath." Claire commented, smiling as she sunk lower into the hot water, her sore muscles relaxing in the heat. Nearby Lucy made similar happy sounds.

There were a few other new female mages in the communal baths, but neither of the experienced mages felt like socializing with them. They found a small corner to claim for themselves and quietly chatted about their days since the games.

"It's only been a week, but it feels like forever." Lucy commented, and the checker woman nodded.

"No kidding. I'm glad it's over."

"How have you been recovering?" Lucy asked, eyeing the particularly red and purple stitching on her chest. She hadn't missed the other bruises either, and although she'd gotten a fair amount of her own over her recent plethora of jobs, they paled in comparison to the checker woman's.

"Pretty well, considering. I had a job today with my team, and I had a really weird opponent that altered Fried and I's magic and appearance. My fire couldn't hurt him."

"Really?" Lucy asked. "But your fire is hotter than Natsu's."

"My fire feeds on fuel and magic, but mostly magic. I don't think my opponent had any magic, and Fried theorizes that he may have had some sort of ethernano. Which, if that's true, we were lucky to not be killed by it. It's extremely lethal to wizards."

"What is 'ethernano'?"

"It's some form of anti-magic substance. It's like the anti-healing magic stuff my sister uses, but more lethal. Do you know why Natsu attacked me when I came to Guild Hall today, by the way?"

"He's mad that you killed a dragon and he didn't." She replied, and the checker woman chuckled.

"I hope I didn't hurt him too bad earlier. He caught me off guard, so I hit him pretty hard."

"He'll be fine. He gets hit in the head so often it... " The blond paused, thinking about it. "Actually, that explains a lot about him."

"You two seem pretty close." Claire commented, and Lucy nodded.

"Yeah. We're best friends. We've been through a lot together." The blond said with a smile, and looked back up at the fire woman, realizing that she was looking away and smiling at something. "What are you smiling about?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. That's great that you two are friends… I was just realizing that we've been the topic of conversation for most of the other girls here." She commented, and the blond looked over at a particularly large group of girls, who turned and started whispering and giggling when the celestial mage looked their way.

"Do you have heightened senses like Natsu?" Lucy asked, and she nodded. "What are they saying about us?"

"A mix of things, mostly commenting on how we did at the games. Some of them think we'd be a cute couple, the others are arguing that we'd be cuter dating other people, namely Laxus and Natsu."

"Do they not have anything better to talk about?" She asked, feeling uncomfortable as she became painfully aware of all the stares she was getting.

"I wouldn't be surprised if some of the women here joined because they saw us fighting in the games. We've got some pretty powerful women in the guild."

"You think people joined the guild because they saw me fight?" Lucy asked, blinking in surprise. Claire raised an eyebrow at the woman, surprised by her sudden bashful response.

"Well, yeah. You kicked some serious ass, and you're hot. If you didn't get any women to join you sure as hell got some guys to." Claire informed her, chuckling as the woman's cheeks turned a darker shade of red. "Most of your talent seems to be attracting physically strong wizards and coordinating them in battle, whether it's your spirits or otherwise. Just because you can't throw a punch doesn't mean you're not powerful."

Back in the men's communal bath, Bickslow groaned, wishing that there were thicker walls between the men and women's baths. The new female mages were gossiping loudly about his girlfriend and Lucy, and if they weren't annoying enough, his male colleagues had joined in the fun, too. Some of them did it to annoy him, while others were genuinely oblivious.

"It _would_ be pretty hot if Lucy and Claire hooked up." Wakaba commented after overhearing some of the girls conversation.

"Claire _was_ wearing a rather dashing suit at the Grand Ball." Macao added. "Maybe she's switching teams."

"Is she seeing anyone?" One of the new mages asked.

"I heard she was seeing Laxus." Romeo commented, snickering at the look from Bickslow.

"That's just a rumor." His dad commented.

"You guys suck." Bickslow told them, sticking his tongue out at them.

"Wait, does that mean she's single?" The new guy asked, and cringed under the glare from the tattooed seith mage.

"Go near her and I'll steal your soul and shove it into one of my dolls."

"I-I-I don't know what that means b-but I don't want to find out. Bye!" The new guy stammered, quickly running out of the communal bath.

"Lighten up, man. We're just having fun. We all know that Claire's your girl." Wakaba told him, chuckling at the sour mage. Bickslow muttered something under their breath that they couldn't catch, avoiding their stare as he sunk lower into the warm water.

"All of the rumors will die down soon enough, once the hype from the games has gone, and everything will go back to normal." Macao added.

"Speaking of rumors, Natsu said that you and Claire had kids?" Romeo asked, to which Bickslow's jaw clenched, vowing to kick the little fire breather's ass next time he saw him. _Another excuse to kick the fire breather in the face again…_

"No. He's talking about my wandering souls, which every time I explain it to him, he gets that stupid blank look on his face like I'm speaking a foreign language. Claire and I did move in together, officially, though." The blue-haired mage explained, trying to keep a cool head.

"Congrats! That's great!" His friends congratulated, and he couldn't help but feel a little chipper at that. It _was_ great. It was fantastic, even. His girlfriend had just moved in with him, officially, and they had a place together. It was wonderful. It was perfect. Everything was great.

Which is how the seith mage knew it wouldn't last. Things were going too good for them, and like always, he knew something bad was going to happen and screw it up somehow. He just hoped that whatever 'bad thing' happened, it wouldn't be Claire biting off more than she could chew and getting herself killed.

4.

Claire knew that looking at the S-Class job board probably wasn't the greatest of ideas, but she liked knowing what jobs were available and who was taking them. It was a weird pass time she had, and she generally just liked knowing what her options were and what jobs were available for upper class wizards, since she was hoping to be one of them soon. Judging by the missions she'd been granted permission to do, it was just a matter of time before she was promoted to S-Class. If it wasn't for the harpooning incident she suspected that Makarov would already be giving her S-Class solo jobs by now.

Bickslow left the night before to spend the week with his nephew: they'd be camping in the north. He was actually pretty stoked, having spent several days planning and preparing for it. S'mores, campfires, hiking, fishing, more s'mores. Michael was getting over his crush on Claire and finally opening up to his uncle, so it was undoubtedly going to be an awesome bonding experience.

Fried and Evergreen were doing a job together, and wouldn't divulge the details of it. Both Bickslow and Claire thought it was odd, but upon learning that Makarov had specifically asked them to do it, figured it must be a super secret mission of grave importance… or something.

Laxus was still gone on a job for god knows how long, on an S-Ranked job somewhere. The flyer he had chosen was vague, and the fire woman wasn't curious enough to pester Mira for details of it.

And then there was the little pyro; who was supposed to be in bed or at least 'taking it easy', or something like that.

Her eyes sparkled, gaze locking on the most awesome S-Class flyer she had ever seen. Well, second most awesome.

HELP! ZOMBIE EXTERMINATION NEEDED ON DEATH ISLAND!

"Eeeeeee~" She squealed happily, pulling the flyer down and looking at the details. One of her first jobs with Bacchus had dealt with the eradication of zombies, and ever since she'd been hoping to have a second one of that nature.

Zombies.

"Eeeeeeeeeeee~" She squealed happily again. Just the thought of it made her all giddy and bubbly inside.

Zombie missions were basically like real life video games. They didn't have video games in this world, and their video collection was poor at best, so she'd been sorely missing the stimulation of sharp shooting and slaughtering people, especially dead ones. Boards with nails on them, guns, machetes- _fire_. On this world when she fought zombies she could use her superpower of turning into a flaming ball of death and destruction to take them out.

 _So much awesome._

Zombies on this world were different than the depictions of them on her home world- or, at least the popular depictions. On this world instead of a 'virus' infecting people and turning them into undead cannibalistic nightmares, they were simply re-animated already-dead cannibalistic corpses. Necromancers would bring the corpses back to life, and those corpses would attack anything living. If any of those re-animated corpses bit a living person, nothing would happen except normal reactions from being bit by a dead thing: bleeding out, rabies, infection, etc. Only after they were dead could the necromancer cast a spell to make them come back to 'life'.

 _Real life zombies_.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~"

"I think you're at the wrong board, Checkers." A voice said from behind her, and she felt a heavy weight on her head. Glancing up, smile still tugging at her lips and bouncing on the balls of her feet, she realized that Laxus was leaning on her. In any other circumstance she would curse him out, or at least insult him somehow, but she could do that later when she didn't need him. "This is for S-Ranked wizards."

"Or for non-S-Ranked wizards accompanied by awesome, amazing, wonderful S-Ranked wizards."

"What the hell are you so excited about?" He asked, and snatched the flyer from her hands, eyeing the detailed piece of paper. His eyebrows furrowed, trying to figure out why she was so ecstatic about it. The Thunder Legion usually hated these kinds of jobs, even Bickslow detested these, and most wizards did- for good reason. Re-animated corpses got pretty nasty. "It's just a zombie mission. It's basically disposing of corpses."

"But… zombies. Eeeeee~" She squealed again, acting uncharacteristically girly. The lightning mage stared down at her, quirking an eyebrow at the young mage; whom he had recently learned was his sister. He'd barely convinced Makarov to not tell her after the games, and for the time being had hoped to get to know her as a colleague before spilling. Participating in the games with her had been brutal, since so much drama had resulted from their family, and he was left unable to help or be part of it. Not to mention almost seeing his sister die right after being reunited with her was a roller coaster in of itself.

"Have you done this kind of job before?"

"My first job with Bacchus was a zombie take down. It was great target practice with my magic."

"Your first S-Class job dealt with disposing of corpses?" He asked, and she nodded. Well, the best she could 'nod' with him leaning on her like a glorified arm rest. "That explains so much about you."

She was about to say something, but then she paused, confused. "What does that mean?"

"Back when you said you had killed people for the first time, and we made you talk about it. You didn't seem very fazed by it. It may have been your first time killing, but not dealing with dead people."

"Oh… yeah, dead people just before, during, or after don't really bother me anymore. People with souls and bodies, bodies without souls, souls without bodies- they kind of just blend together. Soooo would you consider doing this mission with me?" She asked, grinning up at him hopefully.

The dragonslayer looked back at the flyer. Overall, it did seem really easy, and right up her alley magic wise. Not to mention pay was great, because no one wanted to do these jobs. Unlike most zombie jobs this one was secluded to an island, and their goal would be to literally do as much damage as physically possible. Nothing could be left 'alive' on the island. Not only could it be a good bonding experience, but a good target and teamwork exercise as well. Even aside from the whole sibling thing, she was a new member of his team, and he always worked one-on-one with his new Thunder Legion mages. Ditching the rest of the team might be difficult given Bickslow's attachment to her, though.

"Please?" She added, still grinning up at him like a child asking Santa for a present. "I'll even do most of the work."

"Is the Thunder Legion ready to go? I'm surprised to not see them here." He commented, glancing back up around the Guild Hall, and frowning slightly when he realized that people had started staring. Having been used to interacting with the little fire mage in training, not to mention the fact she was his sister, he'd forgotten about the annoying rumor mill that was Fairy Tail. It was the main reason he avoided the Guild Hall whenever possible; ever since he became an S-Class mage, rumors of him sleeping with every person he came into contact with spread like wildfire. Granted, he used to sleep around quite a bit which justified some of the rumors, but he _never_ crossed that line with guild members.

Ever.

Claire remained oblivious as the mage removed his arm, suddenly becoming rather tense and taking a step back.

"Bickslow is on a camping trip with Michael, and the other two are on a mysterious mission of unknown origin. If we did the zombie thing, it would just be you and me. Or whoever else you asked to join. Zooooombie zombie zombiiiiiies~" She said in a sing song voice at the end, absolutely beaming at him.

"Alright, we'll leave in the morning. Meet back here at 9 AM, and I'll let Mira know that we're taking the job."

"You are awesome. How long do you think it'll take for us to complete the job?"

"Depends on how the client wants us to go about it, so we'll find out tomorrow. I'll see you then." He waved, walking away.

"See you then!" She waved back, and even though he didn't turn to acknowledge her goodbye, she was too happy to care. _Zombies._ "Eeeee~"

5.

After they met up at the Guild Hall the next day, they made their way to the docks. They briefly stopped to get breakfast at a food stand on the way, since Laxus didn't want to stay at the guild any longer than necessary. Claire happily sipped away at her 'coffee' and breakfast burrito as they made their way to the ship, and once they arrived on the small vessel, made themselves comfortable on the deck.

Given the lateness of their client, the pair were left with nothing to do but talk. Seated on not-so-comfy chairs, the boat rocked beneath them still at port, and Claire tried to start up conversation.

"I thought you got motion sick like Natsu?" Claire asked.

"I take pills, remember?" He replied, and she nodded sheepishly.

"Right! Forgot about that." She said, nodding and turning back to the water.

"So, uh… how are you and Bickslow doing?"

"We're good. We officially moved in together."

"That's cool." He commented, nodding.

Silence.

"So, uh… what's with your fascination for zombies?" Laxus asked, chuckling as she instantly grinned and bounced in her seat.

"On my world, there are these things called 'video games'. There's thousands of different kinds and styles, and one of them is 'sharp-shooter', and there's a bunch of games with zombies, and you go through these scenarios where you kill zombies in a post-apocalyptic world, and it's soooo much fun. But you guys don't have them because you're tech isn't advanced enough, and Bacchus hasn't been able to find a 'magic' equivalent." She said, and by the end she sighed agitatedly, crossing her arms and glaring at the front of the boat.

"You're really bad at explaining things." He commented.

"But to answer your question, I like zombie jobs because it reminds me of something I used to do at home. This world is my home now, and it's great… but sometimes I miss my world a little."

6.

"Hey Mira, have you seen Claire?" Bickslow asked, walking up to the bar. "She's not home, and I can't find her. Since I was supposed to be gone for the week I figure she may have taken a job." _Even though she's injured and should be at home resting… I should have made Sky guard her…._ He thought dimly, looking at the white-haired mage.

"She's on a job with Laxus."

"With Laxus?" He asked, frowning. "Why? What kind of job?"

"Simple zombie job. She seemed really excited about it, strangely."

On a stool nearby, a man that Bickslow didn't recognize coughed and faced him. "A little _too_ excited, if you catch my drift." He wore a stupid smirk on his face, and his breath reeked of alcohol.

"That's my girlfriend you're talking about, asshole." The seith mage told him, glaring. "Laxus is my team's leader. He always does one-on-one jobs with new members of the team."

"Uh-huh." He snickered, turning back to his drink.

"I'm sure you're right, Bickslow. How'd your camping trip with Michael go?" The sweet shapeshifter asked, trying to defuse the fight before it started.

"A monster trampled into our camp and destroyed all my camping gear. We weren't in any danger and could have stayed, but Michael wanted to go home after that."

"I'm sorry. You seemed really excited about spending the week with him."

Bickslow sighed, mentally debating whether he should stay at the bar and chat with her, or end the conversation and head home. The Guild Hall wasn't particularly busy at that hour, since it was pretty late, and he was pretty tired. "Thanks. When are Laxus and Claire due back?"

"Sometime tomorrow. They left about two days ago." Mira replied, and the seith mage nodded, inching back.

"Thanks, I'll see you later, Mira. Have a good one."

"You too, Bickslow." She replied sweetly, and went back to cleaning glasses.

The tall man sighed again, leaving the Guild Hall. The cool fresh air felt nice compared to the overly heated and alcohol filled guild, and after summoning his babies to join him for the walk, stretched his arms high in the air and yawned. It was close to midnight, so although there were a few stragglers walking up and down the street, it was pretty barren compared to usual.

"Where's mommy?" His babies asked, not for the first time.

"She's out on a job with Laxus." He explained, taking a turn down the street. Placing his hands behind his head comfortably, he strolled calmly down the near empty lane, babies hovering happily around him. "This is a good opportunity to plan out the 'super awesome late birthday surprise' for Claire. Do you guys have any ideas on what we should do?"

"Go to the beach?" One of them offered.

"Maybe, but that seems a little too cliché. You know how she hates that."

"Magic convention?" Another suggested, and the seith mage pondered it. "Or a book event?"

"The magic thing might be more up her alley, since she's still new to this world. Although she is a bookworm and would enjoy a book related thing, even if she won't admit it."

"Why not both?" Another offered, and he nodded.

"True. If this is going to be as amazing as I want it to be, we better not rule anything out."

"Bickslow?" Someone spoke, and at the sound of his name, the mage turned towards the source. Just a few yards in front of him was a man of similar height and age, with semi-short wavy brown hair and t-shirt with cargo shorts. After a second the seith mage grinned, recognizing the man.

"Dude! Long time no see!" The blue-haired mage exclaimed, and strode forward, pulling the man into a big hug.

7.

"You are by far the creepiest person in Fairy Tail." Laxus laughed as they entered the Guild Hall the next day. The building had started to slowly thin out in the past two weeks since the games, but it was still pretty crowded. The pair was instantly mixed with the voices and laughter of their fellow guild members, and they made their way over to the bar to inform Mira of their return.

"Creepier than Bickslow?"

"Hell yeah. He's always joked about stealing people's souls, but he's never enjoyed burning dead bodies before."

"Don't knock it til you've tried it." She joked, and upon realizing that there was a line for seeing Mira, he turned to Laxus. "If you want to head out I can let Mira know we're back. I know you don't like hanging out here."

He shrugged. "It's fine on occasion. How about we hang out with a drink? I could use one after watching you decapitate all those people."

"They were already dead, and I'm sorry for traumatizing the great Laxus Dreyar." She said sarcastically. "But sure, a drink does sound nice. What do you want?"

"Mira knows what I like. I'll go wait at the table." He stated, and she nodded, getting her place in line. Most of the people in line were simply trying to hit on the beautiful mage, which she couldn't really blame them given how attractive she was, but there was a time and place for that. Flirting with her when there were another 5 people in line was not the place.

At the moment, Mirajane was trying to turn her attention to the next person in line, but the one in front of her kept vying for her attention and flirting with her, eating up her time. The shapeshifter was too sweet to tell him to get lost, and would likely ask her brother to intervene soon.

"Hey, if you've already made your order, stop wasting our time." Claire told the man after tapping his shoulder, to which he merely sneered at her.

"This is between me and the bartender, lady. Back off, uggo." He said, and turned to face Mira again, when he felt the fire mage's hand back on his shoulder. "Y-ow!" He yelled, and turned back to Claire, his eyes widening at the flames that engulfed her upper body.

"You want to rephrase that?"

"I-oh, sh-shit! S-s-s-sorry! I-I didn't r-realize that y-you were th-the dragon. My mistake."

"Get lost."

"Yes ma'am." He squeaked, and once she let go of his arm, he ran off. Claire turned to get back to her original place in line, only to find that it had disappeared.

"What do you need?" Mirajane asked, chuckling at the fire woman's confused expression.

"I, uh, two things. First I wanted to let you know that Laxus and I are back, and that the mission was a success. Second, when you have a minute, to get us drinks."

"Well, apparently I have a minute now." Mira giggled. "The usual?"

"Yes please." Claire replied with a grin, rather happy with not having to wait in line. It had been a good few days- kill some zombies, figure out some new insults for Laxus, scare people so that she's first in line. Good times.

"Oh, Bickslow came here looking for you yesterday." Mira said, smiling up at the checker woman.

"Huh? He's supposed to be camping for the week."

"Apparently a monster destroyed their camp, and Michael wanted to go home after that. He didn't seem too happy when I told him where you were."

Claire laughed awkwardly, taking a seat on one of the bar stools as she watched the mage make her drink. "How mad was he?"

"He wasn't too upset, but someone at the bar was hackling him about you and Laxus being an item." She explained. Claire cracked up laughing, and the bartender gave her a curious expression. "You two did seem awfully close the other day. _Is_ there something going on?" Mira asked, leaning forward slightly with her eyes sparkling.

"No, and I'd appreciate if you don't help spread those rumors. They're really bothering Bixy, and I have zero interest in Laxus."

"None whatsoever? No one would blame you if you were just a little interested. Half the guild is in love with him, including most of the guys."

"If I tell you why I could never see him as more than an annoying older brother, will you help dispel the stupid rumors?" Claire asked, and the mage nodded, setting the two drinks on the bar in front of her. "Laxus looks almost exactly like my grandfather. It's actually pretty weird."

"… your grandfather?" Mira asked, blinking at the young woman in confusion.

"It's weird, I know. Ever since I met Laxus back at Tenrou Island, he always reminds me of my grandpa. Just subtle things they do exactly the same, too. He's not a bad looking guy, and my grandpa was pretty popular with girls back in his day, but I'm really not into the incest thing. Now will you please stop the Laxus and I dating rumor and remind people that I am perfectly happy with my loving boyfriend?"

"Of course, and it's not like anyone actually takes those rumors seriously… but Bickslow has been a little high strung about it."

"And, uh, you probably shouldn't mention to people that Laxus looks like my grandpa. That could be taken the wrong way." Claire added, and grabbed the drinks.

"Of course. If you need anything else, let me know." Mira giggled, and with that the fire mage walked over to the table that Laxus was sitting, climbing up the steps to reach him. He had taken a spot on the second floor overlooking the Guild Hall, and had been staring at the people below with a blank expression. Upon her arrival he turned to her, narrowing his eyes at her.

"I look like your grandpa?" He asked, and she grinned, taking her seat across from him.

"Fried theorizes you might be the human counterpart to him." She replied, and took a sip of her mojito.

"Did you really have to tell Mira?" He asked, groaning.

"What's so bad about it? Bickslow has been getting upset by all the rumors circulating about me, and since I hear Mira is the gossip center of it all, dispelling the most annoying one would be a good thing."

"Telling her that won't stop the rumor, just make them weirder." He stated, looking back down at the chaotic mess hall below. His gaze locked on the witch behind the bar, who he knew was just itching to tell her friends about the newfound information. As a way to get people involved and interested with the guild, along with helping encourage interacting with each other, Mira had actually created the rumor mill. (or at least amplified it tenfold) There actually been some success with it and some of the rumors circulating were just hilarious, but on occasion some hurtful ones got around. It also helped with advertizing the guild, as reporters would catch wind of them and investigate some of the more interesting accusations, getting publicity for Fairy Tail.

"Whatever. I like the rumor of Lucy and I hooking up, honestly. In the communal baths the other day, some of the girls were talking about how Natsu and I are inevitably going to duke it out for her love."

"You're okay with that rumor but not about us hooking up?" He asked curiously, taking a drink from his beer.

"Gay rumors are juicy and silly, but they're also more difficult to believe. If someone gossiped about Lucy and I hooking up it would be easy to write off, since I have a boyfriend and thus arguably straight. Rumors about me sleeping with one of the most powerful men in the guild in order to get better jobs, considering we've already been working closely together and I'm so new to the guild, are more difficult to disprove."

"Good point." He shrugged. "For the record, whenever I add a new person to my team, I always do one-on-one jobs with them to get a feel for their skill level."

"Oooh, speaking of which, what was your evaluation of me? Am I a terrible wizard? Should I go back to Hogwarts?" She asked excitedly, leaning in closer to him with sparkling blue eyes.

"… Hogwarts?"

"Sorry, reference to something on my world. But seriously, what did you think?" She asked, leaning back in her seat and taking a sip of her mojito. The fire mage was a little surprised at how comfortable she felt about Laxus nowadays, as she'd been acting progressively sillier and more open with him on their job together. Killing zombies was a bonding experience for them. He'd been doing the same, becoming more relaxed around her, although not so much in public.

"I think you're bat shit crazy." He told her, smirking at the glare he received.

"You already established that you think I'm a psychopathic, creepy, pyromaniac. Since you haven't kicked me off the team yet I'm guessing I did some things right."

"Do you really want to know?" He asked, eyeing her as he took another sip of his beer. She made a small whining sound, tilting her head to the side, and then nodding impatiently. The lightning mage chuckled, wondering if that sound was going to be a long term habit whenever she was annoyed at something. As he straightened his posture to tell her, she did the same. "It's good that you're not squeamish around death, since how you deal with it on S-Class jobs can mean the difference between life and death. It's actually been a problem for Evergreen and Fried, and was one of the main reasons I originally chose Bickslow. That being said, you need to keep in mind that most people aren't comfortable around the topic."

As he spoke, she nodded quietly, listening intently.

"You also get too caught up in the details of jobs. You waste a lot of unnecessary time and energy writing down everything that happens, and then over analyzing it. At the same time you run into fights head first instead of working with your team to figure out a more efficient way to go about it." He explained, and upon smelling and hearing a familiar scent, turned to look at the man now standing next to their table.

"Hey Bickslow." Claire greeted, looking up at him. He swayed slightly as he stood there, and he ignored her greeting, staring at Laxus. Both the dragon and dragonslayer mage could smell the incredibly strong scent of alcohol on his breath and clothes.

"What the hell? You stole money from me and then run off with my girlfriend?" Bickslow asked the blond.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Laxus asked. "I didn't steal anything from you. You're drunk."

"You're drunk!" He yelled back.

"You guys should talk about it when he's sober," Claire spoke, looking to the blonde. "But he recently found out about the bonus we get whenever our names are requested. Apparently every time the 'Thunder Legion' has been requested, they transferred the funds to your account."

"What the hell were you doing out on a job, anyway?" Bickslow asked, turning to his girlfriend and leaning on their table for support. "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"Fried should have explained the bonus situation. He said that he spoke to you about it when you first joined the Thunder Legion." Laxus spoke, regaining the seith mage's attention.

"Come on dude, just break it off with her and let's go." Someone else spoke, coming up being Bickslow and slinging an arm around his shoulders. He wore the same tattoo on his face as Bickslow, and his red eyes peered at the drunken man under his arm.

"Who the hell are you?" Claire asked, glaring at him. ' _Break it off with her'? What the hell does that mean?_

"I'm his friend."

"Yeah, he's my _friend._ " Bickslow agreed. Her blue eyes locked with the red ones of his 'friend', and she realized that he was significantly less intoxicated than her boyfriend. Behind them Bickslow's babies floated, along with another soul Claire had never encountered before, hosting a black ominous looking vessel slightly larger than the other ones.

The fire mage stood, as did Laxus.

"I don't know how he's put up with you all this time, when you're fucking his best friend." The man said, smirking at her.

"Dude, you can't actually believe that bullshit." The lightning mage stated, looking at his long time friend. Laxus kept his eyes locked with his friend, ignoring the seith mage hanging off of him.

"And why the hell not? It sure as hell explains a lot."

"Why the hell are you letting him control your souls?" Claire suddenly asked, looking to the intoxicated man. She had learned enough about seith magic to know that letting other mages control your souls was something you never did. Not only was it considered rude to take control of someone else's souls, but it could potentially cause pain to the soul with the conflicting magic being forced on it. Wandering souls could only have one 'owner' at a time, which is why Bickslow had been prepping Sky for her to have.

"Cuz he's my friend." He said indignantly, stumbling slightly, but being held up by the man next to him.

"You told me that that could hurt them. Are they in pain?"

"They're fine." The 'friend' stated, glaring at her.

"Just who the hell are you?"

"I'm not a cheating whore, for one." He said, and her eyes widened, suddenly frozen. She felt soul possession take hold of her as his eyes glowed green, and unlike when Bickslow did it, it was painful. It felt like he was squeezing her from the inside with an iron grip.

"Bicks, I'm taking you home." Laxus stated, grabbing the man's arm. Claire's magic fluctuated wildly near him, causing the lightning mage to look over. He saw that her eyes were glowing the same green as the mysterious seith mage's.

"No, dude," Bickslow told the blond, pulling his arm back.

"We're going to drink and pick up chicks, now that he's a free man. Right buddy?" The brunette stated, smirking at the drunk man.

"Bickslow, you're drunk. Let me take you home." The blond said, trying to keep his voice low as he stepped closer to his friend and teammate. He'd encountered the man on his arm once before, as the two seith mages used to be drinking buddies, but he couldn't recall any useful information about him now. He didn't remember him being such a manipulative asshole, either.

"Bickslow is clear-headed for the first time in a long while. Trying to settle down with such a slut? He's just glad that I came along when I did."

"Let Bickslow and his babies go, or I'll burn you to cinders." Claire growled, her voice strained as she struggled against the soul possession. The upper level was void of mages, since that section was usually where the S-Ranked mages relaxed, and they were all gone on missions aside from Laxus. This interaction went unnoticed to the other mages in the guild.

"Oooh, I'm so scared." The brunette said with a grin, tightening his hold on her. "Since you know so much about our magic, then you also know that struggling will only damage your soul. And that's something not easily repaired."

"If it means protecting the man I love from you, I don't care." She growled, watching as the totems she considered family floated in front of her, along with the dark one. They were powering up to attack her.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Laxus demanded, only to feel the familiar soul possession grab hold of him. Except, instead of it coming from the strange man, it came from Bickslow.

Both of the seith mages were using their magic on the elemental magic users, rendering them unable to move.

"I think we'll take our leave, now." The brunette stated, and launched the attack at Claire.

8.

The fire mage opened her eyes, feeling the all too familiar pain spread through her, but much more than usual. Her gaze met the also all too familiar glare of Porlyusica, who was looking down at her and saying something.

"… what?" Claire asked, trying to comprehend her words.

"… what the hell did I tell you about taking it easy, you idiot?" She asked, and pressed down on her opened wound, causing the checker woman to cry out in pain.

"Fucking- damn it! Where's Bixy!?" Claire asked, trying to sit up but being shoved down again, crying out in pain again. Instead of her back and head meeting the soft cushions of a mattress and pillow, it met the hard wood of a table, furthering her quickening headache. "And what the hell am I laying on? How long was I out?"

"You were only unconscious for a few minutes." Lucy told her, standing next to the woman. "Laxus left to chase after Bickslow and the other guy, but he lost their scent."

"Where the hell did they go?!" Claire asked, but was once again pushed back down by the healer. The world around her spun, and she closed her eyes, desperately trying to cling to consciousness. Anger growled from her throat, willing her body to work with her instead of against her.

"You just got hit by Bickslow's most powerful attack, not to mention the added strength of his new 'friend'. Take it easy." Laxus informed her from nearby, his arms folded over his chest.

"What just happened? Did you guys get in a fight over something?" Lucy asked. Mirajane was in the process of clearing out the Guild Hall of non-essential wizards, closing up for the night. After the explosion from the second floor and Claire's unconscious body smashing one of the tables, not to mention Laxus's lightning destroying much of the Guild Hall, many of the wizards had already cleared out. Now there was a small group left, consisting of Team Natsu and a few other long-time members of Fairy Tail.

"Some creep is using some sort of manipulation magic on Bickslow." Claire told them, her eyes still closed.

"He got Bickslow drunk to make it easier to manipulate him." Laxus added. "I'm not exactly sure what kind of manipulation magic, but I'm guessing it was pretty weak by how much liquor he forced him to drink."

"But why?" Lucy asked.

"Why does it matter? Let's go get him back!" Natsu cheered.

"Aye!" Happy added next to him.

"Since when do you care about Bickslow?" Lucy asked, looking skeptically over at the pink-haired mage.

"He's a member of Fairy Tail, and he's in trouble, so we need to help him!" The fire mage replied with a cheeky grin.

"He just wants to get on Claire's good side so that she'll fight him." Happy told her, and many of the mages sighed.

"Natsu, if you help me get Bickslow back, I'll fight you." Claire said, looking up at him from her spot on the table. The healer smacked her wound, causing her to cry out in pain, but the sound was drowned out by the dragonslayer's excited cheer. "Stop doing that."

"At this rate you're going to be dead by the end of the week." Porlyusica said, narrowing her eyes at the woman, who merely grinned back.

"But I'm already feeling better already! You must be a wonderful healer."

"I can help, too." Wendy said, stepping forward. Both Porlyusica and Claire looked over at her, and the checker woman's grin widened.

"Awesome!"

"Fine. Start working on her chest wound." The pink-haired mage instructed, and the girl nodded in determination, walking over to her.

"So who's the guy that took Bickslow?" Lucy asked, looking between Laxus and Claire.

"I don't know him too well, but Bicks and him used to be drinking buddies. They're both seith mages." Laxus spoke. "His name is Harland Tinkerman."

"Tinkerman?" Claire asked, her blue eyes locking with his. "Harland Tinkerman? Are you certain?"

"… pretty sure, why?"

"We just returned from a job destroying a 'Harland Tinkerman's' zombie army." She informed him as Wendy's magic started healing her wounds, making her feel significantly better.

"Seith magic and necromancy are very different things." Makarov spoke from nearby.

"Is it impossible to learn both?" Claire asked.

"Come on, let's go beat people up already and get him back!" Natsu exclaimed, his fists on fire and ready to go.

"And how the hell do we find him, you idiot?" Gray asked nearby.

"Assuming this 'Tinkerman' is the same person, both a seith mage and necromancer, what would he want with Bickslow?" Makarov asked thoughtfully.

"Whatever it is, we need to get his grubby hands off of Bixy's babies. Having two seith mages controlling wandering souls can cause them immense pain." Claire explained.

"Claire, you need to stay still." Wendy told her, and she nodded, jaw clenched as she thought about Bickslow's souls. Technically they were Bixy's babies, but they called her 'mommy' so often, she couldn't help but think of them as hers, too. Her chest constricted painfully at the thought of her new family in pain- or worse- and couldn't help thinking back to when Carol was taken, and she was utterly helpless to stop her from being taken.

"They have your kids, too?!" Natsu exclaimed, causing many of the wizards to face palm.

"You're an idiot, Natsu." Happy said, slowly shaking his head.

"Hey!"

"Claire, do you have a way to track Bickslow?" Laxus asked, watching as she sat up when Wendy's hands stopped glowing. Porlyusica glared by her side, grumbling and mumbling as she walked away from the group.

"Maybe. Depends on if he severed his magic with Sky or not." She said, smiling when she sensed the small soul approach her. "Speak of the soul."

"The soul that you bound at the Abyss Palace?" Lucy asked, and she nodded.

"Bickslow has been prepping Sky for me to use, which is probably why he's not under Tinkerman's control right now. Can you grab my bag over there for me?" Claire asked kindly as the other wizards continued bickering and arguing about one thing or another. The blond nodded and went to grab it, finding it on the floor nearby. "Hey, why did I get injured, but you don't look harmed at all?" Claire suddenly asked, turning to the lightning mage.

"Because he didn't attack me. Just you."

"Well that's bullshit, and you didn't even catch them." She said, to which he glared. Her attention went back to the bag that Lucy handed her, pulling out a small totem from inside. "Sorry in advance, Sky. Bixy's not here to help." Claire said, and pushed her fire magic into the totem. As they'd found out last time they practiced this, her magic _was_ fire magic in its purest form, so although it didn't actually burn the vessel, it made it appear like it was on fire.

"Mommy!" The small soul exclaimed, instantly moving forward and crashing into her chest, causing her to cringe in pain yet again. Carefully she grabbed the totem, holding it in her hands in front of her. The vibrations and hum in her hands were a warm welcome.

"What is that?" Natsu asked, stepping forward and poking the wooden object.

"Bickslow and I's baby." Claire replied, watching as the dragonslayer nodded slowly.

"Oh. That makes sense." He responded, resulting in more confused and annoyed yells of the surrounding mages.

"Can you track down Bixy for us?"

"Yeah! Daddy's acting weird. The other souls are in pain." Sky said sadly.

"I know. We're going to find them and bring them home. Do you know why this happened?"

"No."

"Don't worry, little guy! We'll get your dad back!" Natsu told the small soul, leaning down and grinning at him.

"Good!" Sky replied, and hovered to the side. "Let's get dad back!" Claire quickly swung her feet to the side of the table, hopping off and following the soul as it floated to the exit, only for her vision to falter.

She only got a few steps before her body briefly shut down on her. Laxus reached out and caught her before she fell on her face, latching onto her muscled arm as her legs buckled beneath her. Her head felt foggy and the world spun. It felt like her body was rebooting, as the energy slowly crawled back into her legs and allowed her to stand.

"Claire, my healing magic takes time. You shouldn't be moving around until at least the morning." Wendy told her, and the blond dragonslayer rolled his eyes.

"Could have mentioned that sooner." Laxus commented. "You're not going anywhere in your condition, so sit your ass down." He said, and shoved her at a nearby chair. Out of habit and instinct, she grabbed the chair and spun it so that the back faced the group, swinging her leg around it. Placing her arms on the back of it, she placed her forehead against her forearm.

"Stupid spinning room…." She grumbling, willing the world to stop moving. Bickslow needed saving, damn it.

"Sky, can you take us to Bickslow?" Laxus asked, turning back to the worried soul that had wandered back to Claire, hovering in front of her mostly hidden face.

"Not without Claire. I need her magic to stay in this vessel, and you guys couldn't follow me without it." Sky answered sadly. "Daddy is moving right now, so I can't tell you where he is."

"If his intent was to kidnap Bickslow, why bring him here first?" Kana asked them. "Seems kind of stupid to announce you're taking someone."

"Maybe he was being cocky." Gray suggested.

Sky moved to nuzzle Claire's stomach, humming comfortingly against her sore muscles.

"Seith mages are usually anti-social, so it's possible that he didn't think we'd put up a fight to get him back." Laxus suggested, taking a seat next to the sulking woman. "Show up, have Bickslow cut off ties to us, and then have him appear to leave of his own free will."

"It could also be a trap." Makarov stated. "If Claire is right about this guy being both a seith mage and necromancer, he could easily be luring you out. We need to be smart about this."

"If we can get Bickslow back while they're still in the city, there's less risk for people getting hurt." Claire spoke up, sighing as she looked up at the group. "Assuming he does use both magics, seith and necromancy, chances are that he's going to go to an isolated place with plenty of traps he's set up."

"Bixy is almost out of the city. Even if you left now, you wouldn't be able to catch him before he's gone." Sky hummed from her stomach, and her forehead met her arm again.

"If that's the situation, we should plan a rescue during daylight." Laxus stated, and the others nodded.

"We're going to leave Bickslow with that creep all night?" Claire asked, looking up at the blond.

"If he wanted him dead, he would have killed him already." Makarov told her, holding his shudder at the terrifying glare. "We still don't know why he was taken, and if he's using manipulation magic, it's possible that he's trying to make Bickslow switch sides or simply needs him for something. In both cases, it stands to reason that your boyfriend will be safe for the night."

"The Tinkerman responsible for our zombies is part of the Ghoul Guild. You think they might be trying to recruit him?" Claire asked, not missing the cringes of her fellow guild members.

"The 'Ghoul Guild'?" Lucy asked, confused by their reaction as well.

"If we're dealing with the Ghoul Guild, that's an entirely different situation." Makarov spoke.

"What are they? A wizard guild?" The celestial mage asked, still looking between the various mages.

"They're a dark guild that specializes in death magic." Laxus spoke. "It's mostly comprised of necromancers and seith mages, but also a variety of assassins. Bickslow was invited to join them once, but he turned them down, and I got the sense that there were no hard feelings. They generally welcome anyone that uses either of those two magics, and I've never heard of them forcefully initiating mages. It's one of the oldest, probably _the_ oldest dark guild, and as dark as they get."

"D-d-death magic?" Lucy stuttered, her eyes wide.

"I don't care what guild Tinkerman is from. I'm burning him alive for what he's done." Claire growled angrily.

"When you get Bickslow back, try to avoid confrontation as much as possible. Get there, grab Bickslow, and run." Makarov spoke, locking eyes with the fire woman. "Don't try to take on the entire guild."

"I don't intend to start a war. The only people I'll hurt are the ones that get between me and Bickslow, and anyone that hurt him."

"We're going to get him back. Don't worry so much." Natsu said nearby, and patted her not-so-gently on the back. "And besides, he's a Fairy Tail wizard. He'll be fine."

"Going with the assumption that the man kidnapping Bickslow is the same necromancer from the island," Claire spoke, getting the conversation back on track. "I'm guessing that he'll take Bickslow somewhere secluded. Judging by his set up at the island, I'm guessing an abandoned castle or other large building in the middle of a forest. He'll probably have ghost landmines around the perimeter and other seith oriented means of defense."

"Are you saying we can't do this without a seith mage?" Laxus asked.

"With Sky's eyes we'll be able to avoid any of those landmines and defend us. That being said, we'll have to move slow, and any mistake could kill us."

"So we need a small team, preferably one that has dealt with this style of magic before." Laxus surmised. "Have Fried and Ever returned from their job?" He asked, turning to Mira.

"No. Makarov sent them on a secret mission." She replied, to which Laxus turned to the old man.

"They won't be back for a few days." He told him.

"Then Claire and I will rescue Bicks while we have a second team on stand by, in case we need back up."

The door banged open, and most of the group turned at the sudden loud noise, rolling their eyes when they realized who it was. "You guys aren't closed, you're having a secret meeting. Anything juicy?" Bacchus asked with a grin, closing the door behind him. "Is my sister around?"

"Now's not a good time, bro." Claire told him, not bothering to look up at the man.

"Why the hell not?" He asked, striding forward with his hands in his pockets.

"Bickslow was kidnapped. We're figuring out a rescue plan." Laxus informed him.

"What? Seriously? Why aren't you, like, freaking out and destroying the town searching for him? I thought you liked him?" Bacchus asked, grabbing a chair to sit next to the checker woman, who made a loud whining sound in response.

"She got hit with Bickslow's strongest attack. She can barely stand." Laxus explained.

"Yeesh, all of his souls at once? Few years back he hit me with that. I was out for a week." Bacchus said, making a face at the memory.

"Wendy used her healing magic on me, so I should be good by tomorrow." Claire said, sighing as she looked up at her brother.

"What about your soul?" Sky asked.

"What _about_ your soul?" Porlyusica asked nearby, and Claire glared.

"You're still here?" The checker woman asked.

"You didn't mention that your soul was damaged." Wendy added from her spot, and Claire rolled her eyes.

"Bickslow can fix it when we get him back. Being around Sky tonight will help heal it in the mean time." She said, and made another whining sound when Laxus slapped her upside the head.

"Idiot."

"Damaging your soul is pretty serious, Claire." Bacchus told her.

"So are 90% of the injuries I get as of late. Lucky for me, my boyfriend specializes in human souls, so he can actually heal this one."

9.

Bickslow wasn't entirely sure what was happening.

Every time he started to get a grasp on his situation, he'd forget it again. His memory was shit.

Every time he tried to recall how he'd gotten there, it hurt his head, and he was distracted by something. The distraction ruined any chance he'd had at figuring out his situation, but even if he had gotten that far as to figure out how he got there, figuring out the 'why' and what to do about it were well out of his grasp.

This time it was a pair of lips moving against his own that distracted him, and warm flesh beneath his fingertips. It felt nice, and smelled pleasant.

He didn't remember Claire having such large breasts.

He pulled away to look at her, but she immediately dove for his neck, and the hand on his crotch made him forget the previous thought.

"I love you, Claire."

"Claire cheated on you, remember?" A masculine voice whispered in his ear, and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, trying to grasp what he was saying.

"… But Claire loves me."

"Claire hurt you." The voice said.

"Claire wouldn't do that."

"She did. She fucked your best friend, Laxus. That's why Sarah is in your arms, and I'm your new best friend."

Bickslow looked down, and the woman on him pushed him so that his back met the mattress. She had long dark hair and near black eyes, her very large breasts were bare and calling out to him. "You're not Claire." He said, confused, and groaned at the friction on his pants. "I love Claire."

He tried to push her off with limited success, instead feeling something grab his wrists and pin them above his head. It wasn't the woman, and in his hazy mind, he couldn't register what was pinning him down.

The strange woman's hand dipped into his pants.

"No, get off," Bickslow spoke, struggling against whatever was holding him down and the way his body reacted to her touch. Without his permission he ejaculated into the strange woman's hand, and darkness encased his mind, knocking him out.

10.

Mira, Bacchus, and Gray were the back up.

Claire still felt like shit the next morning. As long as she could walk and keep Sky bound to his vessel, it didn't matter.

Upon reaching the edge of the Phoenix Mountains, the back up stayed behind, where they would stay until they saw a signal flare. Laxus and Claire went ahead with Sky guiding them through the thick forest.

She had been right in thinking that their kidnapper would escape to an abandoned castle. After 4 hours of hiking through the woods, and surprisingly no traps they could find, they eventually came to the stone building. Instead of entering immediately they stood on the sidelines and observed it, letting Sky do a perimeter sweep for any guards.

"Our goal is to get Bickslow, and get out." Laxus reminded her.

"And his babies."

"Only if you're able."

"I'm not leaving without Bickslow _and_ his babies." She told him, glaring. "They're his family. And they're mine, too."

"Fine, but be careful. Avoid any unnecessary battles, and don't run in half-cocked fire blazing like you usually do. We go about this my way, which means that if I tell you to do something, you do it. If we do this wrong, we could start a war between our guilds, and Fairy Tail will lose."

"I know what's at stake. You're an S-Ranked wizard for a reason, and I trust you." She told him, looking him in the eye. He nodded, looking up when Sky flew back to them.

"There are a few undead bodies walking around, but nothing else. It looks unguarded."

"I guess he wasn't expecting company." Claire commented.

"That, or the old man was right about it being a trap." Laxus said thoughtfully.

"They didn't leave a scent trail for us to follow, and the only way we tracked them was with seith magic, which isn't common. It could be a trap, but it's possible he didn't count on me knowing seith magic."

"For now we'll go in under that assumption, but keep your guard up. The Ghoul Guild is no joke."

"Neither is my hellfire."

"Let's go."


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note:** This was a difficult chapter to write. Sad themes, but also a little bit of fluff to try and counter it.

 **Walking Cliché 18**

 _Beware the Necromancer_

Claire torched the three zombies they happened across. Just like the trees she had used for fuel in the past, they were used just the same. The resulting smell made the dragonslayer raise his nose every time, but he said nothing.

They were quiet in their search for Bickslow, following the small soul lighting their path with fire magic. The castle was eerily quiet and dark, with the only other light being dim lacrima hung from the ceiling. Laxus had further taught her how to conceal her magic on their last job, so both of them could maneuver through the large building without detection.

Although Sky could sense where Bickslow was, the castle was like a giant maze, making it difficult to actually reach him.

Using their heightened hearing, they could hear a myriad of sounds throughout the old castle. Wind blowing through the stone cracks, the creaking of old boards, and down in the dungeon they could hear the undead screams of what they presumed were zombies in the making.

"We're going in circles." Laxus whispered, stopping in his tracks. Claire did the same, turning to him. They'd been walking for what felt like days, when it had only been a couple of hours, in almost literal circles. Bickslow was somewhere in the center of the castle, and they had been walking around that center for over an hour with no doorway to lead them inside. "Can you burn through walls?"

"I could melt them, but that risks collapsing the floor. This castle is old and unstable." The checker woman whispered back.

"We'll have to risk it. Sky, can you go in first to see what we're up against?" Laxus asked the little soul.

"I would have to leave my vessel, but yes." Sky replied, and floated over to Claire's extended hands, ceasing to glow. Darkness encompassed the hallway as the pair waited patiently for the soul to return. The screams from down below kept them on edge.

Once Sky returned to the vessel, he lit up in flames again.

"Dad is asleep next to a dead girl, and the other seith mage is sitting and staring at an old photo."

"Could you see any traps? Any indication that he knows we're here?" Laxus asked.

"No. He looks drunk."

"Did he see you?" Claire asked.

"I don't think so. There's a lot of wandering souls in the surrounding area, so I blended right in."

"There's other souls?" Claire asked. "For the record, Sky, you should have mentioned that first."

"Sorry, mommy." He said meekly.

"How many?" Laxus asked.

"They're not bound to anyone. They're just… wandering in the hallway between here and dad. They don't seem mean or anything, just… wandering." Sky explained, and the two mages exchanged a worried glance.

"Trap?" The blond asked.

"It could be… it could also be storage. If they're not bound, and they're not benevolent…" She said with a shrug. "I'd imagine the only way around them would be to enter the room from above or below. Above would probably be best, but we risk detection."

"Sky, are there any souls above them?" Laxus asked.

"Not that I saw. It's just an empty room."

"That empty room could be a trap, too. Your call." Claire said, her blue eyes meeting his.

1.

Laxus stood by the door while Claire floated on the vessel to avoid her footsteps being heard. After taking another deep breath, and briefly closing her eyes to steady herself, she mentally prepared and reviewed the plan in her head. Once her nerves had calmed down enough, she readied the fire churning heatedly in her belly.

She sent a pillar of her fire downwards, effectively melting a hole into the ground. Dropping into the room, she sent her flames out and effectively blinded anyone in there, and her fire magic locked onto her target.

Tinkerman screamed out in alarm, his head on fire and her magic zeroing in on his eyes, to prevent him from using soul possession on her. As she stood and made sure there were no others than the people Sky mentioned hiding in the room, she returned her attention to the now screaming man, striding forward and grabbing his throat to cease the screams. She forced him to the ground, hand still on his neck, her eyes temporarily straying from his flailing form to take in the room. It was dimly lit like the rest of the castle, and just as Sky said, Bickslow was sleeping soundly on a bed nearby.

It was only slightly bigger than a small storage room, and the only furniture was a bed, wooden chair, and desk. A few articles of clothing were strewn on the ground, one of which was Bickslow's visor.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you." Claire told the man squirming under her, who was unable to grab her, as every time he tried his hands were burned. Her fire magic had depleted the majority of his magic, rendering him defenseless.

His eyes were burned out of their sockets by now.

"You wouldn't kill me. If you're as great as Bickslow-" He spoke when she'd lessened her grip on his throat, but then pushed down again.

"You kidnapped and potentially molested the love of my life. Either give me a reason to not kill you, or you're going to be ashes."

He gasped when she allowed air to flow into his wind pipe. Claire could hear Laxus hop down from the floor above, and his footsteps to his friend.

"I'm… I'm his friend." He cracked.

"5… 4… 3…"

"You won't kill me."

"2…."

His heart beat faster with each number she spoke.

"He's… I just wanted a partner. You can have him back."

"1." She scorched his throat so that he couldn't say anything else, and when he tried to grab her arm to relinquish the death grip, his hands caught fire. He squirmed in his silent screams as the fire ate him alive, and when she felt his soul move beneath her hands, burned that, too.

"What happened… what is that smell…?" A small voice croaked, and after the last ashes fell to the ground, she stood up, looking over to the bed.

Bickslow's wide green eyes were looking frantically around the room, his skin pale and his movements sluggish as he tried to sit upright.

"Dude, chill out. It's going to be okay." Laxus comforted, looking his friend up and down. He was still fully clothed, aside from the hood and visor, but he could smell the dead woman all over him.

Claire walked over to the bed and quickly checked the woman's neck for a pulse, then crawled over to the wide-eyed and confused seith mage.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Claire asked softly, her hands moving to the side of his face and making him look at her.

"My head hurts. Everything is foggy." He spoke, and she nodded sympathetically, noticing that his pupils were extremely dilated. "Where am I? What happened?"

"We'll figure all of that out once we get you out of here and get you cleaned up." She said, keeping his gaze away from the naked woman just a few feet away. "All that matters is that you're safe. Laxus is going to get you out of here while I get our- your, babies. I'm going to get your babies and meet you guys outside."

"We shouldn't split up." Laxus spoke next to her.

"I don't sense any other mages in the castle, and if I run into trouble, I'll call you." She said, turning to Laxus but keeping her tone calm. "Bixy is still under the effects of whatever he was drugged with, so the priority is to get him out of this castle. Sky can protect me against the souls and I can protect myself from the bodies."

After a few more comforting words to her boyfriend, she kissed his forehead and hopped back on Sky, floating back out the way they came.

She had left out the part where Bickslow's babies were in the basement, where the screams were coming from.

Running down the dim hallway and no longer concerned with 'getting caught', she had Sky glow brighter so that she could see better. On her way down the 6 flights of stairs, she had to lean on the soul from time to time to keep her balance.

The screams were getting louder as she got closer, and towards the end of her run, she found herself standing outside of a thick wooden door. "They're inside." Sky informed her, and she nodded, reaching out to the handle and pulled.

When it wouldn't budge, and she realized it was magically sealed, she used her fire to set it aflame.

She was thankful for her indifference to human corpses, otherwise it would have been creepy as shit. Or maybe she had been desensitized by the years of gory video games.

No time to think about that.

It was an extremely large room with 50+ metal slates protruding from the walls, holding up bodies held down by chains. There were five bodies screaming writhing agony, all of them in various states of decay. The room reeked of death.

Sky flew over to the closest screaming corpse, and Claire noticed one of Bickslow's empty totem vessels sitting by it. With a sinking realization, it dawned on her that the screaming bodies were his babies.

Her babies.

Her babies had been bound to corpses, and they were in excruciating pain.

"How do I get them out?" Claire asked, walking over to the writhing body. She attentively reached a hand out and placed her palm on the dead man's forehead, her gaze locking onto the brown grotesque eyes of Poppo.

"Take the vessel and place it on his chest, then put your magic into it, and his soul should go back into it."

"But he's already got two other mage's magic in him. Won't that hurt him?"

"He's already in pain. Please, Claire." The sound in his voice combined with the look in Poppo's eyes broke her heart, and if it was possible for her to cry, she would have broken down right there. Instead she pushed back her emotions and quickly reached down, doing as Sky instructed, taking a shaky breath as she put her magic in the empty vessel.

The body beneath her hands stilled.

His head rolled to the side.

"Mommy!" Poppo screamed, flying into her arms. She held him back, and with the encouragement of Sky, went to do the same to the other souls. After returning the souls back to their vessels, they all clung to her like magnets, and she turned to leave when she heard a strange voice across the room.

She had forgot to check if anyone living was in the room.

"How long have you been using seith magic?" A masculine voice asked, and Claire jumped, having not expected the voice. She instantly turned, regaining her posture and facing the man.

"I just came here to retrieve my boyfriend and his wandering souls." She told him, narrowing her eyes at him. He was dressed from head-to-to in rubber and waterproof gear, and she had no doubt that he was a fellow necromancer. Likely Tinkerman's partner.

"I suspect that my student took him by force?" He asked, making no movement towards her. His voice was clear, articulate, and Claire guessed that he was very educated by the way he carried himself. She stayed on guard.

"Yes."

"He mentioned trying to persuade Bickslow to join our guild. I was afraid he would resort to less than civil means, and I apologize for any problems that he has caused you. I promise to discipline him thoroughly, and this won't happen again."

"I've already disciplined him. If anyone from your guild attacks Fairy Tail again, they'll meet the same fate." She told him, and although half of his face was covered, she guessed that he smiled beneath the plastic on his face by the way his eyes wrinkled.

"A Fairy Tail wizard killing someone from my guild? I'm surprised. I didn't think you wizards had it in you."

"He came to my guild and attacked my friend. Self-defense, pure and simple." She explained, wondering if he was going to retaliate. "… Are you going to try and avenge him?"

"Oh, I'm hardly upset- in fact I'm rather amused. It was bound to happen sooner or later, as he was a rather pompous student and hardly one of the brightest. I was hoping to get a little more use out of him, but I suppose it can't be helped."

"So was Death Island your doing or his?" She asked, and heard the man chuckle, his voice oddly… normal, sounding.

"That was our training ground. There were already plenty of bodies there from over the years, so it was the ideal place to teach him. If you don't mind me saying, you don't seem phased by the bodies here." He said, eyeing her, and she simply stared back. "Just like with every other seith and necromancer, you are welcome to join my guild. We have been dwindling in numbers over the past few years, and welcome new members."

"Not interested in joining a dark guild. Stay away from Fairy Tail." She said, and with that, left the death ridden room.

2.

The apartment was dark.

She'd unbound Bickslow's souls upon their return to the apartment, along with Sky. It was now only her and the sleeping seith mage, who looked to be having constant nightmares.

Porlyusica and the others had left hours ago. She had determined that physically he would be fine, and just needed rest. The drugs would leave his system over the next few days.

Claire was sitting next to Bickslow, hunched over and legs criss-crossed beneath her. Her hand found its way to his face on more than one occasion, especially when it seemed like his nightmares were at their worst, and lovingly she'd stroke his cheek with her thumb until he calmed down again. Since the others had left, she had changed him into clean clothes, but she could still smell the stench of the earlier events on him. Once he was awake, she'd ask him to shower while she changed the sheets and aired out the house.

After taking care of Bickslow, Porlusica had officially bandaged her up and gave her a check up. Claire got the usual speech about not overdoing it, how she should rest for the next few days, blah blah blah. Once she got the 'okay' she was next to Bickslow again, watching over him.

 _I'm the one that gets harpooned on a monthly basis, yet you're the one lying here unconscious. Even with all the guards and precautions you take, you're here… like this._

She felt helpless.

3.

"How's your boyfriend holding up?" Bacchus asked his sister, sitting with her at a random bar in town. It had been a week since the Ghoul Guild incident, and this was her first time out of the house since then. They didn't want to be subjected to the eyes of the entire guild, so they had voted on going someplace new.

This bar didn't really stand out compared to the other ones they'd been to, and it was average in every sense of the word. Live music was playing, medium amount of people, average prices. Old band posters signed by the artists were along the walls.

"He feels guilty and overall terrible. He's hanging out with Laxus today." She explained, and took a drink from her mojito. "Physically he's fine, but he still hasn't talked to his babies about the whole thing, which is worrisome."

"How are you holding up?" He asked.

"Pissed off and insecure."

"You already killed the guy that hurt him. What are you pissed off about?"

"That it happened." She replied, not looking at him. "Just one attack and I was out. I could barely walk. If I had gone after him instead of waiting around all night…"

"Speaking of which, how's your soul?"

"Bickslow is so freaked out that I haven't asked him to fix it. I figure that I'll sit around and rest for the next few weeks with him, heal up some of my wounds that Porlyusica has been hassling me about, and go from there."

"Good. After fighting our sister and the games, you should have been resting anyway." He said pointedly, and she shrugged.

"Couldn't be helped. Every time I relax, someone tries to kill me or someone close to me. It's getting pretty annoying, actually."

"Did your guild master ever tell you who our brother is?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"Apparently our baby brother wants to remain anonymous for the time being. I'm guessing it's someone in Fairy Tail."

"Why do you say that?"

"Makarov says that he lives in Magnolia, and if he asked him to remain quiet about his identity, that means he knew that the old man was going to tell us about him. My guess is that our bro is a wizard at Fairy Tail, and wanted to learn about me first, or is nervous about meeting me in person, so he asked Makarov to stay quiet."

 _Claire is probably the most terrifying mage at Fairy Tail, I don't blame him for being cautious._ Bacchus thought to himself, recalling the terrifying glares and growls from last week. Hell, she could turn into a hellish fire creature at any given moment. Who wouldn't be scared of that? _Still…_ "Assuming you're right. Any guesses on who it is?"

"I figure that he's either made little to no interaction with me and watched me from afar, blending with my recent fans, or… it's Laxus." She said, and her brother gave her a confused look. "Laxus found out he was adopted a few months ago, and Erza told him that he had family in the guild, but wouldn't tell him who unless he asked. Right before the games he started acting differently around me, so I'm guessing that she told him, and then he asked Makarov to not say anything."

"I think that might be wishful thinking, sis."

"I know, and I'm probably completely off-base. But you have to admit, he looks almost exactly like grandpa Elk when he was his age. It's uncanny."

"I don't remember much about him, honestly." He said, and the woman grunted, taking another sip of her drink and looking at the live band. "Just don't get your hopes up, alright? Technically you don't know if he's even in Fairy Tail. For all you know, your guild master doesn't even know where our brother is, and was using it to get you competing in the games."

"My guild master has made a lot of stupid decisions, but he wouldn't lie like that. At this point I don't care who my brother is, I just want to know who he is."

"Same." Bacchus grumbled. He had intended at the beginning of their brother-sister time to cheer up the mopey woman, but by the end she'd somehow put him in an equally sour mood. "And if he is at Fairy Tail and learns about us, he'll probably terrified or mortified."

"Why do you say that?"

"You're a terrifying fire… lady… thing," He said, gesturing at her awkwardly with his hand. "People think I'm a drunk, our sister is an assassin, our older brother turned into a literal stupid tree, and our parents are dead."

"Well when you put it that way…" She sighed, and realized that she'd finished her drink. "On the other hand, if all of us are screwed up, what are the chances of our brother being normal? He could be a raging psychopath for all we know."

"You're such an optimist." He said sarcastically, and she chuckled, looking up at him.

"Honestly? If any of us had a good chance of adapting to this world, Kale did. He grew up here, and wouldn't have had to deal with the culture shock the rest of us did."

"On the other hand…"

4.

"Movies and cuddles?" She asked hopefully, looking up at her boyfriend. They were still in bed and had just woken up, or more specifically, she had just woken up. Bickslow had been staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression his face, hands behind his head, and she'd been snuggled up to his side as she slept. This had been a usual thing as of late, along with the lack of reciprocation in affectionate caresses.

"Sure." He replied, not bothering to look at her.

Shifting and leaning in towards him, she placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Good morning, my love." She whispered in his ear, and then crawled away to get out of bed. As she left the room, clad in her pajamas, she felt his eyes on her.

She knew why he had been distant, but it didn't make it any less painful.

He thought that he had cheated on her, and he felt guilty as hell over it. He was afraid of even touching her, as if her fire would burn him at any second, and it broke her heart every time to see that expression. She had to initiate almost all contact with him, and it felt weird to say the least.

The apartment felt cold that morning, or afternoon. Bickslow and Claire had reverted to their natural sleep rhythms in the absence of spending time with his team, although they had visited once or twice. She made her way into the kitchen and got her usual cup of coffee, or technically 'Eastern Gonzao tea'.

Bickslow left the bedroom, and since she was still preparing her tea, paid no mind to what he was doing. She figured that he was either going to get breakfast or prepare his own drink, and jumped in surprise when she felt his hands on her waist. Setting her mug down on the counter, her face turned pink at the gentle nudge of his crotch against her rear.

More blood rushed to her face at the lips that pressed against the sensitive skin of her neck.

He abruptly pulled her waist against him, and she gasped when his throbbing member pressed particularly hard against the sensitive area. Back flushed against his chest, one of his hands reached up to massage her breast while the other fondled the hem of her pants. Unlike their usual foreplay, his movements weren't gentle and loving. They felt awkward, rushed, and rough.

"I like the enthusiasm, but could you slow down a bit?" She asked awkwardly, cringing at the annoyed stare she got in return.

"You don't want me to pleasure you?" He asked, and under his scrutinizing stare, her face heated up again.

"I'm all for the pleasuring, I just… this feels… rushed. You've been so distant for the past week, and this is so sudden…. If you really feel up for it, I don't mind continuing, but I'd prefer to move to the couch or bedroom." Claire said, her voice weak. His erection was still pressed against a rather sensitive part of her anatomy, and although she had been missing sexy times over the past week, feared that rushing into anything could ruin their relationship. Plus, _ow_.

"You're obviously not into it. Never mind." He grumbled, removing himself from her. She turned, watching him go towards their bedroom, and decided to go after him. Grabbing either side of his waist, she stopped him in the living room, hugging him from behind.

"Don't be like that." She said, her voice a bit rougher than she'd intended. She placed a kiss on the back of his clothed shoulder, holding him flush against her.

"Like what?"

"Don't dismiss me like that."

"You don't want to have sex, and that's fine. I just need time to cool down."

"I never said I didn't want to have sex, I asked if we could move to a different location for it. Considering how long it's been since you orgasmed, it would probably be a good stress reliever for you. You're really tense." She whispered, and started moving her hands over his chest, beginning to massage the taught muscles. He leaned against her slightly, and let out a shaky breath.

"How can you still want to have sex with me after what I did?"

"You were drugged. You were taken advantage of when you were vulnerable, and it wasn't your fault."

"It's not like I was raped."

"You were sexually assaulted without your given consent. Just because you're a guy, doesn't make it any less traumatic." She spoke, and she felt him tense under her touch again as a heavy silence followed. Her hands stopped moving, not wanting to further the suddenly uncomfortable situation. She could feel his heart racing, and as she placed her ear against his back, could hear the pulsing organ pumping blood through his body. "I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner to stop it from happening."

A dry laugh left his chapped lips. "If anyone is at fault, it's definitely not yours. Laxus told me about how you went back for my babies. Thank you."

"I'm glad you didn't see them like that." She whispered, and placed another kiss on his shoulder. "Why don't we do the movie thing? I haven't had my coffee yet."

Keeping her arms around him, he turned around to face her, and placed a small kiss on her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too. Buuut… coffee?" She asked, looking up at him with a grin. He laughed for the first time that week, and her heart soared.

5.

The next day in the Guild Hall, Claire groaned, looking down at the fancy piece of paper in her hands. "Do I have to?" She asked, and looked back up at Makarov. "Can't someone else go? People request me all time and Mira has other people take my place."

"It isn't a job, Claire. It's a party." Erza said with a smile. "And Senator Mitski came all the way here and invited us personally to it. It would be extremely rude to decline."

"I'll just tell him it's a medical thing. Between the harpoon to my heart, anti-magic stabby wounds from my sister, soul damage, fractured and broken ribs, I'm sure he'll understand if I sit this one out." She told her, holding up her fingers to keep track of the number of near-lethal injuries she'd accumulated over the past few months.

"You're going. The Senator is extremely influential in not only the Magic Council, but socially, as well. He's an extremely valuable client, and I expect you all to be on your best behavior." The older man stated, narrowing his eyes at the other wizards in the small group. It was basically Team Natsu plus Claire, and he couldn't imagine a more destructive group.

"How much you want to bet that Natsu and Gray will destroy the place by the end of the night?" Claire asked.

"There will be plenty of food and other events to keep them occupied, not to mention the magic dampening fields if they do get in a fight." Erza assured her. "This party is infamous, I'm surprised you've never heard of it."

"Yeah, where have you been living? Under a rock?" Gray asked, and she glared.

"No, I've been living on another world."

"Yeah, idiot." Sky added from behind her, and she looked over, smiling at him.

"I'm definitely going to enjoy having you around." She said to the floating soul, and then turned back to the group.

"This is the 'Secret Crystal Ball'. It's extremely difficult to get into, and the Senator is extremely thorough when he chooses who attends." Lucy explained. "It's the best masquerade ball in the world. He literally chooses people around the world to attend, so you literally have no idea the people are there, and the entertainment is supposed to be the best."

"Usually at least one or two wizards from the most prestigious wizard guilds are chosen every year." Erza added. "This is the most I've ever seen invited to it from one guild."

"Have you been to it before?" Lucy asked.

"Yes. Once, and it was the most amazing night of my life. I still prize the dress that I wore that night." The red head said, sparkles in her eyes as she recalled the event. Not convinced, Claire looked down at her invitation.

 _To Claire Smith of Fairy Tail,_

 _You have been invited to the Crystal Ball event._

 _When: August 2_ _nd_ _, X791_

 _Where: To be announced upon arrival. A carriage will arrive at your Guild Hall at 4:00 PM. The event will not officially start until 7:00 PM, and a return trip will be arranged when all parties from your guild have decided to return home._

 _What to bring: A tailor will arrive at the home address provided by your guild to make your dress for the party on August 1_ _st_ _, X791._

"A tailor?" Claire asked, frowning. "Can't I just wear the thing I got at the 'Grand Ball' whatever from the King?"

"No, they make you new outfits for the event." Erza told her. "They make the dresses from scratch, specially made for the person. They're really quite remarkable."

"I can't believe we're invited to the Secret Crystal Ball!" Lucy said giddily, smiling and bubbling with excitement.

"It should be pretty fun." Gray agreed.

"Why aren't you more excited, Claire?" Wendy asked, looking up at the still skeptical woman staring at her invite.

"I'm not much of a party person, and I'd rather stay home with Bickslow, to be honest. Or even killing zombies or hunting down monsters." She said, and looked up in time to see Erza grab her wrist roughly and pull her away from the group. "I- hey! Let go! What's the big idea?" Claire asked the S-Ranked wizard, being led across the Guild Hall and to the stairs, going up to the 'S-Ranked section', where her team were all sitting and enjoying a drink.

"Bickslow," Erza spoke, and at the sight of the terrifying woman, the seith mage straightened his posture and readied himself to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

"Y-yes?" He stuttered, but then coughed in his hand and cleared his throat. "I mean, yes Erza?"

"Convince your girlfriend to be more excited about the Crystal Ball." She ordered, causing the group to blink up at her in surprise.

"You got invited to the Crystal Ball? Lucky!" Evergreen said, pouting.

"If I pretend to be excited, will you let go of me with your death grip?" Claire asked, glaring at the red head. Ever since the 'destroying her apartment' thing at the Girls Dormitory, not to mention her keeping her brother's identity from her, she wasn't exactly fond of the woman.

"You're a wizard of Fairy Tail. Act like it." Erza glared.

"Should I destroy half the guild hall and some random girl's apartment while I'm at it?" Claire countered, glaring back.

"You need to get your attitude checked."

"Right back at you. Now remove your hand or I'll burn it off." Claire threatened. Before their staring contest could escalate into a full on fight, Evergreen stood up and hooked her arm with Claire's free one.

"Erza, we'll talk to Claire and explain why this ball is going to be the most amazing event of her life, don't worry. You guys probably didn't explain it well enough, and she is from another planet, after all. Sometimes her skull is a little thick to things like this." Evergreen explained, and although the checker woman knew that she was just trying to stop a fight from happening, she couldn't help but feel insulted by the skull comment.

Both Erza and Claire turned their glares to her, and she smiled awkwardly.

"Good. I better not hear any more complaints from you." The red head stated, letting go of her wrist. She turned and left to go back to the main floor.

Bickslow whistled once she was far enough away. "What did you do to piss her off?"

"I said that I'm still recovering from injuries and would rather stay home." She said, and pulled up a nearby chair and turned it, as per her usual sitting style. "I probably should have hid my dislike of it better, but I'm tired of jobs aimed to improving the status of the guild. I keep almost dying every time Makarov asks me to do them, and according to him, this is a big deal or something."

"But this is a party." Evergreen emphasized as she returned to her seat next to Bickslow.

"Think of it more as a reward." Fried offered.

"Have you guys been to this 'Crystal Ball'?" She asked, holding up the invitation and then setting it down on the table.

"Yeah, we all have at one point. Laxus has gone twice." Evergreen stated, not hiding her jealous look.

"It's actually a lot of fun. They have dancers, great food, lots of entertainment, fireworks," Bickslow listed off, trying to recall the things that were there when he went, along with the things he'd heard about other years. "Free prizes."

"It is the most elegant, beautiful, amazing event in the world." Evergreen said with a sigh, resting the side of her face on her palm and smiling happily.

"When is it?" Bickslow asked.

"Tailor shows up tomorrow. The party is the next day." Claire replied.

"Erza has a point." Laxus commented, causing her to look up at him. "You should be a little more grateful. People would kill to be invited, and some people pay millions of dollars to attend."

She sighed. "I'm sorry for not being excited. I just have a bad feeling about it."

"You are going to have an awesome time. Don't worry about it so much." Bickslow assured her, and Fried brought their conversation back to their earlier topics.

6.

Claire stared out the window at the rolling hills, trying to ignore the bickering ice and fire mage. Luckily the carriage canceled out their magic so that they wouldn't destroy their mode of transportation, but their voices were annoying, and she hoped that Erza would shut them up soon. It was a fairly large carriage, but it was small for the 8 people.

Lucy sat across from her, lost in her own world as she smiled and occasionally giggled, likely thinking about the event they were going to. The checker woman tried to mirror her enthusiasm; however, her thoughts always ended up in a darker place. It didn't help that the beautiful blond looked absolutely amazing in her decadent dress, as did Erza, while Claire was stuck wearing pants again. Given how decorated and detailed it was, it wasn't much more comfortable than a dress, and she found herself jealous of the other girls. She never felt self-conscious about her appearance when she was with Bickslow, and she wished that he was there with her.

In order to appease Erza, Claire tried to think of other things to cheer herself up and pretend like she was excited. Thinking about 'zombies' usually caused her to smile, but after a while, that trick got old and stopped working. She tried thinking about the plentiful mojitos that would be present at the party, along with the amazing food, and that also cheered her up. Again, her thoughts always wandered, and she ended up thinking about her recent experience with the Ghoul Guild.

She wished that Sky could have at least accompanied her. As a 'test run' of sorts, Claire had been trying out having the small soul remain in a vessel around her. He followed her around the Guild Hall and town, always on fire, sometimes adding to her conversations with people or just keeping her company.

Given her recent encounter with the Ghoul Guild, Sky made her feel safe. Bickslow admitted that he felt the same when he was invited to the party, since souls weren't allowed, but he still had fun.

 _If I am in a bad fanfic, this writer sucks. I already attended a 'fancy ball', and she/he is just reusing old crap they've already written about. If Laxus turns out to be my brother, that'll be a repeat too, since one of my first missions with Bacchus was zombie oriented, and then my first mission with just Laxus was the same thing. How lame can they get?_

The pressure of something on her lap caused her to look down, surprised to find Happy staring up at her with a smile.

"You better cheer up before Erza kills you." The blue cat said, and she chuckled, glancing up at the annoyed red head. While Claire had been lost in her own thoughts, the red head had turned her evil glare to the checker woman.

"Are you mad at me for staring off into space?" Claire asked, quirking an eyebrow at the red head.

"I want everything to turn out perfectly." She replied, visibly tense. Claire's gaze moved to the floor, where both Natsu and Gray were groaning in pain.

"… beating up your teammates makes it perfect?" Claire asked curiously, smirking at the rising anger on Erza's face. She knew she was asking for trouble, but the fire mage was a fighter, not a dancer. Fighting would be a welcome pass time for her, injured or not.

Looking into her eyes and body language, Erza knew it would be stupid to start a fight with Claire in the carriage. Erza would win in a fist fight with the less experienced fighter, of course, but she'd proven herself more durable than Natsu and Gray. If the two mages got in a fight not only would their clothes be ruined, but so would their hair and the manicure Erza had spent so much time on. Not to mention the carriage itself.

The S-Class mage's face twitched in attempt to keep her mouth shut at the silent challenge.

7.

Claire couldn't help but be impressed when they arrived.

Upon entering the massive door, standing well over 50 feet tall, they were immersed in a world of beauty and wonder. The building looked bigger than a football stadium. Dancers gracefully floated across the dance floor, beautiful and elegant acrobats moved down pieces of fabric hanging from the ceiling, an orchestra played classical music, and there was a buffet table bigger than anything Claire had seen.

That was the biggest, most diverse, beautiful buffet table she had ever seen. _God damn that's impressive._

"So Claire, are you-" Lucy started to ask, but when she turned to talk to the checker woman, found that she was already snacking down at the food table with Natsu, Gray, and Happy. "Geez, she really is a guy."

"This place is amazing!" Wendy exclaimed, her eyes wide and glittering at the spectacle.

Since it was a masquerade ball, all of the wizards wore masks, and separated to do their own thing. Given their rather flamboyant personalities, Lucy was the only one that actually blended into the crowd.

At one point, both Natsu and Claire burped fire, and they exchanged a wide grin.

"You do that too!?" Natsu asked excitedly.

"Well, yeah. Who doesn't?" She replied, and both of them snickered happily. After the initial shock of so much amazing food and devouring large quantities of it at the buffet table, the four mages made their plates and sat down at a table to enjoy their food piles and chat. The two fire mages were pleasantly surprised at the fire lacrima made available to them, and got to further bond over their love for fire.

"It's crazy how much you two are getting along." Gray commented, watching the pair taste test some of the fire together, and then critique it like normal food.

"It's like they were made for each other." Happy said next to him. "They're in looooove~"

"According to the fan girls, Natsu and I are supposed to be mortal enemies fighting for Lucy's love." Claire informed him between their 'fire samplers'. "Dude. I wonder if they have shots versions of these?" The fire woman suddenly asked the fire breather, who grinned wide in turn.

"This is going to end badly." Gray commented, smiling awkwardly at their excited babble and search for a waiter.

"At least she's having fun. Erza almost killed her on the way here." Happy commented, and munched on the fish in his paws. "Their fish is amazing~"

"She almost killed me on the way here…" Gray muttered.

Lucky for Claire and Natsu, they convinced the bartender to make them fire themed drinks and have them sent to their table. It was an open bar and they weren't the only ones making use of it, as they passed by several other already drunk and merry guests.

When they made it back to their table, talking about different flavors of fire, they were surprised to see the angry form of Erza standing there. Her arms were crossed and foot was tapping.

"You won, and I'm having a great time. What are you mad about now?" Claire asked the red head.

"You're not supposed to use magic here. You're scaring the other guests with your blatant fire magic."

"We're not hurting anyone. Well, Natsu caught someone's hair on fire, but they're fine. We'll try to keep the fire magic down to a minimum." Claire told her, and was happy by the relaxed reaction from the woman.

"Good. I'm glad you're having a good time."

"Now why aren't you having fun? Go dance or something." Claire told her, and then felt a tapping on her shoulder. Turning, she was surprised that a man was trying to get her attention.

He was adorned in a mask like everyone else, so she wouldn't be able to recognize him, but he was wearing a very fancy green and pink outfit. His green hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, curled and styled professionally. "Are you all having a good time?" He asked, standing next to her.

"Yes, we are." Erza replied with a smile. "Are you?"

"Yes, I always enjoy my uncle's parties." He replied, and the red head's cheeks turned pink, and she visibly stiffened again.

"Y-you're the nephew of the Senator?" She stuttered, and the man nodded.

"My name is Clarence." He said, and gave a short bow to her. "I presume you are Erza?"

"Yes, how did you know?" She asked, laughing awkwardly.

"You Fairy Tail mages stand out from the crowd, even with the masks." He said with a charming smile. "Gray Fullbuster," He said, referring to the shirtless man. "Happy, Natsu Dragneel, and of course, Claire Smith. Is that your real last name, by the way?"

"Uh… no, it's not. When I came to this world I used a fake last name. My real last name is Groh." She explained, feeling awkward by the sudden attention from the stranger.

"'Claire Groh'… mind if I ask what your middle name is?"

"It's not much better. 'Riley'."

"Claire Riley Groh… it has an interesting… flow to it." He said, the charming smile returning to his face. "Would you like to dance?"

"I'm not a good dancer."

"Well I'm an excellent lead, so maybe together we can be an average dance couple?" He asked, and she blushed, having never been asked to dance before.

"She would love to. We're here to have fun, remember?" Erza interrupted, winking at the woman. "Bickslow will understand."

"Boyfriend, I presume?" Clarence asked, and she nodded. "It's only a dance, I promise. This is a ball, after all." He told her, and after a second deliberation, she nodded hesitantly.

"Alright, but I have two-left feet." Claire told him, and he merely chuckled, holding out his arm to her. She linked arms with the stranger and was escorted to the side of the dance hall.

He placed one hand on her back, just under her shoulder blade and under her armpit, while the other held her hand. "One of the biggest parts of dancing is frame. When I push you in a direction, you go that way. Other than that, just have fun."

"Okay." She said awkwardly, the blush never leaving her cheeks. Clarence seemed to be mentally counting the rhythm, and when he found a space in the swirling and elegant dancers, he pushed them onto the dancefloor.

As promised, Claire stumbled over her feet at the fast dance, but she tried her best. Her dance partner gave her encouraging comments about how well she was doing, and even though she felt incredibly awkward and weird, kind of enjoyed the strange movements in time with the music.

The orchestra slowed their bows to a more mellow state, indicating the transition to a new song, and the man looked down at her. "Since we came in halfway through the last song, will you dance with me for another song?"

"Sure." Claire replied, still in his arms.

A slow song came on, and he moved them towards the center of the dance hall so that they could do a simple box step. Other dancers glided around them, but there were a few other couples with the same idea they had. "So how long have you been using seith magic?" He asked, and she tensed.

"How did you know I use seith magic?" She asked, hoping that it had simply come up in his research. Since he knew the rest of her Fairy Tail comrades it stood to reason he would know about her magic, but the way he asked it sounded eerily familiar.

"I watched you use it to retrieve Bickslow's souls. You never answered me back then, so I figured that now would be the perfect time."

The phrase 'I told you so' was going to be yelled in her comrade's faces so much when she returned… if she returned.

"It can't have been for long. I reviewed the security lacrima in Tinkerman's room, and saw you only using one soul. Fire magic is your specialty." He continued speaking, and when she tried to push away, he kept his grip firm. "The way you killed my guild member… I have to say, that was quite the surprise. Should you ever find yourself wanting to expand on that lethal magic of yours, you're welcome to join my guild."

"Not interested." She said, not looking at him.

"Why do you think people use necromancy?" He asked, and she looked up at him, clenching her jaw and looking at his shoulder.

"That's something I've yet to understand." She started, recalling her previous thoughts on the topic. "I understand seith magic, when it's used to help souls move on, or even just for battle they're extremely useful and you can keep them for years. Bodies are only useful for a short amount of time, so I figure necromancy is only good for waging war or bringing specific loved ones from the grave. Or for creeps that just enjoy dead bodies."

He laughed, his voice unusually smooth and delightful. She hated that she liked the sound of it. "What if a necromancer can keep the bodies looking alive for longer than a few months? Even, say 20+ years, looking not a day older than the day they died?"

"In that case, there would be more uses for it; but it seems like possessing dolls would be an easier process. And less messy."

"But plastic or wooden dolls don't have character. You've seen the beauty in the soul, but what about the body it has hosted for its entire life?" He asked passionately, pulling her slightly closer. "Our entire lives we possess these bodies, but as soon as we're done with them, we shove them into the ground and let them rot. A lifetime of food habits, exercise, lack of exercise, love, scars," As he said the last word, his hand touched one of the scars on her back.

"So… what, do you taxidermy them to keep them looking fresh?" She asked, tempted to use her magic in order to escape his grasp.

"In a sense, but the process is much more beautiful and interesting. Once my magic fills them," He whispered in her ear, continuing to move her with the music. "They take on a life of their own. My magic will use their bodies like a cast to recreate their personalities."

She kept her eyes on his shoulder, wishing that she had stayed home.

"Have you noticed that more than half of the people here are my, what you call, 'dolls'? Keep on dancing," He instructed when she tried to stop, and to her disbelief, felt her body begin moving again on its own. "Don't want to draw suspicion to your friends. They were so happy that you were starting to enjoy the party."

"So why'd you have to ruin it?" She gritted, looking around them with limited movement of her neck.

These couldn't be dead people.

He was lying.

"You're lying, and trying to mess with me for what I did to your friend."

"Oh, I'm not lying. Each year I host this event with dead people, and the living are none the wiser, always 'awed' and amazed at the beauty of my creations. Some people pay millions of dollars to attend this, allowing me the pleasure of not only showcasing my talent, but being paid handsomely for it. Why don't I prove the ingenuity of my claims?" He spoke, smiling, and pulled away. With his magic still controlling her movements, he took her hand. Along the way he grabbed random people, announcing that they would be allowed to the 'VIP lounge', and started a chain of people. The people he grabbed were from a variety of different social groups, and varied considerably in their personality and dress.

Clarence led them to a door, which he had to use a magic card to enter, and led them up a staircase.

Claire felt more and more anxiety build up in her chest, hating that she'd gotten separated from the others. Unlike Bickslow's soul possession, the feeling of having her body controlled wasn't entirely unpleasant, but she didn't like anyone taking control of her. Not even a potentially deranged murderer that controlled dead bodies for a living.

She found herself sitting in a large room with the others, and the necromancer kept his hand on hers. There was a couch lining the wall, and above the couch was a window overlooking the entire event. The room itself was oval shaped, and themed with green and red.

The other guests lined up in front of her, and the man next to her crossed his legs and leaned back in his seat, letting go of her hand.

"What's going on?" Claire asked, unnerved by the strange, sudden robotic like nature of the guests. They were suddenly silent, still, and in unison, started turning their shirts off.

"I wanted to prove that these are my creations. They have fake souls imbedded in them so that seith mages can't tell them apart from normal humans. I've been showcasing my work for decades now, and have fooled some of the most advanced wizards in every field." As the necromancer explained himself, the men and women in front of him began pulling at the center of their chest cavity. In unison they pulled back the flesh, and inside, were strange looking bags hanging inside an otherwise empty vessel.

"I have tried," Clarence continued. "To bind wandering souls to these vessels, but unfortunately, the results have never been good. After being detached from their original bodies and floating around on their own for so long, they get too used to being without a body, and the stress of being put back in is too much. The only time this has been successful has been from a living soul put inside a vessel."

"Is that what you're planning to do to me?"

"Oh, no, that's not why I brought you here. I have a message for your Guild Master."

8.

"It was a party. How the hell did you get beat up?" Bickslow asked, looking up from his table. The Guild Hall was mostly empty at this late hour, and the Thunder Legion was just about to head home when the group arrived.

"Erza and Claire got in a fight." Lucy answered. The group looked between Erza and Claire, noticing that both of their clothes were scuffed and torn in places, although Claire was the only one wearing a sling. The requip mage had a slight limp.

"Erza was crabby that Natsu and Gray got us kicked out of the party early. Claire was upset that she got to dance with a cute guy, so they duked it out." Happy explained, landing on a nearby table next to Carla.

"'Cute guy'?" Bickslow asked, and looked over at his girlfriend, who didn't even look his way. She went straight to the bar to ask Mirajane about something. "What 'cute guy'?" He asked again, turning to Lucy. The group took seats at the surrounding tables, beginning to retell their night.

"The Senators nephew asked her to dance, and then took her and a bunch of other random people to the VIP lounge." Lucy explained, and Evergreen's jaw dropped.

"She got to go to the VIP lounge?" The brunette cried. "Claire? Seriously?" Her voice progressively went up several octaves.

"I know, right?" The blond whined. "Of all the people! It's supposed to be the most amazing thing there, but only a select few ever experience it."

"And I'll bet she didn't even appreciate it." Evergreen sulked, letting her forehead hit the table loudly.

"She must have some fun stories, though." Bickslow said with a grin.

"Oi! Natsu!" Claire yelled from the bar, getting the pink-haired mage's attention. "Want to do those fire shots while I wait for Makarov?"

"That's what got us kicked out in the first place." Lucy groaned. Her teammate cheered excitedly, ignoring her sour attitude, and pumping his fists in the air as Claire neared him with the non-flaming liquids.

After handing him one, they linked arms, set each other's shot on fire, and then downed the alcohol and fire.

"Not bad. I wonder if peppermint schnapps would give the fire more subtle flavor?" Claire asked, and he shrugged.

"Hey Mira! Can you get drinks for us that we can set on fire?" Natsu asked, grinning and his cheeks already pink.

"What do you need to talk to the old man about?" Laxus asked, not missing the apprehension in her answer.

"Uh…"

"Never mind that. What happened in the VIP lounge?" Evergreen asked enthusiastically. "Was it as amazing as everyone says it is?"

"… Have you guys never been inside?" She asked, and everyone shook their heads. "… do any of you personally know anyone that has been in the lounge?"

"No, but everyone at the party always says it's amazing, and the most wonderful experience of their life." Evergreen said, stars returning to her eyes. "Was there dancing? Wine? Philosophical discussion of the heart and soul?"

"So all that you guys know is that it's supposed to be amazing and wonderful?" Claire asked, smiling as she looked around the group. In the background Natsu was arguing with Mirajane about whether fire shots was a good idea, along with a very random discussion about horses.

"The party itself is super secretive in its selection process, and at every party, the nephew of the Senator always picks random people, at a random time, to go up to the lounge with him." Bickslow explained. "I still want to know how the dance with the 'cute guy' went." He added, sticking his tongue out.

"The VIP lounge was… eye opening." She spoke, being careful with her words and keeping the grin. 'Clarence' likely hand picked people every year that were his puppets, so it would seem random when it wasn't. The mystery kept people curious and talking about it, and the seclusion of the guest list makes people even more fascinated and interested. "I learned a lot about… a magic that I otherwise had absolutely zero interest in knowing about."

"Oh come on, you've got to give us more than that." Evergreen pouted.

"If I told you what really happened it would take away the illusion of it. I can't take that away from you." Claire told her, both to tease and avoid telling her the truth. Upon hearing the footsteps of her new drinking buddy she turned, grinning at the fire shots. They both downed the liquid, making faces afterwards.

"That fire tasted terrible. What the hell was that?" Claire asked.

"'Girl Scout Cookie' with added 151 proof rum." He told her. "Mira! That one was terrible!"

"Sorry Natsu, but drinks you can set on fire are pretty limited." The white-haired mage apologized.

"How did the dance with the dude go?" Bickslow asked quietly, nudging the woman's arm.

"That was my first time ballroom dancing, and my last." She said and stood up again, walking back to Mira and talking about potential fire drink ideas.

"… that bad, huh." Bickslow commented, and set his elbow on the table, the side of his face resting on his palm.

"She had a lot of fun before that, though." Gray told him, noticing the seith mage's saddened expression. "She and Natsu really hit it off at the buffet table. They had samplers of fire for them to try, and they bonded over their fire magic." He explained, and Bickslow smiled at him.

"Awesome. Thanks for telling me, bro."

"Any time, man."

"I can't believe she went to the VIP lounge…." Erza sulked, her forehead meeting the table.

9.

Makarov looked over at her expectantly, waiting for her to tell him what was so urgent that it couldn't wait until morning. She was glad she did the shots with Natsu first, otherwise her hands would be shaking instead of just trembling slightly.

"Clarence, the nephew of the Senator, is the Necromancer I met when retrieving Bickslow." She told him, watching the old man's large eyebrows raise comically at the news. "He explained to me, in detail, his magic and the true purpose of the Crystal Ball. He also wanted me to give you a message."

"And what was that message?"

"That although he understands why I killed Tinkerman and forgives the murder of his guild member, he considers your other team trespassing on his territory to be a hostile act. He said that if you trespass again in that fashion, that he would make them a guest at his Crystal Ball."

"A guest at his Crystal Ball?"

"His necromancer magic is more advanced than anything I heard about in books or otherwise. He told me that more than half of his guests at the Crystal Ball are actually dead, hollowed out bodies reanimated using his magic."

"So if I don't back off, he's threatening to kill my children?" Makarov clarified, and she nodded. "How much did he tell you about the… 'territory' dispute?"

"Not much. Just that you would know what he was talking about." She told him, trying to restrict what she said to answering his questions.

"I don't believe for a second that more than half of the people at those events were dead. I've attended it three times now, and all of my S-Ranked mages have as well."

"He suspected you would say that, so he told me in excruciating detail the process he goes through to make his necromancy more life like. He even had random guests come with us to the VIP lounge and pull open their chest cavity, revealing the food and water bags inside. If it was a hoax it was extremely elaborate. He even has fake souls inside the vessels so that seith mages won't recognize they're fakes."

"Assuming he has this ability, why simply throw parties?"

"I asked him that… he said that the parties were designed as both a money revenue and to flaunt his power in front of the most powerful mages he could get. Although his parties are his main source of income, he has dabbled in rebellions and more dark endeavors to sway political and other agendas. Even if he is bluffing about this ability, I don't doubt that he has a hold on his 'uncle', one way or another."

"Worst case scenario, this necromancer holds the power to control hundreds of bodies at a time. Best case scenario, the Senator is his puppet."

Claire and Makarov continued talking about the situation for a while longer, before Makarov finally held his hand up and sighed tiredly.

"I don't need any more information, Claire. Thank you. I'm sorry that you had to go through that."

"So sorry that you'll tell me who my brother is?" She asked with a hopeful grin.

"Claire… I promised that I wouldn't."

"What if I asked you if it was one specific person, and you could tell me 'yes' or 'no'. You technically promised me that you'd tell me who he was, too." She said, and for a moment, they simply had a staring contest. Claire relaxed in her chair, uncrossing her legs and interlacing her hands together in front of her. "Is it Laxus?"

"I can't tell you, Claire. I'm sorry. Your brother will divulge that information to you when he's ready."

She sighed, staying still. "Fine, but tell him that if he doesn't want to be part of Bacchus and I's life, that's fine. We understand if he wants to keep his distance, we just want to know who he is. The curiosity is killing us, and Bacchus has been searching for him for over 16 years. If you check the police station you'll find 'missing person' reports for him dating back that far." Claire told the old man, and stood, getting ready to leave the office.

"I'll tell him." The Guild Master said softly, and watched her leave.

When Claire exited the office, she was surprised to see that only two people remained. Bickslow was drinking and chatting away with his babies, while Mira was doing inventory. The others from her group had vanished, although a few new scorch marks were present on the tables.

"Claire's not happy." Sky informed Bickslow, and upon the announcement from the little soul, he turned to face his girlfriend. An interesting thing about seith magic is that both mage and the soul are connected telepathically, so Sky was able to sense her emotions and occasionally her thoughts. As the babies cheered at her arrival and flew over to her, Sky announced "She's happy now!", and nuzzled the side of her smiling face.

"You were in there a long time." Bickslow commented, and moved to stand up. "You ready to head home?"

"Yeah."

"Gray mentioned that you and Natsu bonded over fire and food." He commented, reaching out hold her free hand. She gladly reached out and held it, a wave of relief washing over her at the familiar contact. As they made their way out of the empty Guild Hall, she leaned against his arm, and he reached over to extend his arm behind her, holding her close.

"Yeah. They had fire samplers."

"So it wasn't a completely terrible night? You did have some fun?"

"Yes, I had some fun. Speaking of fun, I think you and I should go on vacation."

"Did you tell her, Sky?" Bickslow suddenly asked, turning to the floating soul.

"I didn't say nuthin'!" The little soul said defensively, and Claire looked between them curiously, not expecting the strange reactions.

"Tell me what?"

"Well, while you were gone, we started planning your belated birthday celebration. Since my birthday is coming up, too, I figure we would combine them to one super awesome amazing birthday celebration."

"What did you have in mind?" The checker woman asked, wrapping her free arm around his waist. As they walked into the cool night air, Claire couldn't help but love the smell. The Guild Hall always smelled like booze and various bodily odors, not to mention blood from all the fights, and the party had been laden with powerful perfumes.

"There's a book convention happening a week from now in Oak Town, and there's an amazing spa in the area. I already bought us a 3 day pass there, and we leave in two days."

"A spa weekend and book convention?" She asked curiously, peering up at him.

"I know you claim that you're not a bookworm, but honey, you've been collecting piles of books that we need to get shelves for, and you're not fooling anyone. When we get there you're going to nerd out over all the cool things and our babies are going to be complaining about helping us carry all of the books back to the hotel. And even if you don't, there's tons of other cool stuff to do in the area. I've already booked us dinner at a super nice restaurant on the beach, and there's a magic festival happening in that time frame, and it should be really awesome."

"It sounds great, honey." She said, blushing, and looked away. Having expected a little more resistance at being called a bookworm, he looked down at her curiously, realizing that she was looking away.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Your face is all red and you suddenly got all quiet. Did I say something?" He asked, surprised by her sudden awkwardness. Aside from the wandering souls humming nearby, the street was empty and quiet at the late hour. As they turned down a street they found themselves on the waterfront, walking next to the calm river.

"No, I, just… you referred to your babies as 'our' babies."

"Oh… well, they are 'our' babies. Right, babies?" He grinned, looking over to the wandering souls floating around them.

"Yeah!" They cheered.

"Damn straight!" Another added.

"Mommy's adorable!" Sky announced, and zoomed over to nuzzle her cheek. Embarrassed, she further turned away from them, unable to contain her smile and blush.

"Adorable! Adorable!" They all cheered, bobbing excitedly around her and spinning happily through the air.

"You two are so cute!" A female voice squealed, causing the small group to jump at the strange sound. They both turned to find Lucy, Natsu, Happy, Erza, and Gray all standing in a window, openly staring at them.

"I told you they're parents!" Natsu yelled at Gray.

"They're not kids, you idiots, those are wandering souls!" The ice mage yelled back.

"What the hell are wandering souls!?" Natsu yelled, and under normal circumstances, Bickslow would be annoyed at the fire mage. As it was, their open snooping was so comical that he couldn't really be mad at them.

"You're not sneaking into people's houses, are you Bickslow?" Erza asked with her arms crossed, and the seith mage couldn't help but stiffen at the accusation. The red head was still sore about the mishap of him accidentally stumbling into her apartment, and he suspected she would be for a long time. Being on the S-Ranked mage's 'bad list' was not something he had ever hoped to be on.

"You're one to talk!" Lucy yelled at the red head, whose eyes widened at the accusation. "Why are any of you people in my apartment in the first place?! Get out!"

"But your bed is comfy." Natsu said, no longer by the window and mid fight with Gray, who was pulling at the side of his face.

"I don't know how Lucy puts up with them." Claire commented, and the dead souls near her nodded in agreement.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note:** Hey y'all! I'm sorry for the lack of updates! I've been job searching the last few weeks and training, which has been eating up a lot of my time and stressing me out. Add in a dash of depression and I haven't been as productive as I'd like to be.

Anyhow- Happy almost Halloween! Hope you guys stay safe and have fun!

 **Walking Cliché 19**

 _Unfortunate Coincidences_

It was day 1 of the 3 day spa trip, and Claire sighed contentedly across the small table. Both Bickslow and her were clad in robes and eating away at their sushi, relaxed after their day of massages and mud baths.

"Mommy is happy." Sky announced, and Bickslow chuckled.

"Mommy will probably get annoyed if you keep announcing her emotional state to me." He told the small soul, although he got the sense that Claire was too content to care at the moment. She merely smiled, continuing to eat the delicious food. "I take it that you enjoyed yourself today?"

"Mhmm~" She hummed happily, looking up at him. "Did you?"

"Yeah, I feel great." He told her, and popped one of the rolls into his mouth. They let a comfortable silence fall between them, and when the souls got bored, they flew over to the next room and started playing. As they babbled and had fun, Bickslow looked back up at the fire woman, debating whether to bring up what was on his mind. Noticing that he was staring, she looked up at him, and popped another sushi roll in her mouth. "I'm wondering whether to bring up something that has been on my mind."

"If something's troubling you, I'd like to know. Are you okay?" She asked curiously, tilting her head slightly in a cute manner.

"I'm fine. I just… Laxus suggested that I go to a support group the other day." He said, and she quietly listened, continuing to eat her sushi rolls as she watched him. Even though she'd been extremely supportive of him in this area, it still made him nervous and anxious to bring up. "It's a male support group for sexually assaulted guys. At first I thought it was a stupid idea, but he said that it's surprisingly common for guys in the guild to go, even for people that wouldn't be technically classified as victims…. After our conversation, and you said…"

"Did you go?" She asked. This was the first time he had brought this up to her, so she was genuinely curious about his experience. Regarding the topic she'd tried to be both supportive and understanding without being overbearing or pushy, trying to let him set the pace for whatever was comfortable for him. He'd avoided talking to her about it, only giving her small details here and there. She was glad that he'd opened up to him, or even if he hadn't, that the dragonslayer talked to him about it.

"Yes." He admitted after a long pause, and she smiled.

"That's great. How'd it go?"

"I didn't really say anything when I was there, but it was surprisingly less awkward than I thought it would be. There was some crying and a little too much detail from some people, but it was informative. I was surprised at how many people I knew there."

"Was it open to anyone, or was it for wizards specifically?" Claire asked.

"Wizards only, but there were a few ex-mages there as well."

"I'm proud of you for going. That must have been difficult." She said, watching the soft blush appear on his cheeks.

"I realized something when I was listening to the other guys talk." Bickslow spoke, and took another bite of his food. Their babies were still having fun in the other room. "Almost all of them said that it ruined their relationships, namely because their partners didn't understand, or didn't try to understand. They felt too macho to explain themselves, or when they did, they were accused of cheating."

"I told you that I don't think that."

"No, I know. You've been great. You've been more than great. That's not what I was trying to say." He spoke, and looked down at the table. "I just… wanted you to know that I appreciate that. I still feel responsible for what happened, since I willingly drank with the guy, but… I feel a little less bad knowing that you're still here with me, regardless." Towards the end of his mushy talk, he felt a nudge under the table, and saw that it was her foot. They were eating at a very short table and sitting on cushions, and upon seeing that she'd stretched her legs out beneath it, he smiled and decided to do the same.

"Did you learn anything at the group that I can do to make you feel more 'less bad'?" She asked, her eyes sparkling against the light. After their legs entangled under the table they both went back to eating their meal.

"Just keep being amazing." He said, but the way he said it, she got the sense he was holding something back.

"You said that in a weird way. Is there actually something and you're not saying it? Is it something naughty?" She added the last part with a giddy grin, and he chuckled, looking back down at his plate.

"No, I just, uh… have been wondering something."

"Oh?" She asked, eyeing the man curiously. They were both extremely relaxed from their spa day, so conversing about the serious topic felt slightly easier than normal.

"You've been so understanding about all of it, I just… get the feeling that you went through it, too." He said, and glanced up at her. He had hoped that she would readily dismiss the idea as preposterous, but his heart sunk when her averted gaze, instead confirming it. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"There's nothing to tell."

"Claire," He spoke, and heard the tell-tale whining sound come from her, along with her annoyed face at accidentally making the sound. "Can you at least tell me when it happened? Was it before we met?"

She pouted, looking out the dark window. He nudged her side with his foot, prodding her to talk. "The illusion right before the games. In the illusion my sister threatened to rape me while I was tied down and almost out of magic. If Warren hadn't used his telepathy magic to get me out, it would have gotten bad."

He watched her for a moment, recalling the events of the Grand Magic Games. She had been gone for 4 hours, and the more he thought about it, it explained her erratic behavior afterwards: her lack of appetite, her avoidance of people, and her emotional breakdown on the third day. At the time he had figured that it was just stress.

"It's why I freaked out when you used soul possession on me. I wanted to stay in control." She added, still not looking at him. "The pain was more traumatic than anything. She never followed through with her threat because Warren broke the illusion."

"If I had known that back then, I would have killed her." He said, and their gaze met for a moment. She couldn't help but smile.

"I can relate." Claire said with a chuckle, and took a deep breath, her attention turning to an unopened bottle of Champaign on the side of the table. "Shall we drink?"

"Sure." He replied, trying to hide his newfound anxiety. "I could use a drink after that discussion."

Claire reached over to bring the bottle and two glasses to the table, popping the cork off and pouring the sparkling liquid into their glasses. Little hearts rose from the bubbling drinks.

They both grabbed a glass and clinked them together. "To love."

"To love, and cheesy toasts." He spoke, and they both took a sip of their drinks. After a moment of awkward silence, their meals finished, Bickslow set down his glass. "Have you tried going to one of the support groups? I know there's at least a few of them for girls. Women are generally more open about that sort of thing."

"I checked out one of the meetings, but it wasn't really my thing. By the end of the meeting it turned more into a guy-bashing meeting than a support thing. Groups of women freak me out, too."

"You haven't had the best of luck with them." Bickslow commented.

"Are you going to go to more meetings?" She asked curiously, and he shrugged.

"I dunno, probably."

1.

Day 2 went pretty much like the previous day, lounging around and getting massages between saunas and mud baths. After a day of relaxing, they reconvened outside their room, to their personal hot springs. They got to eat their dinner while lounging in the warm waters and drinking their wine.

Claire loved all of the heat. She felt warm, happy, and full of good food and wine.

Earlier that day they had gotten a message from their guild, which although they were hesitant to read it, were pleasantly surprised. Makarov was paying to extend their vacation by an extra four days at the spa, all expenses paid.

"You look so happy." Bickslow commented, looking over at the smiling woman. She had submerged all the way to her lips, only keeping her nose and upward above the water.

Instead of verbally answering, she nodded. "Mommy is happier than I've ever seen her." Sky commented, floating nearby on the water. Their souls were floating and swimming in the water around them, occasionally splashing the couple in their excitement. Their vessels were coated in anti-water magic so that it wouldn't damage the wood or paint, but it did allow them to clean off some of the dirt and grime from over the past few weeks. Bickslow admitted that he probably should clean them more often, but he could usually go months between a thorough washing.

His muscles felt like marshmallows, completely and utterly relaxed.

"When do you want to open presents?" Bickslow asked, and Claire looked up, her blue eyes peering curiously into his dark green ones. "You didn't think I would skip out on getting you a present, did you?"

"I thought this vacation was the present?" She asked, rising slightly out of the water to speak.

"Since you insisted on splitting the vacation, it's hardly a present. And I had gotten you something anyway." As he spoke, one of his souls floated from their bedroom, carrying a box on its head.

"If we're opening presents now, I suppose Sky should go get yours. After he dries off." She added the last part when the little soul had leaped out of the water excitedly towards the bedroom. Halfway there he stopped, dripping wet, and allowed Claire to use her fire magic to evaporate the water. Then he zoomed away again.

"It's technically not my birthday yet." He told her, although extremely curious about what she got him.

"I'm not a great gift giver, so I apologize beforehand. Fried helped me pick it out."

"It's not a book, is it?" He asked, watching as Sky flew towards him with a medium sized box.

"You'll just have to find out. I had fun wrapping the first present, so I bought you more stuff just so that I could wrap it. Sky, why don't you just bring in the entire duffel bag instead of making multiple trips?" She asked him, and the little totem nodded and zoomed away.

"Now I feel bad for only getting you one thing." Bickslow said awkwardly, and she looked over, noticing his previous excited smile vanishing.

"Not all of it was expensive, and I felt like splurging a little for my most amazing boyfriend ever." She said, and swam over to him, placing her knees on either side of his waist and straddling him. "Besides, if you still feel guilty about not getting me enough stuff, there's still that book convention, and I'm sure I can find something to make you buy me. Or you could just say 'thank you' and if you don't like the presents, lie and say that they were amazing, because I put a lot of time and research into them."

"I'm sure that I'll love them. Thank you." He said, temporarily mesmerized by her stunning blue eyes; his hands cautiously rested on the curves of her waist, a small tremor coursing through them at the contact.

"Are you guys going to open presents or what?!" Sky asked from nearby, having just dropped off the heavy duffel bag next to the hot springs.

"Maybe we should open them out of the water?" Claire suggested, and felt a pair of lips on her cheek.

After a half hour of opening presents, which they had decided to open them inside the living room (much to Sky's annoyance), Bickslow found himself surrounded by wrapping paper and a variety of gifts. Most of it was seith magic oriented, and he recognized it as things he had told Fried he'd lost when his belongings were sold off during Tenrou Island. Some of it was just candy and chocolate, and when he opened it she reminded him that she had fun wrapping presents.

"How long did it take you to find all of this stuff?" He asked curiously, inspecting a lacrima in his hands. It was the same kind that had rid Claire of her parasite problem half a year ago, but it was much nicer and higher quality. It was even nicer than his original ones, and she'd gotten him three.

"A few months. I went shopping with Bacchus when you were bonding with Michael, and a couple of the things I got during the games. Where did you get this?" She asked curiously, holding up the cloak to her body. It was similar in design to Bickslow's, but instead of multi-colored it was a dark maroon and the clasp had the Fairy Tail emblem on it. It had a fur lining that matched Evergreen, Laxus, and Bickslow's jackets/cloak.

"Evergreen helped me with that. I ordered it from the store that Natsu raves about. It won't be entirely fireproof for you, but when I told the owner about how powerful your magic is, he said that he would patch it up for free if you burn it. After that one time if you burn it he'll give discounts, but he won't replace it."

"This is awesome. Thank you." She said, touching the magical cloak and fingering the soft fur.

"Evergreen pointed out that clothes wise, you don't really match the team. I know you don't really get cold and you prefer sleeveless things, but it's kind of an image thing."

"I only wear tank tops and sports bras when fighting because I destroyed my longer sleeves in fights. I prefer more conservative clothing, but it's just not practical most of the time. I'll do my best not to ruin this." She said, grinning up at him and noticing that he was still admiring the ball in his hands. "Is that the right kind? I was told that it's high quality."

"This is great. I hate to ask how much you spent on me."

"Most of it Bacchus helped me get good deals on, so don't stress too much about it. And I could ask the same- the place Natsu buys his clothes isn't cheap."

"How much were the clothes you usually wear?" He asked, and she grinned sheepishly.

"You don't want to know."

"That expensive?"

"No…"

He watched her for a moment, confused by her guilty expression.

"The woman that made my clothes did them for free. I'm planning to make a trip back to her in the next month or so to get more."

"How did you get them for free?" He asked in disbelief.

"Before you panic about the price of the cloak, keep in mind that she probably wouldn't be able to make clothing this high quality looking. In exchange for meditating with the woman and helping her with house chores, she handmade the clothes for me; I got the sense that I was a fun doll to play dress up with than a customer."

He stared at her for a moment, nodding quietly and looking at the cloak on her lap.

"Thank you for the awesome cloak." She thanked again, holding it up to her face and rubbing her cheek against the soft fur.

2.

On their third day, the first half was spent at the spa, while the other half was spent at the book convention.

Neither of them had been to a book convention before, so they didn't know what to expect. They were a little disappointed that it was mostly authors trying to sell their own books or giving autographs.

Bickslow and Claire wandered through the massive building, walking past booth after booth and occasionally getting free candy from them. After their relaxing days together, they wandered through the event simply observing the respectable event, hand in hand. The checker woman didn't get particularly interested until they finally came across a section of the event filled with discounted books.

While the fire mage busied herself with exploring the bookshelves of discounted high quality books, her boyfriend found a comfortable seat next to a similarly bored looking woman- she was chewing gum while reading a magazine. While Bickslow was tempted to grab his own picture filled gossip book, he instead leaned back with his hands behind his head, drifting to sleep while his babies hovered next to him or joined Claire.

3.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Bickslow groaned, and was pushed to the side by the annoying brunette. One by one his teammates entered the living room portion of their two-room place, ignoring his glare. The seith mage wouldn't have opened the door if he'd known it was his team- he had thought it was room service delivering their dinner.

"Nice place." Laxus commented as he entered.

Claire rewrapped her robe at the sudden guests, her face red. Her cleavage had been rather prominent moments earlier, and she hoped no one saw.

"A little warning would have been appreciated." Claire glared at the group.

"I take it that you checked out the book convention? I was hoping to go tomorrow." Fried commented, having walked over to a pile of books and picked one up at random. "Nice."

"Again, what the hell are you guys doing here?" Bickslow asked, glaring at his team, particularly Evergreen who was making herself comfortable in his previous spot.

"We agreed that a vacation was a good idea, so we came to join you." She said, and grabbed one of the potato chips on the table, popping it into her mouth.

"A two person vacation was an awesome idea." Claire said, glaring at the fairy woman and holding her robe close to her chest. She felt extremely awkward, since she was wearing nothing beneath it.

"Really, Laxus?" Bickslow asked, scratching the back of his head and looking at his leader. He knew that when Evergreen was adamant about something she could convince anyone to go along with it, but Laxus had been known to put his foot down when he needed to… sometimes.

Laxus simply shrugged, looking over at the man. "A vacation did sound nice."

"Can't you guys

elsewhere?" Claire asked. "We're celebrating birthday stuff."

"Birthday stuff? Even better! We'll go shopping tomorrow and I'll get you something." Evergreen said with a grin.

"An acceptable present would be for you guys to leave. Or at least let me leave so that I can get dressed."

"Oh don't be so crude. The woman at the front desk said that you guys have a private hot springs, and we were hoping to try it out tonight."

"Get your own room." Bickslow said, walking over to sit next to Claire.

"We did! The one next door connects to this one. I figure that Claire and I can share this room while you guys share that one, since there's more space."

"No." The couple said in unison.

"We've always done vacations as a team. How is this any different?" Evergreen asked, rolling her eyes.

"For one, we always planned those to be a team vacation. This vacation was just me and my girlfriend, and you showed up without any warning." Bickslow said, letting his tongue hang out. "Two, we like wearing our birthday suits to celebrate our birthdays."

"It's not like you two don't go at it like rabbits at home. Vacation should be celebrated with friends!"

"Don't cock block me, Evergreen. Don't you want me to be happy?" Claire asked, ignoring the grossed out groans of Laxus and Fried.

"Wouldn't it be pussy blocked, in your case?" Bickslow asked, knowing full well that all of his team was now grossed out.

"Evergreen, stop blocking our genitals!" Claire yelled loudly.

"Stop yelling about your private parts!" Evergreen yelled back, covering her ears and her face beat red.

"We're going to the other room. See you guys tomorrow." Laxus waved, leaving the room and entering the hallway, Fried close behind.

"Fine, you win this round." Evergreen huffed, and pushed herself back to her heels, walking quickly after the other two. Upon their retreat, Bickslow jumped to his feet and ran to close the door. Turning, he grinned at the checker woman.

"That was well played." He complimented. "We'll have to keep that in mind in the future."

"If we use it too often to get our way, they'll become immune to it. We bought ourselves the night, at least." She told him, removing her grip on her robe and stretching out her fingers. "Ever is such a virgin."

He snickered. "Yeah, she is. So is Fried. A little surprised that Laxus was so awkward by it, though. He's slept with more people than you and I combined."

4.

"So how was sex last night?" Evergreen asked, and the casualness of it caught Claire off guard. She accidentally spit out her sip of the margarita into the mud bath. "That bad? Not as bad as sleeping in the same room as Laxus and Fried, no doubt."

"Geez, ever learn the word 'subtle'?" She asked the fairy women, who simply sipped away at her drink with an overly confident glint in her eye. "You really need to fuck Elfman. You reek of virginity."

"What the hell does that mean?" Evergreen asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"That 'virgin' smell. Hasn't anyone told you about it?" She asked, and took another sip of her drink.

"You're full of shit."

"No, I'm serious. Once you've had sex, your scent changes. It's why women wear so much perfume- to hide that scent. Have you really not heard about it?" She told her, managing to keep a straight face. It was hard to when she heard Laxus laughing hysterically on the men's side of the spa, and she knew full well that the man was eavesdropping. They'd already come up with 'code words' whenever they wanted the other to stop listening in on their conversations, having run into this situation at the communal baths at the Fairy Tail Guild Hall.

"… no way."

"It's true. And the older you get without having sex, the stronger the smell gets. That's why it's looked down upon to wait too long for sex- because they start to smell bad."

"I definitely would have heard about it if that were true."

"Think about it. Virgins probably wouldn't recognize the scent because they don't get that close to other people and wouldn't know the difference, and the more sexually experienced people are just wanting to have sex with the virgins so that they don't smell anymore. It would be rude to point out that virgins smell bad, so sleeping with them is a civil service."

Laxus's laughter died down, and the other two mages looked at him skeptically, confused as to why the man had randomly burst into laughter in the first place. They were all enjoying the mud baths, which was a lot like the hot springs in set up.

"Claire is messing with Evergreen, and trying to convince her that virgins smell bad." He told them with a grin. "She's also trying to convince her… actually, that's pretty gross. But Evergreen is believing it, so it's kind of funny."

"I'm glad one of us is getting payback." Bickslow commented, sighing as he enjoyed the mud baths. He actually didn't mind hanging out with the two men like this, as they'd done it plenty of times before, but he was still sore about them crashing his room last night.

"I insisted that we call ahead of time." Fried offered. "Evergreen was adamant about leaving right that second, so she yelled at us until we got here."

"She was that bad, huh?" The seith mage asked curiously, glancing between the two. "What's her deal?"

"You know how she is around other girls." Laxus commented, a smile still on his face as he eavesdropped on the women's conversation.

"You think she's jealous of Claire?" Bickslow asked.

"You and Ever used to argue and bicker like children, but now that you're hanging out with Claire so much, you're not around. Not to mention Claire has been getting a lot of attention for her injuries." Fried spoke, recalling the actions of his friend over the past few weeks. "And Claire got invited to the Secret Crystal Ball, and the VIP lounge, which Ever was fuming about."

"Has she told you about what really happened?" Laxus asked, looking over at Bickslow.

"No, but she said it had something to do with the Ghoul Guild. She was pretty freaked at the time, so I was going to ask her again after a few days of relaxing here."

"Did it have to do with the VIP lounge?" Fried asked the blond.

"The old man is banning everyone in Fairy Tail from attending the Crystal Ball until he investigates it further. He didn't fill me in on all the details, but apparently there's been some friction between our two guilds recently, and he's worried that they're going to try and recruit Claire."

"Seriously?" Fried asked, blinking at the man.

"Why would they want to recruit her? No offense to her, but her seith magic is weak at best. She can only do the bare basics." Bickslow asked. "The Ghoul Guild is low on members, but they're not that desperate."

"She's strong and she's not squeamish around dead bodies. Her seith magic would just be a bonus." Laxus said with a shrug, and Bickslow sighed, looking away. "Look, just keep an eye on her and for anyone suspicious in the area. For that matter you're a potential target, too, so keep your guard up."

"Is that the real reason why you guys are here? Because you guys think we'll be recruited?"

"Ever is the reason we're here." Fried said with a frown, but then looked over at Laxus, who was still staring at Bickslow. "… she is why we're here, right?"

"The reason you and Claire got the 4 day extension here is because I suggested it to the old man, and then I made sure that Ever found out so that she'd drag us here. It's not that we think you and Claire would turn on us, but considering both of you were abducted recently, he doesn't think that you two should be alone. The Ghoul Guild has been making a lot of bold moves recently and he wants to make sure you two are safe."

"So Ever is the only one that doesn't know why we're here?" Fried asked.

"Do you really want to be the one to tell her that her favorite event of all time has connections to a dark guild and Makarov won't let her go, even if she got invited?" Bickslow asked him, and the green-haired mage paused, thought about it, and sighed.

"It would destroy her."

"So we're keeping Ever completely in the dark?" Bickslow asked, turning back to Laxus, who was chuckling at something the girls were talking about.

"Sorry, what?" He asked, turning back to the blue-haired mage.

"Evergreen. Are you going to tell her anything that we've been talking about? The dark guild, being here to keep an eye us…?"

"Oh, uh… I don't see why we should. If it comes up, we'll leave Claire out of it and say that we're watching you, since you were kidnapped and she already knows the Ghoul Guild has an eye on you. I have a feeling that Ever is going to be in tears by the end of our 'vacation', though." Laxus said, a dark smile on his lips.

"What are they talking about that's so funny?" Bickslow asked curiously. Usually he preferred to be in the dark about their private 'girl' conversations, but Laxus seemed so amused at whatever his girlfriend was doing, he couldn't help but be curious.

"Ever is starting to catch onto it, but Claire is totally messing with her with a bunch of BS about sex. She's mixing in some fact to make it relatively believable."

"… why?" Fried asked, confused. "What is she telling her?"

"Claire knows that she's vulnerable in that area, and she's mad at her, so she's exploiting the hell out of it. I have never met anyone as terrifying as that woman."

"More terrifying than Erza?" Bickslow asked, surprised when the blond immediately nodded.

"Oh yeah. Your girlfriend can be fucking psycho when she wants to be."

"Claire? Psycho? She's a little too comfortable with death topics, sure, but psycho is a little far. She's a sweetheart."

"Dude, that guy that kidnapped you? She burned him alive. Not quickly, either. If she could have she would have made him suffer longer."

"If someone attacked Claire like that I would do the same in a heartbeat."

"She enjoys burning zombies."

"Because it reminds her of some kind of 'video game' or whatever from her home world. And when you get past the dead people aspect, it is great target practice: you can go all out without the risk of hurting someone. Not to mention I heard you guys got a great payout from it."

"So Claire is really picking on Ever for her lack of a sex life?" Fried interrupted, and the dragonslayer nodded, smirking. "I didn't realize she would stoop that low."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Ever totally deserves it. Every time Claire tries to end the conversation or talk about something else, Ever will ask her about her sex life or whatever they were talking about before to get her riled up. For the record the guy that attacked you had it coming, too," Laxus spoke, turning back to Bickslow. "Doesn't mean it's not creepy as hell how she killed him."

"Wait, so Ever

Claire to mess with her?" Fried asked, going back to the two women in the other room.

"I can see that." Bickslow shrugged. "Just like you said, she's feeling left out, and attention is attention. She loves when we pick on her about Elfman, so it makes sense she'd enjoy Claire messing with her." He said, and upon remembering his drink nearby, went to grab it. "Is it just me, or do girls always talk about sex when they're alone? Like, whenever I hear snippets of a conversation with them, it's always about guys."

"And then they accuse us of being obsessed with it." Fried snorted, sipping away at his own drink. His cheeks were tinted pink, both at the warm mud and the topic of conversation.

A silence fell over the group, as they found themselves short on conversation topics.

"… what are they talking about now?" Bickslow asked, disliking the quietness for once.

"Claire gave me the codeword to stop eavesdropping, so I stopped listening." Laxus replied with a shrug.

"You guys have code words? Wait, does that mean that Claire eavesdrops on our conversations?"

"I get the sense that she does it less often than I do, but yeah. When we're bored we eavesdrop, sometimes unintentionally."

"What's the code word?" Bickslow asked, and took another sip of his drink.

"Can't tell you. You'll have to come up with one on your own."

5.

Evergreen was jumpy and awkward that night.

Her face was beat red for the entire dinner, sitting between Claire and Laxus, and kept her eyes on her plate.

"You okay, Ever? You're looking a little hot and bothered." Bickslow asked, snickering at the panicked reaction from her.

"What the hell does that mean!? It's warm in here and you're bothering me with your stupid comments!" She yelled, jumping to her feet and pointing at him. Upon the awkward silence that followed, everyone staring up at her with a blank expression while sitting criss-crossed on the ground, she stood there frozen and pointing at the seith mage. The color quickly drained from her face, feeling their eyes on her, and her rather unladylike disposition.

"What's that smell?" Claire asked, barely holding back her laughter as the brunette quickly sat down again and hung her head in shame. "Is that… garlic? I love the seasoning they used on this."

"Garlic and barley. It's not bad." Fried spoke, feeling bad for the brunette.

"Anyone up for the hot springs after dinner?" Claire asked, looking around at the group.

"I didn't bring a bathing suit." Fried said.

"I didn't either, actually. We could just wear our underwear, since it's basically a swimsuit, anyway." She suggested, and the guys shrugged, considering it. "What do you think, Ever?"

"I-i-i-i-it s-sounds f-fun." The brunette said with a strained smile.

"Ever, whatever Claire told you isn't true." The word mage spoke, smiling at his awkward friend. "Laxus told us that she was messing with you in the mud baths by lying to you about a lot of things."

"She knows." The checker woman said, grinning and chuckling as she went back to her food.

"If you know, then why are you acting so odd?" Fried asked, watching Ever's embarrassed stare stay on her lap. An awkward and heavy silence filled the room like smoke, and after a moment of silence, Claire coughed into her hand.

"So, yes or no on the hot springs after dinner?" The checker woman asked, looking back to the guys. "And no, that wasn't just to make Ever uncomfortable, that hot spring is awesome and I'm going for a dip after food. Anyone else want to join me?"

"I will." Bickslow spoke up.

After an awkward dinner with the occasional outburst of their youngest colleague, (in response to the teasing of her teammates) they all made their way to the hot springs. Claire and Bickslow cuddled up while the others were evenly spaced around the rocky walls of the springs, enjoying the warm water.

The checker woman looked up at the sky, smiling at the beautiful view of the stars. She currently sat on the seith mage's lap with his arms around her waist, and the base of her head was rested against his shoulder as she looked upward. Moisture rose from the warm water and obscured their vision of each other, and for a long while, the group sat in comfortable silence. Other than the faint sounds of the nightly insects, no sounds disturbed the night air.

After a while of relaxing, the green-haired mage looked to his leader, whose eyes had been closed as he leaned back with his arms stretched to the sides. "Laxus," At hearing his name the blond blinked awake, taking a sharp intake of breath. "Are we going to keep the same sleeping arrangement as last night?"

"I guess that depends on Ever. Do you want to sleep in the same room as Claire?" Laxus asked, looking over at the brunette. At the question, her cheeks flared characteristically pink, and she looked back up at the stars to think about it.

"Uh… n-not really…"

"Yay!" Bickslow squealed quietly.

6.

Claire reluctantly went shopping with Evergreen the next day. When the brunette had invited her, acting rather chipper and recovered from their conversation the previous day, Laxus glared at Claire from across the table when she tried to refuse the invitation. She wasn't sure how the fairy woman had recovered so quickly from her earlier awkwardness, given how irrevocably red and jumpy she was, and although she wouldn't admit it, the fire woman was impressed.

"Stop dawdling." Evergreen snapped, linking her arms with the checker woman and walking slightly faster. She was right that Claire had been purposely walking slow, and the checker woman couldn't help but drag her feet towards what she knew would be a boring experience.

"What are we shopping for, anyway?" The fire woman asked, her gaze lazily wandering around the lively street. It was a stone town and very old, and while there were some sections that were very modern, most of it was 'Old ye' decorated. Surrounding the town were miles upon miles of wilderness, making this area relatively secluded from the outside world. Weather perfect, soft background music drifting through the speakers, families out and about- there was absolutely no excuse Claire could find to cancel the shopping trip.

"There's a few shops in town that are infamous for their one-of-a-kind fashion and styles. Even a brute like you will be able to appreciate them."

"So… clothes shopping?"

"For me, yes. Afterwards we're going to shop for whatever you want."

"But I already did the shopping I wanted at the book convention. Maybe we can meet up with Fried later."

"Even Fried has more of a woman's touch than you do." The brunette huffed, and stopped on the sidewalk, turning and grabbing the checker woman's upper arms. Given the intense glare of the slightly shorter woman, Claire wondered if she was going to use her petrifaction magic on her. "I am going to make a woman out of you."

"Sorry, Bickslow already did that." Claire said, and to add to the statement, stuck her tongue out at the fairy woman. As expected Evergreen became flustered, and in response, hit her over the head.

"We're going to start with that! That's a horrible habit you've picked up from that man!"

Claire snickered at the rather girly hits, and was again linked by the arm and led down the street while the brunette continued stammering and grumbling about 'improvements' she would need to make to her friend. Despite the circumstances, Claire got to show off her new cloak from her boyfriend, and rather enjoyed how stoic and awesome she looked. Evergreen cramped her style a bit, but eh, what could she do.

The first shop they went to was extremely upscale and expensive. However 'stoic' or 'cool' Claire had felt moments ago was dashed as she entered the decadent and fancy shop, now feeling considerably underdressed and self-conscious. Evergreen tugged her along, getting snotty upturned noses at her excited squeals, but she paid no mind to them. This was her world, her element- and she loved it.

The brunette tried to recompose herself and look much more mannered and less excited than she actually was with limited success. As the fairy woman started perusing the racks of clothing, Claire turned and looked at a clearance rack, randomly grabbing a price tag.

"Why would anyone pay $600 for a dress?" She asked, and pulled the dress out to get a better look at it. It was an extremely simple, black short dress with a relatively unique neckline. She could get practically the same thing for $20 at the market in Magnolia.

"Oh that is adorable- and it's on sale!" Evergreen said excitedly, turning and grabbing the dress from her hands. "Maybe you're not a complete dunce at this thing."

The fire woman rolled her eyes, and instead of correcting her by saying that she grabbed the dress at random, took the 'compliment'. As she perused the rather simple and not-very-unique clothes, she wished that they at least had bikinis that she could make fun of, or even underwear and bras.

"Do they have a Victoria Secret kind of thing on this world?" Claire asked, looking to the brunette.

"… a what?"

"Underwear and bras store."

"Oh, of course. There's one on my list of places to go. I thought you didn't need any clothes?"

Claire shrugged. "I like my fireproof clothes, but the undergarments aren't great. I figure that I can at least check out some flammable bras. Ooooh, is there a sex shop in town?" The fire woman asked excitedly, and a little too loud for the upscale woman she was talking to. Again, she got hit in the head as the brunette stuttered and lectured her with a high-pitched voice.

Their day continued mostly in that fashion. Claire would say something 'un-ladylike', Evergreen would hit and lecture her, and the fire woman would laugh hysterically and draw even more attention to them.

After spending some 7 hours shopping, the checker woman did her usual whine, shifting her weight from foot to foot and looking around their last stop. They'd been in the stupid place for close to a half hour by now, and Evergreen had been looking around every few seconds as if she was waiting for someone.

"Since when do you like antiques?" Claire asked, looking over the brunette's shoulder. The fairy woman had been admiring an elaborate clay pot for some time now, and although it looked cool, it wasn't that cool to stare at for so long.

"I-I've always loved antiques." She stammered. "In fact, I'm buying this." The woman stated, and Claire reached over to the price tag, raising her eyebrows.

"… really?" The checker woman asked, and the brunette looked to where she was looking, tensing at the sight.

"I… okay, maybe I'll just buy one of the fancy pens over there." She said, and walked quickly to the little stationary section of the shop, all the while eyeing the door.

"Why the hell do you keep looking at the door? Who are you waiting for?"

"I… n-no one. It was stupid to think he would show up this time."

"Who? What, do you have a secret date with Elfman or something? Because seriously, everyone knows you two want to bone each other, and-"

Evergreen planted her hand on the fire woman's lips, preventing her from further speaking. "It's not Elfman, shut up!" She hushed. Both of them were getting strange looks from the other customers, and upon looking around, Claire realized that Evergreen wasn't the only one that seemed out of place. There were several women around their age looking completely disinterested in the items of the store and glancing at the door every two seconds.

Claire licked her hand, causing her to let go with a grossed out face. "Ever, what's going on?"

"Oh my gosh, he's here!" Someone whispered, and a round of squeals and whispers erupted in the otherwise quiet antique shop. Looking up, Claire's eyes locked with a man at the entrance to the shop, who she didn't recognize. His most prominent feature was the giant black plume feather on his hat. His outfit reminded her of Rufus from Sabertooth, except his hair was green like Fried's, and his outfit was a mix of blacks and pinks.

"What, are you a fangirl for him or something?" Claire asked, turning back to Evergreen, surprised to find her cowering behind her.

"Oh my god, do you have any idea who that is?" She whispered.

"… should I?" Claire asked, mildly amused by her friend's behavior. "It's so ladylike to be cowering behind me like that, by the way.

"That's Clarence Stonewald." She said in a hushed voice, and peered over the checker woman's shoulder at the man.

"Why does that sound familiar?"

"He owns half of this town and the spa we've been staying at."

"… So he's a rich dude that you have a major crush on?"

"I'm surprised you don't recognize him, since you apparently danced with him at the ball. He's Senator Stonewald's nephew." Evergreen said, and at those words, Claire's entire body froze. Her heart nearly stopped, recalling her last interaction with the man.

"Claire, what a surprise." The familiar cool and sophisticated voice spoke, and after a sinking pause, the fire woman turned to him with a strained smile.

"We were just leaving." She told him, and clenched her jaw when she felt a rather hard kick to the back of her shin.

"I-I'm Evergreen." The brunette stuttered as she emerged from behind the fire woman, hands behind her back as she awkwardly introduced herself.

"Evergreen? Not the same Evergreen that has been sending me letters all these years?" He asked, his dark eyes landing on the brunette. At the sudden attention, the fairy woman froze, her face beat red.

"I had no idea you would be here. Honest." Claire spoke, trying to keep herself together. "I didn't even know your last name until two seconds ago."

The man chuckled, and the women eavesdropping behind the nearby isles swooned at the sound. "So I take it that you're not here to accept my offer?"

"I still have no interest in it. My allegiance is with Fairy Tail."

"So your arrival in my home town is just… coincidence?" He asked, smiling his charming smile at her. After what he had told Claire, she honestly couldn't tell if he was angered at their arrival or amused by it. She chose to stay on the side of caution, given that he'd asked their guild master to not 'trespass on his territory', and at that moment they had quite possibly literally done so. For all she knew the town consisted mostly of his dolls that could attack and outnumber them at any moment.

"A very, very unfortunate one and I promise we'll leave. We had no idea this was your town."

"I apologize for my friend," Evergreen finally spoke up, seeming to have recollected herself. "She can be a bit of brute. She's only been on this world for less than a year."

"You're from another world? Fascinating, which one?" Clarence asked politely.

"It's not well known. It's doubtful that you've heard of it or recognize the name." Claire replied, and mentally cursed when she felt his magic take hold at her, just as it had at the ball. Like last time the sensation wasn't entirely unpleasant, but she didn't like being a puppet.

"Her world didn't have any magic, and yet she joined a wizard guild after only being on this planet for a week. She's quite the oddity." Evergreen spoke, and if the checker woman was able to she would have strangled the brunette. "Your balls are amazing. I mean, the dances. The Crystal Ball. The Secret Crystal Ball." She stammered, her eyes growing wide at the unfortunate word choice.

"I'm glad you enjoy them. I'll make sure that you're considered for next year's event." He told her, and the brunette beamed, her hands clasping together in front of her and almost knocking over a nearby vase in the process. She caught it just in time and looked back to the man. "Would you mind if I chatted with Claire for a moment? I would like to get her honest feedback on my dancing. Her team left so quickly afterwards I never got the chance to receive feedback."

"I- oh, of course. Always improving your dancing technique- that's amazing." Evergreen said, and leaned in to whisper in Claire's ear, "don't fuck this up for me", and walked away. She almost tripped and knocked over a clothing rack, laughing awkwardly as she continued to get some distance from the pair.

"You can imagine my surprise when I heard that you and Bickslow booked the weekend at my spa, so shortly after my party."

"Probably not as surprised as I was two minutes ago." Claire replied, trying to keep her cool. "Sorry to give you the wrong idea. Pure coincidence."

The man chuckled and stepped forward, much too close for her liking. He leaned to whisper in her ear, lips just barely gracing her skin, and she was held in place by his magic: literally under his spell. He smelled of lavender and she caught the very faint scent of death, which she could only catch with her heightened senses. "You and Bickslow are always welcome here, so long as it stays in the realm of pleasure. If I find out that you are here for more… nefarious reasons, I'll be adding your little curious friend to my collection. I usually prefer my bodies already dead, but I don't mind mixing it up on occasion. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal."

He chuckled again, lingering for a moment, and she kept her eyes locked on the underbelly of his hat. "Excellent. I hope you enjoy your stay. And, you may want to keep a tighter leash on your little friend."

"Will do." She replied, and another chuckle emanated from him as he stepped away and released his magic hold on her. He nodded to Evergreen as he walked away to admire something across the room, his fangirls watching his every move.

As soon as he left her, Evergreen was back at her side and clamoring to her arm. "What did he say? What did you say? You weren't rude to him, were you? Oh god, I talked about his balls." The last comment caused Claire to snort, pulling her out of her daze. She looked at the wide-eyed woman, a lazy grin tugging at her lips.

"Come on, let's go back to the spa."

"But I-"

"We're leaving." Claire said, this time more forcefully. She looked at her the same way she would a child not doing as she asked, since Bickslow said it was the same look that Laxus gave them when they disobeyed him, so she hoped it would work on the brunette. Sure enough, Evergreen pouted and looked down, defeated. "Pay for your pen and let's go."

7.

"How did shopping go?" Bickslow asked, looking up from his bowl of soup. The men were still in robes, sitting around the short table and enjoying an early dinner.

"It was awesome!" Evergreen said, grinning from ear to ear. Claire was close behind, carrying 10 shopping bags and dropping them abruptly on the floor when she entered. The brunette turned put her hands on her hips, jutting them to one side. "Don't just drop my things like that!"

"Then you carry them." She said simply, and reached over to grab the one shopping bag that was hers amid the other ones. Evergreen had somehow convinced her to carry all of her bags, minus the one that she was carrying. "I'm going to put my stuff away."

"You actually bought something?" Bickslow asked, surprised.

"Are you going to show us what you got, Evergreen?" Fried asked curiously. "Usually you model your new wardrobe for us."

"What are you, 6?" Claire blurted, and was once again punched in the arm by the brunette.

"I like to get feedback on my outfits! Sometimes I don't catch things, and it's good to hear what they think instead of going into public and hear what everyone else thinks later on. They've helped me avoid some major fashion errors."

"Are you going to model for us too?" Laxus asked Claire, trying to keep from laughing.

"Yeah, model for us!" Bickslow added with a wide grin.

"Model, model!" His babies added.

"You want me to model my new underwear in front of Laxus and Fried?" She asked, chuckling as the man's face fell.

"Model later?" His babies asked.

"Hey Fried, do you by chance know when the last train out town leaves?" Claire asked, looking to the word mage.

"Approximately 10 minutes ago. Why?"

"Oh, stop being so overdramatic." Evergreen said, and hit the girl's arm again. "Just because a hot, rich, handsome guy hits on you doesn't mean you have to skip town. You better have not have said anything rude to him."

"I didn't talk about his balls, if that's what you're asking." Claire stated, grinning as a flurry of 'girly' hits landed on her arm and head. "Go and change into your stuff so you can show off, already." The fire woman finally said, giving her a gentle shove to the door. With an extra skip in her step, she grabbed half of the bags and took them to the room she shared to her team, closing the door behind her.

"Thank god it was you and not me." Laxus grumbled.

A wry smile flitted to her lips as she stared at the door for a moment, mentally preparing herself for retelling the earlier events to them.

"Why is mommy scared?" Sky suddenly asked, floating into her line of sight.

"I told you not to do that, remember? I'm working on my poker face." She told him, and sighed.

"Does Evergreen actually scare you?" Bickslow asked at the table, looking up at her with an amused smile.

"Accidentally pissing off a very powerful necromancer, twice now, scares me." She said, and at the mention of the magic, all of the men looked up at her in alarm.

"Were you approached by someone in the Ghoul Guild?" Laxus asked, and she nodded, beginning to retell the earlier events of her day.

1.

Even though their vacation was cut short, it was a nice break. The two and a half days to themselves allowed them to get back to normal, however devastating it was to Evergreen.

"What do you mean we're 'banned' from the Crystal Ball?" The brunette asked the Guild Master, hands on her hips as she looked down at him. It had only been a day since their return to Magnolia, and upon entering the Guild Hall, the fairy woman went straight to the old man. Laxus had tried to reason with and stop her, but ultimately failed.

"Did they tell you why?" The old man asked, looking up at her teammates who weren't far behind. Makarov had just taken his first break from paperwork that day, and wasn't in the best of moods. He'd only had one sip from his drink when the brunette stormed up to him.

"Something about dark guild connections but I mean, come on, it's a party. It's the greatest party of all time, and the man planning the event said he would consider me for the list next year."

"He also threatened to kill you." Claire added, taking a seat on a nearby empty table. Bickslow did the same, extending his arms back to prop his weight on them, and their babies floated behind them.

"Only if we did something against him- which we're not. Just because the person hosting a party is evil doesn't mean the party is bad." Evergreen reasoned, turning back to the Guild Master.

"Did Claire tell you what most of the guests comprise of?" Makarov asked, looking over to the checker woman.

"No, I tried to leave the gory details. There were babies in the room." Claire replied, letting Sky circle around to her front and be hugged by her.

"You left stuff out?" Bickslow asked, and she nodded.

"If you really want to know I'll tell you later, but you probably don't." She told him, and he shrugged.

"My decision to ban Fairy Tail members from the party is final. Only after a thorough investigation has occurred will I even consider changing my mind." Makarov informed the woman in front of her.

As the two bickered and argued over the subject matter, Erza approached the checker woman, a serious expression on her face. "Can I speak to you for a moment?" The red head asked, and Claire blinked in surprise, but then nodded.

"Uh, sure."

"Are you guys gonna fight?" Bickslow asked with a grin, only for it to fall at the glare he received from the mage.

"I still haven't forgiven you for sneaking into my apartment." She said coldly, and the seith mage felt a cool chill run up his spine.

"Sky, stay with Bixy while I chat with Erza." Claire told the small soul, and then hopped from her seat and followed the armor clad mage to the other side of the Guild Hall. It was currently early afternoon, and although there was a fair crowd in the building, it was rather average compared to lately. The two women found a relatively secluded space, and when Erza was certain no one was looking, looked back to the curious woman. "So, what's up?"

"Back when I was searching for your family, someone found something you would be interested in. They got into trouble with the law and just got out, which is why I didn't know about it until recently." She spoke, and at the mention of her family, Claire's breath caught in her throat. Before she could even guess as to what it was, the red head was pulling something out of her pocket.

The fire mage stared at it for a moment, confused, and hesitated before reaching out and taking it. Warm metal touched her fingertips, and she turned the small object around in her hand, reading the writing on it.

"Your mother purchased a storage unit approximately 20 years ago. According to my source, she used it for almost 10 years before simply forgetting about it. For you to access the belongings you'll have to pay the bill."

It was a key.

'Bellevue Inc. Storage Units', and then in bigger letters was '343'.

"It's a storage unit of my mom's stuff?" She clarified, and Erza nodded.

"It's a few towns over. You have about 30 or 40 years until they clean it out." The red head explained.

"Thank you. I know we've had our differences lately, but… I really appreciate this." Claire spoke, looking into the woman's deep brown eyes. She was oddly reminded of the night her sister was taken, and how the requip mage had stayed with her afterwards. "Thank you."

"That's what friends are for." She said with a kind smile, and pulled her into a hug. Of course, Erza's hugs always consisted of her shoving the other person's face into her cleavage, resulting in a painful 'ding' from her head crashing into her chest plate.

2.

After hours of laying in bed and staring at the white ceiling, Claire slowly untangled herself from the man in her bed.

Quietly tip-toeing to the door, she made a small side trip to her pants on the floor, and snuck out of the room. Bickslow's soft breathing remained even in her departure, even after the soft 'click' of the door as it closed behind her.

For a moment she paused, letting her toes curl and uncurl in the carpet beneath her, listening carefully for any change in her boyfriend's state. Given his nightmares over the past few weeks she hated leaving him alone, and even going to the bathroom in the middle of the night sometimes frightened him. After a few minutes of simply standing there and kneading the floor like a cat, anxiously holding the warm object in her shaking hand, she slowly made her way to the burgundy couch.

A shaky breath left her lips as she sunk into the couch, her eyes fluttering shut as she relished in the cold fabric embracing her exposed flesh. The silence was both wonderful and torture, as her thoughts became akin to screams in the desolate space, raging a battle in her mind. Despair washed over her like waves in the ocean, and in her anguish, she just sat there letting the high tide roll over her.

It was pain, pure and simple. Around her friends and colleagues she had to put up a front, to push back all these feelings in order to stay together. She couldn't feel these things around them, because if she did, she was terrified of crumbling to pieces. If even a few leaks and cracks appeared in the dam keeping back those emotions, the entire structure would break, leaving her empty and alone.

The voices in her mind weren't all coherent, as some of them were simply yelling for the sake of yelling. Guilt, anger, pain, sadness- she didn't fight it. She accepted it with open arms, her shaking hand still holding the small key.

When an all too familiar presence hugged her side, she reigned in the emotions, pulling herself back together.

She spoke telepathically to her soul, opening her eyes to the mostly empty room. A few strands of light poured into the room from the window, and Bickslow's visor across the room glinted and reflected some of it.

Sky told her.

He asked, and she paused before answering. She had known the soul for so long before hearing his voice, that it caught her off guard sometimes to hear his childlike voice ask such simple things.

Claire told him; with reluctance the soul removed its arms from her, and she felt him float away. Although surprised that he gave up so quickly on the matter, she was glad she had won, and closed her eyes again.

But then she heard Bickslow's breathing change, and he mumbled something she couldn't understand. She mentally cursed, realizing that Sky had probably gone to wake him up.

Claire asked the small soul, and even though he didn't respond, her suspicion was confirmed when the bedroom door creaked open. At the sound of his footsteps, the fire woman looked up, seeing a rather tired and confused seith mage standing there. After a moment of simply staring at her, he sluggishly walked over to her, and nudged her shoulder.

"Scoot." He grumbled.

Complying with his request, she scooted to the side of the couch, watching the half-asleep man plop down on the couch next to her, using her lap as a pillow. Instead of pushing her to tell him what was wrong, or ask about the metal piece clenched tightly in her palm, he simply rolled onto his side and fell back asleep.

She couldn't help but admire how cute he looked in his sleep. Blue hair every which way, muscles relaxed, and the little creature tattoo on his face was in its natural state. With her free hand she gently reached up and pet his hair, and let out a shaky breath, closing her eyes again as she let her head drift back into chaos.

3.

"Daaaaaaaad," Sky whined the next morning, hovering in front of the tired seith mage. He carefully set down his tea, staring back at the small totem.

"Whaaaaat?" He whined back in the same voice, and heard a chuckle from his girlfriend across the table. Claire had just finished making them breakfast, and he was just about to enjoy it when her 'baby' zoomed in front of him. The other wandering souls were babbling and floating around as well, but they were so happy to be in a vessel for the first time since last night, they hadn't really interacted with the couple.

"You did it wrong!" The floating object accused, and he made a face at him.

"I did what wrong?"

"You didn't cheer mom up! She's still sad!"

"I'll be fine, Sky," Claire spoke from across the table, and took a small sip of her drink. "Stop worrying so much." Despite her words, the small soul made a strange whining sound, which she could only assume he was trying to copy the sound that she made so often nowadays.

"Is her emotional state affecting your bond? Like, are you in pain?" Bickslow asked the small soul. Sky responded with an exasperated and over exaggerated sigh, his vessel almost falling into the man's breakfast. Since wandering souls are the souls of dead people, and their goal is to eventually move on by getting past their issues, they can be extra sensitive to their seith mages emotional state. If the seith mage gets too emotional, which would have to be pretty extreme to affect the soul, it'll mess with the magic bond they have and potentially hurt the soul. Given Bickslow's recent traumatic event, he hasn't been binding his souls as often to prevent his own emotional baggage from affecting his babies. With his recent nightmares they haven't been sleeping with them, either.

"No! That's not the point!"

"Do you want me to be your seith mage until Claire is less sad?" He offered, and again, the little soul gave an exasperated sigh. He couldn't help but be reminded of a frustrated teenager, and smiled at the little annoyed soul.

"No! I like being bound to mom."

"Then what's your problem?"

"Mom is sad and you need to make her happy."

"And how do you want me to do that?"

"I don't know. Get her flowers and chocolate or something! That's what my dad used to do when mom was upset. Also lots of kisses."

"Flowers, chocolate, and kisses. Anything else?" Bickslow asked, patiently watching the soul as he hovered there thinking. He glanced behind the wooden vessel at Claire, who had already finished half her breakfast. "While you're thinking of other ways to cheer her up, I'm going to eat my breakfast before it gets cold. If it hasn't already." Bickslow said, and shoved the vessel out of his face. Sky made a small startled sound as it was flung to the side, and collided with one of the other souls.

"Sorry he woke you up last night. I tried to be quiet." She told him as he took his first few bites.

"If you're sad, I'd rather you wake me up than sit out here alone. I know that you can't always talk about it in the moment, but I'd prefer to be there even as a comfort pillow than nothing at all." He explained between bites, and she kept her gaze on the eggs and bacon she had made.

"I just felt like being alone for a little while." She said softly, playing with a small piece of scrambled egg and pushing it around her plate.

"Can you at least tell me which family member this is about?" Bickslow asked, noting that her shoulders were slumped and she suddenly looked incredibly depressed. She'd at least been pretending to be neutral up until that point, and it tugged at his heart to see her like that.

"Mom." She said, and then set her fork down. "Do you want the rest of my breakfast?"

"Are you sure you don't want it?" He asked, trying to keep from blurting out a barrage of questions for her. She had always been extremely vague and distant when the topic of her mother came up, and the only thing he knew about her was that she died and she used to like loud family settings.

"Yeah. Do you know what kind of job Fried lined up for us today?" Claire asked after pushing her plate towards him, taking a deep breath and trying to recollect herself.

"Haunted house in Dawn City."

"Does the Thunder Legion usually do so many death oriented jobs?"

"Eh. It depends, honestly. We sometimes go months without a ghost or death oriented one, and sometimes we'll have multiple ones in a row. S-Ranked jobs usually involve it in one capacity or another, since the possibility of death is what makes them S-Ranked. Since my skill set is so specific and there are some jobs that only I can do, the Thunder Legion ends up doing them with me. The same goes for Fried and Laxus as well, and on a very rare occasion, Evergreen. Sometimes we'll get jobs that are specifically given to us for a particular skill set of one person, and the rest of us will go as backup."

"So the rest of us are going to be 'back up'?" She asked, watching him devour their breakfast between answers.

"Yep. Haunted houses are pretty awesome, because I get to make everyone else in the group do the boring stuff." He said with a grin, and finished off the last of the eggs. "Usually what we do is have Fried do research on the house while Ever and Laxus go through the house with sage and chanting and stuff. I'll walk around the house looking for any lingering souls, figure out why they're still there, and decide what to do with them. You would probably do best researching with Fried."

"How long do these jobs usually take?"

"Depends on the activity level. A few days at least, and we'll probably be staying in the house for that time."

4.

"I want you to cleanse this house. The last group I hired for this job wasted my time and money having sex and doing squat. I want this house cleansed, rid of any ghosts or spirits or whatever the hell you call them, and no shenanigans." The old lady told them, squinting her tiny eyes at the group. She stood only 4 feet tall, and her hair was in a very prim and proper bun, so detailed and elegant they all knew it was a wig. A very conservative pink dress added to her rather comical appearance. Evergreen barely contained her giggles, managing to keep a straight face by biting down on the inside of her cheek. "Each of you will have your own room. I separated the last group by gender and walked in on the men having sex with each other." She explained further, and shuddered.

"I can assure you that that will not be a problem." Laxus told her, and beside him Bickslow was barely to contain his laughter.

The old woman narrowed her eyes at the seith mage; if she stared for much longer he would have cracked.

"None of us have had sex before, and don't plan to. We're pure." Evergreen told the old woman, who looked up at her and smiled.

"I don't doubt you are, sweetie. You seem like a lovely young lady. Don't let these men push you into anything you don't want to do. Kick them in the nuts if you have to- that's what I do." She instructed the brunette, and glared at Bickslow. "I have extra pepper spray I'll give you before I leave. A young lady like you shouldn't be working with so many men."

"Don't worry, I can handle myself. I'm a strong wizard."

"Of course you are." The old woman said, obviously humoring the fairy woman. Fried accidentally snorted at his friend's expense, to which she glared.

"How thorough do you want this house cleansed?" Laxus asked.

"I'm paying you top dollar. I want this house cleaned as thoroughly as possible." She told them. None of them had the heart to tell her that she was actually paying them significantly less than they would usually ask for the level of work she was asking for. When she called to request the job, Mirajane had to talk to her for close to an hour just to get her to pay the absolute minimum. "You have a week. My granddaughter will be staying here to make sure you all behave, and if you have any questions regarding the house or its previous owners. She'll be arriving shortly."

"So are you going to give us the tour?"

"I'll let my granddaughter do that. She knows much about this house than I do. I will be stopping by at random times to check up on you lot, though, so don't get any funny ideas." She told them, narrowing her eyes at them. Particularly Bickslow.

After another ten minutes of awkwardly standing around and chatting, namely their client glaring at them and telling them not to have sex, the granddaughter finally arrived.

When she walked in the back door, (they were all standing in the kitchen) they all turned to her. She was very average and plain in appearance, having long brown hair braided back and large round glasses covering half her face. Book hugged to her chest, she awkwardly greeted them, tripping over her own feet as she entered the room.

"This is my granddaughter, Stacey. She's trained in martial arts, so don't even think about touching her." Again, she glared at Bickslow when she said that, and he rolled his eyes beneath the visor.

"Stacey? I'm Evergreen. It's nice to meet you." The fairy woman greeted, holding out a hand to her. She awkwardly accepted the hand shake, smiling at the brunette.

"Y-you, too."

"This is Fried, Claire, Bickslow, and Laxus. We're the Thunder Legion."

"N-nice to meet you all. Shall we get started with the tour?" She asked, and they all eagerly nodded. With a final farewell, and a few extra glares in the seith mage's direction, the client finally left out the back door.

"Why did she keep staring at me the entire time?" Bickslow asked, looking between his amused teammates.

"Why do you guys enter and leave through the back door?" Laxus asked the young woman, ignoring his perplexed comrade.

"The front room… a lot of bad things happened there, and we prefer to not go in there unless we have to. It's so volatile that workers refuse to go in there, so we've had little success in refurnishing it. Once you cleanse the space we can fix it up better." Stacey explained, blushing as she explained it to Laxus.

"Let's get this party started." Bickslow said with a grin. "While you're giving us a tour, by the way, I'd prefer if you didn't give us names."

"... why not?"

"When I talk to the souls one on one, names get in the way sometimes. On occasion it can trigger painful memories for them and make them go berserk, so on my first run through the house, I prefer to not know them."

"I… alright. I'll try to avoid using names. Right this way." She nodded, and walked through the door leading into the living room, the Thunder Legion following close behind. As each person entered the room, they shuddered, and Evergreen in particularly jumped and latched onto Fried.

"A little warning would have been nice! Shit!" Evergreen cursed loudly, her eyes wide and shaking as she peaked around the room from behind Fried.

"Fucking hell…" Claire grumbled, looking around the room with a sour expression.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Bickslow asked, looking between the two.

"This room affects women more than men. It's quite frightening the first time."

"Is it worse than Death Forest?" Bickslow asked Claire curiously, who was occupied with observing the room. She wasn't visibly as freaked out as Ever, but she did seem unsettled.

"No, not energy wise. What happened here?" The checker woman asked, particularly eyeing the splattered blood on the wall. Although the objects were gone, like the broken couch and pictures on the walls, she still recognized it. It was her sister's illusion, right down to the smell and scrapes on the floor. Keeping her mind on the present, she looked back to Stacey, curious about how much of the illusion was real.

"Very, very gruesome story. Fascinating, but also extremely sad." Stacey spoke, and they could tell that she was trying to hold back her excitement for the story. "A husband and wife built this place around 30 years ago, and they lived here with the wife's brother and mother. A prison was stationed not too far from here and there was a break out, and they destroyed this town. In this room was where the husband and two daughters were killed after being tortured and, well… it was pretty hard to digest. The mother was tied to a chair and forced to watch."

"How old were the daughters?" Bickslow asked. Claire could sense several spirits in the area, and wondered if the seith mage could see them.

"One of them was around 6 months, while the other was 3 years old. Poor things. The leader that did it, nicknamed 'The Joker', brutally tortured the mom after murdering her husband and children in front of her. She went insane."

"Did she die here, too?"

"No, last I heard she's still alive, but I have no idea where she is. In her insanity she murdered not only the men responsible for her family's deaths, but several others as well, which is how this house became filled with trapped spirits. Her mother killed herself about 10 years ago in the attic, and the brother is currently missing."

"You said the guy responsible was nicknamed 'The Joker'?" Claire asked, and the woman nodded.

"One of the worst bad guys being held in the prison. He had a history of using laughing gas on his victims and experimented on people to make them smile- permanently. He should have been in a mental institution, but he was so dangerous they put him in a prison instead. After killing the husband and kids he took knives and carved into the sides of their lips, so that they would 'smile'."

"Fried, why'd you have to pick such a terrible job!?" Ever whined to the man she was clinging to.

"Just how many murders took place in this house?" Bickslow asked the young woman.

"17 that I know about." She replied, and the seith mage groaned, looking around the room.

"When you requested the job you said there was one." Fried told her, and the woman shrugged.

"My grandma made the request. I don't know what she told you, but there were 17 deaths. I have no idea how many of them still linger, but given the brutality of their deaths, I would imagine most of them are still here."

"After you show us the rest of the house, we'll need to speak with your grandmother about the price of our services. Since she lied about the specifics of the job, we don't have enough equipment for this and will need to get more." Laxus told her, and she nodded awkwardly, shifting her weight and gripping the book in her arms tighter.

"She can be pretty stingy with prices… but after the tour I'll contact her and ask her to come back. Is that acceptable?" Stacy asked, and the dragonslayer nodded.

Claire thought to herself with a wry smile. On her home planet none of her siblings, aside from Bacchus, were particularly into comics or superheroes. Somehow all of them kept making references to it, though.

"Checkers?" Bickslow asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked around and realized that they were making their way to the stairway. Without a word she followed them through the rest of the house.

5.

Bickslow sighed, plopping down on his bed with his hands clasped behind his head. One of his souls, Pappa, was nearby and flying around the room in circles. When it came to jobs like these he usually only brought one soul with him, in order to reduce risk to his babies. The little soul flying around the room couldn't help but feel special, so he was happy and bubbly at the attention from having one-on-one time with 'dad'.

As his eyes closed behind the metal guard on his face, his muscles relaxed, and he couldn't stop the mental image of Claire climbing over him from entering his mind. It had been weeks since he and Claire had had sex, and both of them were incredibly frustrated. The image of her slowly crawling over him, clad in the lingerie he had convinced her to get months ago, placed soft kisses along his bare skin. Her tongue flicked over his nipple and swirled it around in her mouth, all the while his member pulsed and hardened with the need to bury itself between her legs.

Just as spontaneous had the image of his mostly naked girlfriend popped into his mind, the naked dead woman appeared in his mind as well- or, as he referred to her, 'the anti-boner'. He hated the gnawing guilt and regret that plagued his mind whenever he thought about Claire sexually, and even worse was the added guilt of the frustration he was putting her through. She once admitted that he was so great in bed that he could be a total ass hole and she'd still be into him, and even though he felt rather prideful at the time, it caused doubt and stress for him now. They weren't having sex, and since it was such a huge part of their relationship, was causing a strain on it.

Furthermore, it was causing a strain on him.

He couldn't even bind his babies for a week after it happened, and he was still apprehensive to bind them even now. He could manage it around other people and function on a day to day basis, but he was a nervous wreck on the inside. Facing his babies after what happened was one of the most difficult things he had ever done. They were his

. He didn't know what Tinkerman did to them, and by the way Claire acted when the topic was brought up, he didn't want to know. Just the thought of putting them through any pain or danger caused his chest to constrict painfully.

Nightmares of what happened plagued his dreams every night, and he'd woken up crying in Claire's arms on more than one occasion. Every time it happened he'd cry even more at the thought of her leaving him for being so weak, and each time she'd hush him quietly and hold him close. Never in his life had he imagined feeling so safe in someone's arms, not even as a child when he got the occasional hug. It felt like she could protect him from anything in the world, and only in her arms, was there a glimmer of hope for the future.

And then Sky woke him up in the middle of the night saying she was sad, and that she was in the living room alone. She could be a goddamn hypocrite when it came to sharing their feelings. It was okay for him to cry on her shoulder, but it wasn't okay the other way around? After how many times he had woken her up with his nightmares- she felt the need to lie when she was feeling sad.

But she couldn't cry- it was physically impossible for her. She couldn't fully mourn for the things that made her sad, and the closest were the weird sounding sobs she made when she was really upset, which had only happened once at the games. Sure, she would talk about some things, but when it came to her family- which is what she's really upset about- she would close up.

He had hoped to try and make love to her on the spa trip, or if not that much, at least work through some of their recent experiences together. Every night (until his team showed up) they would have a deep and meaningful conversation, and really open up to each other. He was getting progressively more comfortable around her in sexual settings, and when he found out that Makarov had extended their stay at the spa, was looking forward to spending it with her. She was happy, he was happy, his babies were happy- all of them were happy.

But then their team came and fucked up everything. Evergreen nearly got them all killed, albeit accidentally, and Bickslow discovered that a necromancer had his eyes on his girlfriend.

Necromancers were looked down upon in the magic world for good reason. They were almost always low life creeps or power hungry mongrels. He had only met two in his life time, both of whom died shortly after he met them from a zombie attack.

And now one of them had his stupid, beady, little eyes on his hot girlfriend.

"Why don't you just do her already?" Pappa asked nearby, startling him out of his thoughts. Wandering souls may act like kids, but most of them were adults before they died.

"It's complicated." He replied, feeling oddly reminiscent of that morning. Pappa was a teenager when he died, just shy of adulthood, and Sky wasn't much younger when he passed. They were probably the closest in age and personality out of all his souls, now that he thought about it.

"She likes you, and you definitely like her. It's not like you haven't done it before." The soul told him, hovering just a few inches from his face. "Just bone her, dude."

"Inappropriate. And dude, no offense, but you've been out of the game for quite a while. You're not in the best position to give sex advice."

"Well it's driving me nuts hearing you think about it all the time."

"Well, tough shit." He replied, and grunted at the impetulant stare from the floating totem. Their staring contest was interrupted by a knock from the door, both of whom turned towards the source. Bickslow pulled himself up to sit on the bed, pleasantly surprised by the sweet voice on the other side.

"Bickslow?"

Immediately he jumped from the bed, nearly tripping when his foot caught on the blanket, and ran over to the door. Realizing that he would come off as an idiot for running to the door so fast, he paused just before grabbing the handle. After a few seconds of waiting, he slowly opened the door, inwardly cheering at the sight of her.

"Why'd you wait behind the door so long?" She asked cutely, her hands behind her back as she slowly twisted her body back and forth. Her head was tilted ever so slightly as she looked up at him, giving her a rather uncharacteristically girly appearance.

"Why are you in such a hurry for me to answer the door?" He countered, smirking at her.

"Can I come in?" Claire asked, and of course the man nodded, stepping to the side so that she could enter. After she was inside he peered into the hallway, making sure that no one had seen her, and then closed the door. "I got scared." She pouted, bashing her eyelashes at him. When he'd turned back to her he found that she was sitting on the bed, her knees together and hands on her thighs.

"What scared you?" He asked, looking at her suspiciously as he neared her, keeping a few feet between them. Given the nature of their job he was wary of her sudden change in appearance, but upon seeing that playful look in the fake pout, decided to play along.

"I saw a ghost."

"A ghost, huh? Do you need a hug?" He asked, watching as she nodded, keeping the fake pout. Stepping forward, he leaned down and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into a hug. Given the difference in height, he knelt down so that his knees touched the hardwood floor, while hers were still together and pushed gently to the side. "Is that better?"

"A little." Her voice was soft and slightly higher pitch than usual, giving it a childlike sound.

"What else can I do to make you feel less scared?"

"I dunno."

"Would kisses make you feel better?"

"I dunno. It might, but no promises." She said, managing to keep a straight face. Bickslow leaned back to look at her, reached up to cup the side of her face, and leaned in to kiss her softly. His hormones raged inside of him from just the simple gesture, but he stayed in control, pulling away before it got too heated.

"Better?" He asked, his breath washing over her pink lips.

"A little."

He closed his eyes, knowing that if he kept looking at her, the same thing that always happened would occur when they got started.

"I was trying to be cute." She said after a moment, smiling as she rested her forehead against the metal visor. At their proximity she could see inside the shadowed space, and his closed eyes didn't go unnoticed.

"You're good at it." He replied with a matching grin, and pecked her cheek. They were still holding each other, and even if he didn't plan on doing anything sexual, it felt nice to have his arms around her. "So what's up? Did you actually see any ghosts?"

"Aside from Pappa, no. I am bugging out, though."

"This place is pretty active. I don't blame you. Did you see Ever's face?"

"No, I'm pretty sure this was where my family lived. The ones that were transported here over 30 years ago."

"... eh?"

"When Kelsey cast the illusion spell on me, the setting was in the living room downstairs."

"... nooooo," He whined, and moved to rest his forehead on her shoulder. "This was supposed to be an easy mission."

"They always are."

"But everything that happened here was so fucked up."

"Yup. Crazy sister assassin."

"How are you coping?"

"Eh. I already knew my sister was a psychotic murderer who liked stabbing people, so most of this journey has been more informative than anything."

"So you're pretending to be okay because we're on a job?"

"A little of column A, a little of column B. I did like the kisses, though."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like not talking about it until the job is over so that it doesn't sink in."

"Are we going to meet mom's family?" Pappa asked as he flew over. Bickslow removed his face from her shoulder, sighing as his gaze wandered to the few freckles on her cheeks.

"Well, none of her family actually died here, so… no. And Claire, this is your family we're talking about. Everyone is going to understand if you want to go home and sit this one out. Hell, we might go anyway if Laxus and I can't manage to get the old hag to pay us more."

"I don't want to go back to our apartment. My home is in your arms."

"That was so cheesy I think I actually tasted it."

"Is it still cheesy if I meant it?" She asked, and tilted her head cutely to the side again.

"Stop being so cute. And that makes it even cheesier: your words are like a three-cheese lasagna."

"I think you're really hungry."

"I think you should go home." He stated, and her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Her lower lip quivered ever so slightly, and he suspected that it was genuine.

"Why?"

"Because every time shit happens with your family you break down in one form or another and I don't like seeing you upset. We can do this job without you, and it's not worth the stress on you."

"Buuuut being with you makes me happy, and if I go home, I'll be sad because I'm not with you."

"If I supposedly cheer you up when you're sad, why'd you sneak off last night?"

"Is it really that bad that I wanted a little alone time? Not a lot, just like, an hour to myself."

"Since you want 'alone time' so bad, why are you against going home? I'll be back in a couple of days. Well, weeks actually, since this place is so messed up."

"I don't like 'alone time' being that alone. I like being within earshot of you."

"Why? Are you afraid I'll get taken again?" He asked, and when she didn't answer, he tried to pull away. She kept her arms around him and tried to bring him back, but he looked anywhere other than at her. He always suspected it, especially considering who their comrades were in Fairy Tail, but she just confirmed it for him.

"Hey, don't- it's not like that."

"You think I'm weak."

"Bixy-"

"Shove it." He cut off, and pulled her arms off of his shoulders, pushing himself to his feet and making his way to the door. She grabbed his arm and tried to stop him, but he tried to yank it back.

"Calm down and listen to me, please?" Claire asked, her grip tightening as he struggled against her.

"I already know what you're going to say."

"Well apparently not if you're acting like a jerk." She countered, and they started a struggle. Her hands grasped at him, latching onto any piece of him to try and make him stay, her movements becoming frantic as panic rose in her chest. He just wanted to get away from her judgmental stare.

Neither of them were entirely sure how, but Bickslow grabbed both of her wrists and shoved her onto the bed, pinning them to the mattress. He sat on her, straddling her waist to keep her down, and barely overpowering her. If this was a real fight there would be a lot more damage to both parties and the room, and he was mildly surprised she let him take her down so easily.

"You weren't the only one that was kidnapped by them, you idiot." She said, and he froze. His entire world stopped moving. "Twice now I've had the stupid necromancer version of soul possession cast on me, and it doesn't require eye contact, and I have no idea how to counter it. Twice now he's used it to get me isolated from the group. And he easily could have killed me."

"Did he… you know…"

"No. He held my hand and whispered in my ear, but nothing past that. He also described in excruciating detail his entire necromance magic, while I was forced to sit and listen." She told him, staring up into his dumstruck face. His hands were still on her wrist, keeping them pinned, but had loosened their strength significantly. "I feel safest when I'm with you." Her voice lowered for the last part, just above a whispered and almost cracked at the end.

Bickslow felt a confliction of emotions at the moment, all of which were so strong he didn't know how to proceed. Anger stood out the most.

"I didn't purposely keep anything from you, I just… part of it is that I don't know how to tell you, and then there's timing, and what after what happened to you I wanted to limit how much I told you about the necromancer."

"Don't be mad at mom." Pappa suddenly spoke, and both of the mages looked over, having forgotten that he was there. He flew over to Bickslow, nudging his upper arm, and hummed softly.

"I'm not." He gritted, breathing hard as he looked down at the woman under him.

"Then who are you mad at?" Pappa asked, and both the soul and Claire looked up at him expectantly.

"Myself." The seith mage spoke, and removed his hands from her wrists. One of his hands moved to the side of her face, and he slowly leaned down, his heart thudding against his chest as he kissed her.

6.

Laxus was beginning to regret approving of Claire joining the Thunder Legion.

Sure, she was a great addition to the team in terms of strengths, and complimented the rest of them in that respect. But he kept accidentally overhearing her and Bickslow's stupid couple drama shit, and it was getting on his nerves.

'You're my home, Bixy', 'I love you, Checkers', 'I feel sad', 'I also feel sad, let's smooch'.

And it was his sister, to make it worse.

Sitting in the kitchen, he casually perused the cabinets and fridge, looking for something to eat. Their client wouldn't be back for another hour, so he had that time to kill, and hoped that he could find something to do to distract himself from the annoying couple upstairs. _This is why dating people in the guild is a bad idea…_

At the sound of someone entering the room, the dragonslayer looked up, finding that the granddaughter had awkwardly walked in.

"H-hi." She stuttered with a small smile. He simply nodded going back to his food search, and eventually settled on a turkey sandwhich. "I'll be making a food run tomorrow, so if there's anything you guys want, make a list for me and I'll get it." She offered, and he glanced up at her, his piercing blue eyes causing the blush on her cheeks to deepen. She was still clutching the book to her chest.

"Thanks." He said simply, and she nodded, watching as he got out the bread and other sandwhich making supplies. The look was brief, but his eyes were just as electrifying as his magic, and left her stunned.

"H-how long have you been using magic?" Stacey asked, walking forward and taking a seat on one of the stools. Her warm, chocolate brown eyes watched his hands work purposely with the supplies, amazed by how much confidence and power the man exuded, even when just doing such a mundane and simple thing.

"Most of my life." He said curtly. "What do you do for a living?"

"I work at a local library, and help my grandma with her houses sometimes."

7.

After a grueling hour of talking to their client, and trying to explain the situation to her, she eventually just kicked them out.

"Does that happen very often?" Claire asked her team curiously. They were now on their way to the train station, bags in tow and yawning tiredly. Although they technically hadn't done much in their few hours in the house, it had been considerably draining just to physically be there.

"Not really." Laxus answered. "Mira usually sorts out those kinds of people before we meet them in person."

"Once the old lady realizes that we were actually giving her a pretty good deal, she'll probably request us again." Bickslow spoke. "That, or just give up on cleansing the house all together. I don't know much about real-estate, but I'm guessing that cleansing it would be close to half of what the cost of the house actually is."

"So… this trip was a waste of time?" Claire clarified, and most of them nodded.

"Oi, I'm tired of all these 'death jobs'. I'm picking the next one." Ever announced, and the rest of them groaned.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note:** For the stats on each member in the Thunder Legion, I used the stats from the Grand Magic Games as a starting point.

 **Sexy time ahead, ahoy!**

 **Random note:** In the fanfiction community, a few people have used the word 'waggle' to describe how Bickslow sticks his tongue out. I love it.

 **Walking Cliché 20**

 _Bathing Suit Edition and Dancing Skillz_

"Can I wear the boy swim trunks with this bikini top?" Claire asked on the other side of the door, and Evergreen groaned loudly.

"No! Stop being so self-conscious and put the damn thing on!"

"I look terrible in it. Either get me shorts or I'm wearing pants." The checker woman stated, making a face at herself in the mirror. She quickly pulled on her pair of jeans, covering the scars on her thighs; just as she buttoned the pants, Evergreen pulled the door open, clad in her green bikini and giant pink sunglasses. This was Evergreen's favorite kind of mission that, when she caught wind of _Sorcerer Weekly_ wanting to do an issue on one of Fairy Tail's most powerful teams, she jumped on it and made sure that the Thunder Legion was chosen for it.

"We're being paid for this. Why can't you just suck it up?" She asked, and Claire almost laughed. The money wasn't why her team was doing it, and both of them knew it. It was publicity for their guild and team.

"I don't look good in girly stuff. I know you know this, since you like pointing it out all the freaking time." Claire glared, her hands resting within her jean pockets. She was wearing her 'punk jeans', which were black skinny jeans with chains on it. Paired with her gray smoky top, she thought it was a cute combination.

"We're posing for _Sorcerer Weekly,_ and you're embarrassing the Thunder Legion by acting like such a child. Take those pants off."

"Is there a problem?" A woman asked as they approached them. She was clad in khakis and a simple gray t-shirt, and a lanyard hung from her neck indicating her position at the newspaper. She was a reporter, and had been the one to interview them earlier that evening.

"No, of course not." Evergreen stated quickly, jumping back and smiling at her.

"I don't look good in bikini bottoms." Claire told her, ignoring the shooting glare from the brunette.

"Oh, that's fine. Would a sarong or skirt be an acceptable compromise?"

"Sure, as long as it goes to my knees." Claire said, and the reporter nodded.

"Sure thing. I'll go find one for you." She said, and left the room, ignoring the awkward look from the fairy woman. The checker woman stuck her tongue out at her, and Evergreen groaned, walking away in defeat.

After finding an acceptable purple and black sarong, the pair went to join their colleagues for the photo shoot. They had already done the boys photographs together and their solo ones when the women joined them. After doing the group ones, Claire and Evergreen would do some photos together and then separate.

"Took you guys long enough." Laxus commented as they joined them. The group of men had been chatting with the cameraman, and they were supposed to have started the group photos 10 minutes ago.

"Claire refused to wear the swimsuit I bought her." Evergreen stated, crossing her arms and again glaring at the woman.

"Which I looked like shit in. You're just mad that you didn't think of the sarong idea first." Claire said with a smirk, watching the fairy woman's face turn red from anger. Not surprisingly the brunette was extra high strung that day, so it was also extra easy to push her buttons.

"What matters is that you're here now, and we can start!" Cameraman told them, and with a huff, Evergreen walked over to the photo area. As the rest of them walked over, Bickslow leaned over to whisper in his girlfriend's ear.

"You look beautiful."

"Thanks." She whispered back, smiling up at him.

"Hey, are you two dating?" The cameraman asked, and the couple turned, nodding. "We should do some couple photos after this."

"Alright. Does that mean you want photos of Evergreen and Elfman, too?" Bickslow asked with a grin, snickering when the fairy woman started girlishly hitting his arm.

1.

About a week later, Bickslow and Claire entered the Guild Hall, surprised by how many copies of the magazine were in the building. Almost every wizard inside was reading a copy, and when they noticed the pair enter, a combination of wolf whistles and congratulatory nods were sent in their direction.

On the second floor, where the slumping Laxus and Fried sat, they could see a rather animated Evergreen across from them. From their angle they couldn't tell if she was happy or mad, but in either case, the couple decided to take their time making it up there. They went straight to Mirajane behind the bar, who was smiley and giddy at their arrival.

"You two were so cute in the magazine! Have you two read it yet?" She asked, and they shook their heads.

"Nah, we just got here. What'd you think of it?"

"It was well done. We've already got a slight increase in job requests, and it was great publicity for the guild. You guys did a good job."

"Thanks! It was Claire's first time doing that sort of thing." Bickslow added, and Claire smiled awkwardly.

"I think you'll be happy with it. _Sorcerer Weekly_ is one of the best wizard magazines out there, and I've never had an experience of them writing an article or issue that was too out of line. Natsu is the only one that has taken issue with them, but… it's Natsu."

"I look forward to reading it, then. Can we get some drinks?" The checker woman asked, and Mira nodded.

"Coming right up. I'll bring it to your table- do you want the usual fries, too?"

"Of course." Bickslow said with a grin, his tongue hanging out and show off his saliva covered Fairy Tail emblem. The white-haired mage chuckled and went back to her job while the couple walked over to the stores, nodding to the occasional compliment. As they walked up the steps, Claire briefly held his hand, feeling nervous about reading the magazine.

When they reached the table, they discovered that Evergreen was unhappy about the resulting magazine.

"Sup y'all?" Claire asked, and pulled up a chair, turning it so that the back was facing the yelling fairy woman. Before sitting down she grabbed an issue on the table, smiling at the 'cool pose' of their group on the cover. Even though there was an empty seat next to Ever, he instead decided to take the seat between Claire and Laxus, so that the brunette was the only one on that side. He grabbed his own copy from the small stack on the table, flipping through it.

"… so why exactly are you upset, Ever? Everyone's saying that it's awesome." Bickslow asked, and the two men next to him groaned.

"Don't get her started." Fried grumbled.

"They didn't take any of my suggestions on the layout, Claire's sarong looked terrible in our group photos, they totally got half the things wrong with my bio description…" As she continued ranting, Claire didn't even bother paying attention.

The checker woman couldn't help but skip to her own page after skimming the entire issue, curious about what they wrote about her. Mirajane and the others seemed to think it was a good issue, and it was weird to read about herself, but Claire couldn't help but be a little excited. Her photo looked pretty epic, with most of her arm in flames and a 'bad ass' expression on her face. Her muscled belly was extremely prominent, and she almost wondered if they had photoshopped it to look more intense than it was. Sky was floating above her fire arm, also on fire.

' _Claire Groh, "The Dragon",_

 _Out of the Thunder Legion, Claire by far has the most tragic past.'_

Claire immediately stopped reading, deciding to look over at the other articles instead. A smile spread along her lips at the photo of Bickslow, who was hanging upside down with his one foot hooked onto a bar, and he was sticking his tongue out at the camera. His babies were floating behind them, and all their eyes were glowing green.

' _Bickslow Yoshino,_

 _Proficient in human possession magic, Bickslow has a reputation for being one of the strongest seith mages in the country.'_

After reading the article on him, she turned to the seith mage, nudging his arm. "You should give a copy of this to Michael."

"I dunno, the page on us is pretty saucy." He snickered, and Claire immediately went to their page in the magazine, blushing madly. "I'm just kidding. It's actually pretty tame."

She sighed in relief, her eyes landing on the page of them together. Since this issue was 30 pages, each of the wizards got their own page plus a few others to be featured in. Fried and Evergreen had a page together on their friendship, Fried Bickslow and Ever had a page together, etc.

A rather cute picture of Bickslow hugging her from behind smiled up at her from the page, and their babies made a perfect circle around the page. It was a rather gossip oriented page, filled with little tidbits about them and this and that. What they like to do for fun, how long they'd been dating, how they met, etc. She liked it more than her own page, and planned on hanging this page on the wall at home.

Still tuning out the fairy woman, she continued through the magazine, and it took a full 5 minutes until Ever realized that she was being ignored. At the revelation, she rolled up one of the magazines and hit the checker woman on the head, receiving a glare at the unwanted contact.

"What?"

"I've been talking to you for the past 20 minutes!"

"Do you mean 'talking' or do you really mean 'bitching'?" Claire asked, smirking as the rolled up magazine hit her head again.

"Your purple sarong made my pink sunglasses look stupid! They changed the color scheme of the entire issue because of that!"

"Your sunglasses would look stupid regardless. It's not my fault you have poor fashion sense." She snickered, and started full blown laughing at the utterly frustrated and flabbergasted woman.

"I think you broke Ever." Bickslow snickered, entertained by the fairy woman's inability to respond to Claire's words. All of them knew that the fire woman had little fashion sense, or if she did she didn't care about it in the slightest, which made her accusation of Evergreen having a poor fashion sense all the more amazing.

"You… you… YOU ARE SO HOPELESS!" Evergreen finally screamed at the woman, hitting her other the head repeatedly with the rolled up magazine. It didn't hurt in the slightest, so Claire did nothing but laugh, and eventually go back to reading the articles. Since the brunette had been so upset about her article, she went to that one next.

Ever's page was decorated with extra flowers and sparkles. The photo of her was a nice one, as she stood posing with a hip jutting out and extenuating the curve of her waist. Her brown hair was flowing in the wind and she was touching the edge of her glasses, as if about to take them off.

' _Evergreen,_

 _Her magic is all about elegance and beauty. Growing up as an only child and being cursed with the ability to use petrifaction magic, she spent most of her childhood alone.'_

As Claire continued through the article, she found herself rather appreciating the new knowledge. It explained a lot about her, and gave her a little more respect for the woman…. Even though she had a habit of randomly hitting her for no reason.

"Have you read the article on you yet?" Bickslow asked, looking over at her. While still looking at Evergreen's page, she shook her head, and turned the page. A rather cute image of Bickslow sticking his tongue out at Fried filled one of the pages, titled 'BROMANCE'. "Why not? Aren't you curious?"

"I'll read it later. The picture of me is pretty awesome, though. You and Fried are adorable together."

"It is pretty cute." He agreed, still looking up at her. "Why don't you want to read it now?"

"Because I feel self-conscious and I want to read it alone."

"You're going to hate it." Evergreen stated, and Claire glanced up at her crossed arms and haughty expression. Just for that, the fire woman turned in the magazine to her page, deciding to read it.

' _Claire Groh, "The Dragon",_

 _Out of the Thunder Legion, Claire has the most tragic past. This rising star was born from a world without magic: less than a year ago she was abruptly taken from her home in the middle of the night and awoke at the base of Mt. Hakobe, alone. Her family was transported to this world at different points in time, and most have met a variety of unfortunate fates. Her brother, Bacchus Groh of the Quatro Cerberus Wizard Guild, was the most successful in her family at adapting to our world and currently holds the title of 'S-Class' in his guild._

 _Within only a few weeks of learning magic, Claire was chosen for her own guild's S-Class trials. 'S-Class' is the most elite title you can hold as a wizard in your wizard guild, and had the Guild Master known how long she'd been using magic, likely wouldn't have chosen her. Upon her arrival to this world she was gifted with 'dragon magic', which is a form of magic unheard of. The closest form to this magic is dragonslayer magic, which her guild currently holds the most dragonslayer mages of any wizarding guild._

 _Since her magic is so powerful, this fire mage was able to fool many wizards into thinking she was much stronger than she was at the time. When she was reunited with her brother Bacchus, he took her on S-Ranked jobs across the country to better prepare her for living in this world. Using her powerful magic to his advantage, he talked both of their Guild Masters into allowing this, despite the risks. Months later when she was nearly killed on a job with him, the Guild Masters found out her lack of magic experience, and temporarily revoked Bacchus's title of 'S-Class'._

 _After training with her brother for several months and joining the Thunder Legion, she has become one of the most powerful mages in Fairy Tail. Their Guild Master was so confident in her abilities that he let her compete in the Grand Magic Games when she was severely injured, and she proved to be a fierce competitor: without taking a single step she set her opponent on fire and reduced her to tears. Not to mention the racing event, where she came in second place to her brother, Bacchus. Although this fire woman has gotten numerous injuries in her short time on this world, as you can see by her scars, all of them were from extremely powerful opponents. Most of her scars are from her sister, who was part of Raven Tail and fought in The Games, and even injured Laxus Dreyar. Her near lethal injury from several months ago was from a mission dealing with the infamous Blood Guild, a dark guild, and she got an award from the government for her help on the job._

 _Any wizard will tell you that it takes years to master magic, and it's unheard of for someone to move so fast up the ranks. Through hard work, pain, and perseverance, The Dragon has managed to make a name for herself in this new world._

 _Despite her power and experience, she initially started doing jobs with the Thunder Legion because her boyfriend is Bickslow Yoshino. Going on 8 months of dating now, Claire has said that she's 'very happy' in the relationship. To read more about it, go to page 9._

 _When Laxus is gone on solo S-Ranked missions, Claire will take his place as the main melee fighter of the group. Her fire magic is extremely powerful, arguably more so than the infamous Salamander's, and combining that with the martial arts Bacchus taught her has made her a force to be reckoned with. This team is considered the most powerful one in Fairy Tail, and although she was initially brought on as the girlfriend, she's quickly become a valuable member of the team._

Claire stared at the article for a while after reading it, letting it sink in. A lot of the information in it was from outside sources, and she didn't know how she felt about it being included in the article without warning. None of it was necessarily wrong, except for the part about being brought in as a girlfriend- Evergreen was the one that invited her to the team, not Bickslow.

"What'd you think?" Bickslow asked, nudging her shoulder. She looked up at him, and noticed that Evergreen had stopped talking.

"It was good. It chronicled my life on this world well."

"What do you really think?" Evergreen asked with a smile, leaning forward with her chin resting on the palm of her hand, propped on the table.

"You mean my critique of it?" Claire asked, and the woman nodded. "Well… for one, you were the one that invited me to do missions with you guys, not Bickslow."

"It feels weird to be written about, right?" Bickslow asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah… I think the weirdest part was that the reporter left out everything from my home world, though." She told him, and the group paused for a minute, recalling the article. "I mean, it's not like I had many good stories about my life before here, but… in your guys' pages, they talk about your childhood at least a little. Granted I wasn't very successful on my world, but the only mention of my life before I was transported here was that I grew up with no magic."

"I wouldn't think too much into it. It's possible that the reporter was trying to build you up as much as possible in the article, so she left out some details. It also adds an air of mystery to you." Bickslow assured her, and she shrugged.

"My favorite article so far is about us. It's cute."

"Wait til you get to the page ranking all of our skills. You'll see why Evergreen is so pissed." He said with a grin. "Page 15."

She immediately turned to the page, curious about what peeved the fairy woman so much. Next to each person's picture was a chart determining their defense, offense, speed, intelligence, and a random characteristic that they excelled at. On top of that, they were listed from top to bottom in terms of overall strength.

' _Laxus Dreyar:_

 _Defense: 6_

 _Offense: 6_

 _Speed: 6_

 _Intelligence: 3_

 _Being a Boss: 4_

 _Total: 25_

 _Fried Justine:_

 _Defense: 5_

 _Offense: 4_

 _Speed: 3_

 _Intelligence: 6_

 _Bad ass: 4_

 _Total: 22_

 _Claire Groh:_

 _Defense: 2_

 _Offense: 6_

 _Speed: 6_

 _Intelligence: 2_

 _Pyromania: 6_

 _Total: 22_

 _Bickslow:_

 _Defense: 4_

 _Offense: 5_

 _Speed: 3_

 _Intelligence: 2_

 _Creepiness: 4_

 _Total: 18_

 _Evergreen:_

 _Defense: 3_

 _Offense: 2_

 _Speed: 3_

 _Intelligence: 4_

 _Fairy: 6_

 _Total: 18'_

"Why's Evergreen so annoyed by it? And isn't the scale supposed to be 1-5? Why do Laxus and I have '6's?" Claire asked, looking back up at him.

"She's rated as 'last'." He answered the first question with a grin, and they both looked over to see the brunette abruptly setting her forehead on the table.

"… what did she hope to get first in?" She asked, and the guys snickered at the whining sound the brunette made, who further sulked. "I didn't mean that to sound insulting. Laxus outranks us in strength, Fried schools all of us in intelligence… Actually, Bickslow should be higher ranked than me."

"You competed in the games, so you got extra points." He told her, and she nodded in understanding. "These stats are never really accurate, but they give a general idea of the person's abilities in each area. The 'totals' don't really mean anything, since they have the extra category that's different for each person. Sometimes they'll even give 0's on those sections."

"Sometimes they'll rank the power of a person disregarding their stats, as well." Fried added. "You and I technically tied, but I'm ranked higher. If they felt that Bickslow or Evergreen were stronger even though their stats were technically lower, they would change their rank on the list."

"Why am I ranked lower than you?" Evergreen asked, sitting up and looking at Claire.

"It's possible that they didn't want both girls on the team to be ranked as last, so they had Bickslow between us." She said with a shrug.

"But why not make me third place instead of you?"

"… do you really think you could beat me in a fight?" Claire countered, a challenging smirk dancing along her lips. The little fairy had been biting at her heels for a while now, not to mention she was feeling revved up from the magazine, so she wouldn't be opposed to a fight with her. Especially since she knew she'd win.

"I outrank you in intelligence and beauty."

"Congrats. You're a smart, pretty little fairy. I don't see how any of those qualities would make you stronger than me."

"… my defense is higher than yours."

"My speed and offense are twice as high as yours." Claire countered, and couldn't help feeling a little cocky and amused about the brunette's sudden competitive nature. The Thunder Legion was comprised of extremely powerful wizards- just because Evergreen was placed 'last' didn't mean she was weak, and in Claire's mind, it was her fault for not considering that.

"Settle down, kids. It's just a magazine." Bickslow told them, his tongue waggling at their childish banter.

"What did you guys think of your articles?" Claire asked, looking to the rather silent pair next to Bickslow.

"Eh." Laxus said with a shrug.

"I thought they did an excellent job. I liked the articles they did on me." Fried spoke.

"Did you read about our 'bromance'?" Bickslow asked him, and the man furrowed his brows in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"You didn't read the whole thing?" Claire asked with a grin oddly similar to her boyfriend's. Confused yet curious, the green-haired mage went back to his copy of the issue and searched for the page in question, his eyes widening at the sight.

"'Bromance'? What is that?"

"It means we're close guy friends. I personally wouldn't categorize us as a 'bromance', but it is a fun article. Look, it's got all the things we like to do together," Bickslow told him, and proceeded going through the page and pointing out various little tidbits. "Our likes, dislikes- it's like the couple page with Claire and I, but more macho."

"No offense Fried, but Claire beats you in the 'macho' category." Evergreen teased.

"Are there any fun articles on Laxus?" Claire asked, skimming the magazine.

"There's a page on his fan base after the Grand Magic Games. I didn't know his fangirls were so organized." Evergreen told her.

"Did you read the one you two?" Bickslow asked, and the brunette's eyes widened.

"There's one on Claire and I?!" She screeched, and grabbed the magazine from him. Glancing at the page number, Claire skipped to it in her copy. There were a few pictures of them on the page, most of which were of them doing typical 'beach poses' and a few were of them glaring at each other. The fire woman couldn't help but smile at well they had caught the moment.

' _Friendship? OR RIVAL!?'_

The article went on to describe how the two women worked well together, but they were apparently rivals. Most of it was just BS surmising their friendship and trying to sell copies of the magazine, and to make their friendship seem juicier than it was.

"This is probably the worst article in here." Claire said with a chuckle, continuing to read through it.

"Why is it the worst? I think it's pretty good."

"… you consider us rivals?" Claire asked, looking up at the serious fairy woman.

"I consider myself more of a role model, but I understand someone like you misconstruing that as a rivalry."

"I thought Erza was your rival or something? Why can't Fried be your rival?"

"Cuz you're a girl." Bickslow told her, and she grunted.

2.

"We're not being paid. Why the hell are we here?" Claire asked, slouching into the chair as she sat back and folded her arms over her chest. They were all currently in an empty ballroom, sitting on some chairs to the side with Evergreen shoving shoes in their faces.

"You're all going to learn ballroom dancing!" The fairy woman said with a grin, and tossed Claire a pair of shoes for her. Instead of catching them, she let them bounce off of her and fall to the floor.

"Every once in a while, Ever takes us here to learn dancing. This is our… 4th, class here?" Bickslow spoke, looking to Fried for confirmation.

"5th." He corrected.

"Why?" Claire repeated, clearly unamused.

"Ballroom dancing is an important skill to have." Evergreen told her, clad in black pants and a tank top. She looked wonderful in her outfit and fancy ballroom dancing shoes, and Claire knew the real reason she brought them there. Their 'rivalry'. She felt threatened by the stats and being placed last, so she wanted to show off that she was good at something.

"It's not that bad, and all of us sucked when we first learned it. I still suck, actually, and I apologize ahead of time for the bruises I'll leave on your feet." Bickslow told her, clad in loose black pants and a navy blue polo shirt. She'd been curious about his outfit when they left home, and she made a mental note to be mad at him later for not warning her about this.

"Do you have any ballroom dancing experience?" Evergreen asked, looking at her unmoving slouch.

"… one dance…"

An amused chuckle left her lips, and Claire wanted to burn that stupid smirk off of her stupid face. "We're going to be learning waltz today. Lucky for you, following is a lot easier than leading, at least for the basics."

"Can I leave?" Claire asked.

"If we have to stay, you have to stay." Laxus told her, glaring.

With a roll of her eyes, the checker woman finally conceded and started putting the stupid dance shoes on.

3.

"You are terrible! Straighten your back! Strengthen your frame!" The dance instructor yelled at the fire woman, and she clenched her jaw, willing herself to not burn down the entire building and everyone in it. "You will never be a beautiful, elegant, wonderful dancer like Evergreen if you don't fix that attitude!"

 _1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi…._

"Do it again!"

 _Do not retaliate, you are better than that. Just let Evergreen have this one thing, and maybe she'll stop being bitchy. Just do this one, stupid, fucking thing…._

"Again! And don't roll your eyes at me like that." The instructor said with a flamboyant attitude. Under different circumstances the fire woman would have enjoyed this man's company, because he was the stereotypical gay man and it reminded her of home. Even though she hadn't been very active in the gay community of her home town, she was pro LGBTQ rights, and missed her flamboyant and 'out there' friends. "Again! Strengthen your frame!"

After stumbling over her feet yet again and not listening to him, the instructor shoved the seith mage to the side and took his place. As he tried to make her do the bare basics, and heard Evergreen giggling nearby as the woman stumbled over her feet, he paused.

"Come with me. You all practice while we're gone." He told them, and guided the fire woman to the other room. The Thunder Legion watched them leave in surprise, and the men exchanged a sympathetic glance.

"Have you ever seen him be so mean before?" Bickslow asked them, and they shook their heads.

In the other room, which was a smaller ballroom connected to the main one, the man stopped and faced her.

"Why are you purposely not trying?" He asked, his earlier attitude and tone gone.

"I just suck at dancing."

"You're not fooling me, honey. I've been dancing for 10 years and I know the difference between someone being bad at dancing and someone not even trying. Is it because of Evergreen?"

Claire sighed, looking away from his sympathetic gaze. "She's only making us do this because of a stupid photo shoot we did for _Sorcerer Weekly_. She wants to be better at me than something, and I don't care about dancing."

"But dancing isn't just about looking good. True, there are dancers that do it for that reason, like Evergreen, but there's also the passion involved. It can be fun, exciting, romantic, sad, passionate. Not all of it is prim and proper. Just because your friend is good at it, doesn't mean that you shouldn't even try. Now actually dance with me and try, in here alone, or I'll go back out there and tell everyone that you've been sabotaging yourself for the past hour."

"Fine." She grumbled, and as he raised his arms to dancing position, she complied and did the same. Unlike before her frame was solid, and she recalled her dancing with the necromancer for tips.

The instructor pushed forward, and she complied. As they did the basics she executed them flawlessly, and he tried leading her into more complicated moves. After a while of leading her into a variety of moves to get an actual indication of where her skill level was at, he finally stopped, smiling at her.

"You're a natural follow. A little rough around the edges, but overall better than I expected. Thank you." He said with a small bow, and she mirrored it before following him back to the main room. "By far the worst dancer I have ever dealt with!" He said with an exaggerated shudder, and Claire rolled her eyes at the theatrics.

"Got some salt for that wound?" The checker woman asked, shoving her hands in her pockets as she approached the group.

"Then we'll start lessons weekly." Evergreen said with a grin, and Claire groaned.

"Nooooo, can't we just go home? You've established your superiority in this skill, let's just go."

"I think it would be a good idea to continue lessons." Laxus spoke, and she looked at him with pleading eyes. _Nooooooo, no, no._ "It helps with coordination and balance, and will transition nicely to our other training."

"But we're not getting paid for this. It's a waste of time and money."

"Actually," Fried spoke up. "Since Bickslow was so upset over the Thunder Legion cuts going to Laxus, we decided to create an account for group activities like this"

"Since I'm a member of the team, why wasn't I included in this discussion?" Claire asked, her eyes narrowed at him.

"If you do decide to continue lessons, I suggest doing one-on-one lessons." The instructor spoke up. "All of you are at such different stages in skill level, group lessons won't be very beneficial."

"How about each of us do one lesson a week, and then group lessons every other week?" Evergreen asked.

"And when will we have the time for this? We're booked with jobs right now." Claire questioned.

"I have many clients that are also wizards. If you have to cancel a week you can just call ahead of time and let us know you won't be able to make it." The instructor informed her.

4.

"Practice with meeeee." Bickslow whined, leaning over the couch and getting between her face and the book.

"Practice what?"

"Dancing. Duh."

"No, duh. Now get out of my face." She told him, gently nudging his face away from her. The seith mage jumped over the couch edge, landing on the empty space on the couch, and leaned forward to wrap his arms around her legs. In the process he knocked the book out of her hands, put his legs on either side of her, and gave her a puppy dog pout.

"Pretty please?"

"Pleeeease?" Their babies echoed behind him in unison.

"I thought you guys disliked dancing as much as I do. Why are you all suddenly on Evergreen's side about it? And why the hell didn't you warn me that we were going to a dance lesson before we left the house?!"

"Would you have gone if I had told you?"

"No."

"Well there ya go. And when you were off dancing with Gary in the other room, I made a lot of connections between fighting and dancing, and we started brainstorming how useful it could be."

"Am I actually part of the Thunder Legion or just your girlfriend tagging along? Because none of you have been listening to a word I say about any of this."

"All of us do things for the group that we don't necessarily find 'fun'. Why are you making such a big stink about it?"

"The only reason I went along with the first lesson was because I wanted Evergreen to shut up and leave me alone."

"Then go to the next few lessons to improve your skills as a fighter, since you like doing that. Evergreen puts up with being physically weaker than us on a daily basis, you can put up with dancing with your cute boyfriend once a week."

"But I don't constantly shove it in her face every chance I get. Whenever she drags me shopping she finds a way to bring up how much of a 'boy' I am, how I'm clumsy and ugly, and she's better at fashion and anything she can hold over my head. When we tried working out together I never made any judgmental comment towards her, and aside from the one time when I convinced her that virgins smell bad, I've been pretty tolerant of her. How do I not make her so bitchy?" She finally asked, making her signature whining sound.

"So she's really getting to you, huh?" He asked, and she nodded, biting down on the inside of her cheek. He rested his head on the top of her knees, arms still wrapped around her bent legs. "When you first started doing jobs with us, I was actually worried that might happen. Evergreen gets pretty intimidated by other girls."

"But she's the one that first suggested I join you guys, claiming that she wanted to be 'friends'."

"Maybe this is what she thinks friendships are like- it's not like she has many examples to follow. You and Laxus insult each other a lot, so maybe that's how she thinks you act with your friends."

"There's a difference between teasing each other and being a jerk. Whenever Laxus and I overstep our boundaries we tell each other and apologize. Same with you and I."

"Yeah, but she's bad with boundaries. You have to be pretty blunt and forward with her about that kind of stuff; I'm actually pretty sure that both Fried and her are slightly autistic, because they share that quality. Of course they both deny it, but Laxus thinks there's some merit to my theory."

"Fried _is_ pretty OCD…"

"So… dance with me?"

She made another whining sound, and he made another pouty face. He even added the quivering lower lip and wide green eyes, tilting his head slightly and batting his eyelashes.

"Please?"

"Please?" Their babies echoed behind him.

"Why can't you practice by yourself?"

"I have, but it's not the same. It's best to dance with an actual person. Why don't you want to dance with me?"

"Well, for one, it teases me. We haven't had sex for weeks so dancing so close to you is torture."

"You won't dance with me because I won't put out?"

"Well when you phrase it like that, I sound terrible."

"What if we did drinking before dancing? It'll loosen you up, make you feel less self-conscious, and when you hit on me I can turn you down without feeling bad."

5.

Two days later, Claire found herself sitting with Bickslow and Evergreen at the Guild Hall. They had just returned from a mission together, and between Evergreen's constant bickering and Bickslow's awkward attempts to quiet her, Claire just wanted to turn invisible.

"Tch, I'll bet you're dating her because she reminds you of Laxus. She's definitely got the shoulders."

"For the record that's not why I'm dating her, and secondly, I'm happy in my relationship with her. You're single and pining over a guy that obviously likes you back, but you're too cowardly to make anything official."

"I'd prefer being single over dating someone like her. Seriously."

"Dude, what is your deal? You've been ripping on us all day."

"I'm not a 'dude', and I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Uh, dude, you've been trying to put us down all day for our relationship and bitching about Claire."

"You're imagining things."

"Not to interrupt," Claire spoke, looking between the pair. "But I'm going to go do fire shots with Natsu. When you're done bickering you guys can join me… or not. Whatever you feel like." She said with a shrug, and jumped out of her seat before either of them could say anything. Sky followed her down to the main floor, and when the pair watched her leave, realized that there was a party happening downstairs.

"So seriously, what's your beef with Claire? I thought you liked her?" Bickslow asked, returning his gaze to the brunette.

"Why don't you like mom?" His babies asked behind him.

"I like her fine."

"Then what's your deal? Are you jealous, mad, upset- what? I don't care what it is, just tell meeeeeeee."

"Yeah, tell us!" His babies echoed next to him, and continued to surround the fairy woman. She eyed them anxiously, still uncomfortable around the wandering souls.

"Come on, we've been friends for how long now?" Bickslow spoke, letting his tongue hang out and waggle at her. Even though she outwardly chastised him for it over the years, it was his trademark, and he knew she secretly tolerated it. "Just talk to me."

She looked down to the main floor of the Guild Hall, where the fire mages of Fairy Tail were currently doing shots. It had started with just Natsu and Claire, but the other fire mages had joined as well. "She's… not what I thought she'd be."

"… what did you think she'd be?"

"I don't know. I just, you know, figured that since she got along with you and the others so well, that I'd get along with her, too. I thought we'd have more in common."

"What did you think you'd have in common?"

"Girl stuff, mostly. Shopping, getting our nails and hair done, talking about boys… girl stuff."

"Ya know, you two might enjoy shopping more if you didn't rag on her all the time. She may not show it a lot, but she's pretty self-conscious about it."

"Taking her shopping is like pulling teeth. She's worse than Laxus."

"So instead of finding something you two have in common, you're busy being mad at her for the things you don't have in common?" He asked, and she was about to argue, but then scrunched up her nose and looked back to the party below. "And since we're being honest, why haven't you moved things along with Elfman?"

Suddenly, Bickslow realized who she was staring at, and just how wrong he'd been about the previous conversation.

"This has nothing to do with Claire. This is about your potential boyfriend." He snickered, and surprisingly, she didn't say anything. "How many dates have you two been on?"

"… three."

"So what's the hold up? Why aren't you down there joining him?" He asked, and the woman turned back to him, smiling softly.

"I think I might do that. And you might want to keep an eye on Claire." She added with a wink.

Bickslow turned back to the fire contest going on downstairs, his eyes widening. Somehow, and oddly not for the first time, she was on the shoulders of a very naked Gray and being handed fire shots. A few feet in front of her was Natsu, who was on the shoulders of Elfman and doing the same.

"At least one naked guy is giving her attention." Pappa spoke next to him, and the seith mage glared.

"She has been getting more popular since the Grand Magic Games." Puppu added on the other side of him.

"Would you guys lay off? And it's totally weird that you guys are talking about my sex life, since you call my girlfriend your mom." Bickslow told them, and rested his elbow on the table, holding the side of his face in his hand. _Why does Gray of all people keep carrying her… while naked, no less? Why isn't Juvia stopping him?_

"We're telepathically linked, remember? You keep accidentally thinking to us about doing her all the time. What's the hold up?" Pappa spoke, and he grunted.

"Why don't you go down there and have fun with her? The other guys certainly are." Pippi spoke, and he glared at the wandering soul.

"You guys suck at giving pep talks… but I am going to go down there. It looks fun." He said with a decisive grin.

Only a half hour later, Claire was sloshed and he was pretty drunk himself. In his drunken stupor he grabbed the fire woman's hand, dragging her from the party and trying to keep himself composed in the process. He'd tried to be inconspicuous in his absconding with her, but they'd gotten quite a few knowing looks and whistles in the process.

"Where we going, Bixy?" She giggled, following him to another section of their huge Guild Hall. The seith mage managed to locate a storage closet, and after checking that the hallway was clear, opened the door. It was hardly the cleanest spot for them, but there was a clear desk that looked sturdy enough and a light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

Pulling her inside, he turned the light on and then closed the door. He'd sent his souls away earlier, as did Claire, so it was only the two of them in the small space.

"What's, uh, what's going on?" She asked, smiling stupidly up at him. Her eyes were dilated and another giggle escaped her cute pink lips.

He grabbed her waist and pulled her against him, relishing in the feel of her taught body against his, and moved his hands down to grip her well toned butt cheeks. She felt a rise of excitement within her, and heat pooled between her legs in anticipation for what would hopefully come.

He hoisted her onto the desk, not putting her full weight on it until he knew it was stable, and then locked his lips with hers.

 _Please don't stop please don't stop please don't stop,_ She repeated in her mind, and wished that she was more sober for the kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck and her fingers tangled in his soft blue and black hair. Legs wrapped around his waist, she grinded into him, gaining a loud moan from the man. Even with all his layers on, she could feel his own excitement in his pants. _I want you to fuck me so badly. I want you to scream my name as you orgasm._

He pulled back slightly to lick along her jaw and neck, leaving a trail of saliva and hickies on her tan skin.

Her fingers fumbled with the hem of his shirt, and when he grabbed the fabric and pulled it over his head, she was beyond grateful at the familiar sight. Having already discarded his guards before coming here, she immediately dove for his small nipple. While her tongue flicked over the sensitive nub, her hands roamed over his chiseled muscles. Since they hadn't been having sex, he had spent more time working out, and she could feel the recently used muscles ripple beneath her touch.

"I'm going to fuck you so hard." He growled to her, gently grabbing her chin and forcing her to look up at him so that they could lock lips again. She nearly came right then at the promise and ferociousness in his voice, her body actually quivering at the idea. Her back arched into him, their combined heat causing the room to heat up like a sauna.

At some point her shirt came off, and soon after her bra. In her drunken haze time moved at a weird pace, and when they were half naked and about to remove the last of their clothes, she sensed something had changed. She looked up into his dark green eyes and saw the fear and apprehension, the look he always got right before stopping.

She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him back down to her, crashing their lips together in a heated kiss, and then hopped off of the desk and switched positions. Roughly pushing him into the wooden table, she then pulled away, her eyes half-lidded and looking into his confused ones. It was extremely rare that she took charge in bed, since he typically enjoyed being slightly dominant, and her slightly submissive.

"If you can't fuck me, then can I at least fuck you?" Claire asked, and reached her hand down to his crotch, rubbing against his throbbing erection. Even through the layers she could feel his need, and his eyes fluttered to a close and his head fell back. Since her other hand was still on the back of his neck, she kept him from completely falling back. "Do you want me to stop?" She didn't want to ask it, but even in her drunken state, knew that she had to.

"No." He whispered, his eyes still shut. As she undid the complicated clasps on his pants, which when they first started dating took forever to figure out, she now undid them with ease. A beyond sexy gasp flew from his parted lips as he sprang free, and her hand attentively touched the soft flesh.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stop?"

"Please fuck me." He breathed, and she smirked before pulling his face back down to hers, darting her tongue in and out of his mouth in time with her hand. Using his pre-cum as lubrication, she slid her hand up and down his length, getting further aroused and riled up by the sounds he was making.

"I can stop at any time, just give the word." She breathed against his lips, and held his head back before he could kiss her again.

Placing a flurry of kisses along his neck, she made her way down his well toned chest, and could hear his heart rate quicken as she continued moving downwards. Her tongue trailed along his salty flesh, down the indented skin marking the edges of his abs, and her tongue darted briefly at the curly blue hairs.

The cement floor was cold and harsh on her knees, but in her drunken state she didn't mind- her attention was on the penis now by her face, and as she looked up at his wide green eyes, gave his head a small kiss.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked with a grin, her tongue flicking out to taste the liquid on the pink flesh. Before Bickslow she was never a fan of 'dirty talk', or being vocal at all during sex, and she still wasn't a fan of it. But Bickslow was. He was a huge talker in the bedroom, and even though it pushed her boundaries significantly to do it, she wanted him happy. She wanted him to enjoy this, not just so that he would reciprocate, but because it would make him happy.

"Blow me." He breathed, just barely a whisper on his parted lips.

"Is there anything particular you want me to do with my tongue?" She asked, and another groan vibrated from him as she licked the sensitive organ teasingly. Her hand was still around the shaft, and in the corner of her eye, saw that it was getting more and more red.

"Lick my cock all over with it as it slides into your mouth."

"Like this?" She asked, never breaking eye contact until he closed his eyes in pleasure and his head fell back again. Just as instructed, she wrapped her lips around the large member, just the head, and swirled it in her mouth like a big lollipop. As she felt his hand touch the back of her head, petting her short hair, she continued.

This was her first time doing a full blow job. She'd done a little bit of oral to him once before, but it was brief, and she felt so awkward that she hadn't tried it again until now. He had given her oral several times now with that amazingly large tongue of his, and upon the memory, she tried to copy some of the things he had done on her.

Continuing to go up and down his member, sliding it into her mouth as far as she could without gagging, she slid her hand down her pants to her own aching need. It was a little difficult to do both at the same time, especially in her drunken state, but after a few seconds she found a rhythm. One hand moved with her mouth along his penis, while the other stroked her soaking wet clitoris.

Briefly she stopped, looking up at her panting boyfriend, and couldn't help but smirk up at his sweating form.

"Why'd you s-stop?"

"You look damn sexy right now, panting for me like that." She smirked, and glided her hand down his length again, watching his head throw back in ecstasy. Knowing he was close, she darted her tongue out to trail along the edge of his head, licking up the saliva that had accumulated on the small ridge. "When you orgasm, I want you to say my name. Say my name as you cum into my mouth."

That was all it took for him to fall over the edge, and he half screamed her name as his body shook. His hand pulled her head towards his ejaculating member, and she opened her mouth for him, sliding his penis into her mouth and swallowing the salty liquid. It was hardly 'tasty', and if she hadn't had so much alcohol, would have gagged and spit it up.

But in her brazen and bold state, she gulped down the white liquid with her boyfriend's hand pushing her into him. He was a little more forceful than she would have liked, but she was strong enough to keep from accidentally deep throating.

With him still releasing his seed into her mouth, she finished herself off, her eyes closing at her own orgasm. When his hand loosened she opened her mouth wider, tongue sliding along the bottom of his member and lips giving one last suck at his head, tasting the last of his cum, and fell back on the heels of her feet while breathing hard.

"I can't believe you did that." He breathed, still panting. "That was amazing."

"Happy to be of service." She giggled, pulled herself back to her feet, using him for support. When she was standing again he pulled her into a kiss. It was soft, loving, passionate, and for a moment, she felt like the last few months had never happened.

6.

The next morning she groaned, feeling the onset of a headache beginning to take hold. As her hand reached up to rub her gross feeling face, a strange smell met her nostrils at the proximity of her hand.

 _Why does my hand smell like…?_

"Morning." Her boyfriend greeted, and when she opened her eyes, was utterly confused and delighted at the same time.

He was cuddling her.

He was being affectionate again.

His large hand was resting on her hip, his thumb stroking her exposed skin, and his head was resting on her shoulder. Her arm had gone numb in the night, but she didn't care about that.

He looked up at her with his wide, innocent green eyes with his tattoo between them.

"… did I wake up in the Twilight Zone?" She grumbled. The man chuckled, and leaned in to kiss her collarbone. Looking down, she realized that they were both wearing clothes, but they both smelled like sex and alcohol.

"You had a lot of fire shots last night." He said with a wide grin, looking into her confused and red face.

"Did we have sex?"

"You gave me a blow job." He said, still grinning.

"… oh." She said, beginning to remember pieces of the previous night. How he had pulled her into the closet, had promised sex, and then she took over…. "… are you mad?" She asked hesitantly, her entire face red at the memory.

His eyebrows furrowed and he snorted, chuckling at the question. "How the hell could I be mad at you for giving me a blow job? It was awesome. I just wish I had been a little more sober for it."

"… does that mean we can do more sexy times in the future?" She asked hopefully, and was met by a pair of lips on her own. "After a shower?"

"During a shower?" He countered with a smirk, and chuckled as she pulled him back for a kiss.


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Note** : Hi! Sorry for the delayed update! I've had a hectic life. -_- I do not recommend being a caregiver. In my case, it involved violating a person's body against their will (under orders from the company I work for), being screamed "bitch" "queer" "son of a bitch" at nightly, dodging/not dodging hits, being underpaid... it hasn't been fun. My client for a book I illustrated also died, so I'm out $1,000 and a future book commission.

*But*, I got my hours changed, so I'm going to have more time to work on my writing, illustrations, art, and graphic design. That includes updating this. I'm hoping to get back into the routine of updating this every two weeks. My rent is cheap and I've made enough money to pay off my school loan, so finances shouldn't be quite as dire now and I'll be able to take commissions.

Thank you everyone soooo much for the reviews, faves, and follows! I've loved getting all of those notifications, and it makes my day to know that people like my writing. I love hearing feedback on what you think of the story, so don't be afraid to review!

Thank you so much for reading this, and I hope you have a lovely day! 3

 **Walking Cliché 21**

 _Everyone Loves Claire_

"You look rather dashing this morning. New glasses?" The seith mage asked, taking a seat across from the fairy woman. She looked up from her magazine, giving him a pensive look before going back to her page.

"Someone got lucky last night."

"Hee hee," He snickered, not bothering to deny it. He had also gotten 'lucky' again that morning, and he felt like he had died and gone to heaven. He felt good, his relationship was good, his friends were good, his babies were good. The only thing missing was the breakfast that Mira would be delivering him shortly, and he was starving. "Do you want to do a job today?"

"We've already been requested to do one. The little old lady that tried to jip us."

"Eh? The same job?"

"No, she's still undecided about the house. It's an escort mission for her family to a festival in the East. She's hired a wizard for every member of her family going."

"So we're going to be bodyguards? How many people are we talking?"

"10 total. Team Natsu will be joining us."

"Nooooo, why are they doing that? That is way too much firepower for such a simple job."

"Can't be helped. They were requested, and they accepted."

"Dude! Weird fire chick!" They heard Natsu yell on the main floor, as his voice was loud enough to carry through the entire Guild Hall. He was yelling to the checker woman at the bar, who was chatting with Mira. The entire Guild Hall stilled for a second, remembering the fire and chaos that he resulted the night before. Although Claire had the ability to control what her fire burned, Natsu didn't, and more than a few of them were sporting blistered skin from the night before. Namely the fire mages had the worst burns, as they had attempted to 'eat' fire like them in their drunken state, and had red marks around their mouths.

"What?" Claire yelled back, amused by the fact that he still didn't know her name. Well, either didn't know it, or pretending to not remember it. He was bounding towards her with a wide grin their guild mates were beginning to recognize. Their eyes widened.

"We're going on a job together! Isn't that great!?"

"Totally, dude!"

"What?! No way! Nuh-uh!" Lucy yelled, her eyes wide as she ran over to them.

"Eh? Why not?" Claire asked, leaning against the bar.

"Yeah, don't you like her? That's pretty mean to say you don't want to do a job with her." Natsu told the blond.

"My feelings are hurt, Luce." Claire added.

"Do you two even remember how much damage you two caused last night!?"

"Not really." They said in unison, and then grinned at each other. "Jinx!"

1.

"So, uh… why do you need so much fire power, Ms. Scattle, if you don't mind me asking? Isn't this a little overkill for just going to a festival?" Evergreen asked the old woman. They were currently on the train to the 'Fairy Festival' in the east, and her coworkers were scattered in different sections of the train with their watch.

"There's no price I won't pay for the safety of my family. I would pay to have all of my guards by S-Class, but Erza was the only one available."

"Are you expecting any trouble?"

"No, but I've heard of sketchy things happening at that festival. I don't want anyone in my family exposed to drugs or sex."

"So we're babysitters?"

"Call it what you want." She said with a frown.

Meanwhile, in another section of the train, Claire and Lucy found themselves sitting across from each other in a train car. They were tasked with guarding the women next to them, Stacey and Mary, who were chatting away about various topics. The entire car was filled with excited chatter from the family and wizards.

Claire and a few others were nursing their hangovers with thermoses of warm liquid, flinching at the occasional yell from Natsu or Elfman.

"Dude, how do you not know her name?" Bickslow asked the pink-haired boy, sitting next to the hot head. He would rather be sitting next to his girlfriend, but alas, he was stuck sitting next to Natsu and across from his guard. The overweight man was chatting away with the man next to him, who was similarly overweight. Both of them reeked of cheetos and weed.

Instead of answering, the fire mage stared at him with the stupid, blank look on his face.

"Wait, I've heard you say her name before. Do you just have selective memory?"

"How are your kids doing?" Natsu asked with a grin, and from beneath his visor, the seith mage glared. _He is totally fucking with me right now._

"… They're great."

"Glad to hear it! How old are they now?"

"80, 45, 19, 12, 54, and 6."

"Wow, you guys have been busy."

Lucy overheard part of their conversation, and smiled at the checker woman. She and Erza were in bad shape from the night before, and both of them looked like they wanted to kill everyone on the train for being so loud.

"So how are your babies?" The blond asked her, and the fire woman glared when the women next to them squealed loudly in excitement.

"You have kids?!" They asked in unison, and Stacey grabbed her arm. "Why wasn't it mentioned in the magazine?! Oh my gosh, please say they're with Natsu. That would be so adorable."

"Fire babies!" Mary squealed, her body squirming animatedly.

"I have never given birth to a living child." Claire told them, but they were too far gone.

"They're not with the guy you were coupled with in the magazine, right? That was just a joke?"

"Fire babies!"

"How many kids do you have?!" They both instantly turned to her, grinning widely.

"Why are you guys so excited?" She asked, both annoyed and confused by their avid high-pitched voices.

"You were in _Sorcerer Weekly_ , and the infamous Thunder Legion!"

"Not to mention you were awesome in the Grand Magic Games."

"Are you and Laxus secretly married?"

"How many kids do you have?!" They repeated, their hopeful eyes wide and expecting.

"They have 5 kids." Lucy answered, and Claire glared at her. "Or is it 6, including the fire one that follows you around?"

"You have 6 kids? Seriously? How is your physique so great?"

"I have never given birth to a child." The fire woman stated, and slouched further in her seat, wanting to disappear.

"So you guys adopted? That's so wonderful of you!" Stacey told her with a wide grin.

"How long is this train ride?" Claire asked the mage across from her, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"5 hours."

"CLAIRE!" Natsu yelled in her ear, and she punched him in the face, not expecting the loud sound.

"Why doesn't everyone just shut up?" She asked, and looked over her seat to the middle of the aisle, not entirely surprised that Natsu was unconscious. _How many times have I told the idiot to not startle me like that? That's the 5_ _th_ _time this has happened…._

"What are your kids like? Who are you married to?"

"I'm not married to anyone and I don't have kids."

"They would be hurt if they heard you say that." Bickslow spoke, and Claire turned to her side, seeing that the seith mage was bending over to pick up Natsu by the back of his jacket.

"Then it's a good thing they're not going to hear about it." She seethed, suddenly wishing she had brought the extra pain meds with her. Or anything to knock her out for this long trip.

"Peppe heard, and he's devastated." He mocked, now leaning against the side of her seat and joining the conversation with the girls. Natsu hung limp from his hand, and he held him up like he was nothing.

"How old is Peppe?" Stacey asked.

"He's been with us for a few months now. He's six." Bickslow answered, and the fire woman rolled her eyes.

"So you two _are_ dating?" Mary asked.

"Yes ma'am. Almost a year now." The blue-haired man said with the most charming smile he could muster. He was currently wearing his more formal attire, consisting of his cloak, recently polished visor, and purple pony tail. He looked akin to a knight, which is what he was going for.

"You're a lot… nicer in person. You seemed kind of creepy in the magazine." Mary commented awkwardly.

"I get that a lot. It's part of my image as a wizard." He told her.

"So you two have 6 kids?" Stacey asked curiously, and he shrugged.

"It's complicated."

"Do you have pictures?"

2.

"Why the hell did you do that?" She asked him that night, nudging his arm with her elbow rather roughly. They were sitting at a large dinner table with their friends and the Scattle family, and somehow they had managed to sit next to each other.

"Do what?"

"Make people think we have kids together."

"I dunno. I never lied, and when they see our babies, their expressions will be priceless. And your expression in the moment was even better."

"What next? Slap a ring on my finger and pretend like we're married?" She asked sarcastically, and her eyes widened it looked like he was contemplating it. Again, she nudged him with her elbow, wishing that he wasn't wearing so much damn padding.

3.

"So are fairies actually real on this world?" Claire asked the brunette, and she looked at her confused for a moment. "I've been on this world for less than a year. On my world fairies don't exist. Neither does magic."

"Right, I forgot about that." She commented. It was their first day of the Fairie Festival, and there were men and women of all ages dressed in wings and throwing glitter everywhere. They had been there for less than 10 minutes and Claire had identified it as, what she called, a 'hippie festival'. Living in Portland they were relatively common, but she hadn't found one so similar before. Crazy costumes, glitter, music down every pathway- it felt like home.

"Most people do." Claire spoke, and the brunette giggled.

"There hasn't been any concrete evidence of fairies, but there are countless first hand experiences dealing with them. They're very elusive."

"Interesting." She said, but her attention was on a rather attractive naked man flying over the crowd, throwing glitter at everyone, and he got a mix of both very approving and disapproving reactions. "So nudity is a thing here?"

"Yep. It's the real reason that my grandma wanted bodyguards." She said, and the woman chuckled. "Have you had sex before?"

"… if I said yes, would it get me fired?"

She merely smiled and looked away, and Claire had no idea if that was good or bad. Rolling her eyes and hoping that that was the end of their discussion on the topic, they continued down the dirt path, exploring the festival. Arts and crafts, music, fairies _everywhere_ … the smell of weed _everywhere_ ….

She was tempted to tell their client that she was sleeping with Bickslow, just so that she wouldn't be stuck in this place. The nostalgia was puke worthy, like the assault of smells on her annoyingly sensitive nose.

And then a pair of hands on her arm caused her to stop, and she looked to the source. The brunette was gripping her stomach and looked on the verge of puking.

Twenty minutes later, Claire was whistling while leaning against a tree and picking at her nails. Stacey was nearby in one of the port-a-potties puking her guts out. If the smell wasn't so bad in those small spaces she would be with her, pulling back her hair to make the process slightly less miserable for her.

As it was, her job was to protect her, not nanny her. Once the brunette was done puking she would help her out and take her back to the condo at the lake.

In the mean time, when she wasn't picking at her short nails, she got the very nice view of half-naked (and sometimes full naked) men and women of the festival. A smile tugged at her lips.

4.

After carrying the sick woman on her back to the condo, they spent most of their afternoon laying around. Claire would bring her water and crackers to eat, and when she wasn't puking, would rub her back while lounging on one of the beds reading a magazine. The fire woman had suggested taking her to a hospital, but she insisted on not going, and instead curled up next to mage on the twin bed.

"I'm…" The voice caused Claire to look down at the shaking brunette, and she pulled the blanket back over her shivering form. "I'm sorry for ruining your fun at the festival."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not a fan of crowds, anyway."

"Then why did you accept the job?"

"Good money. Easy work." She said with a shrug, looking back to the magazine on her lap. Her back was currently propped against the headboard of the twin bed, a soft pillow cushioning her back from the hard wood, and her legs were extended and crossed at the ankles.

"What kind of jobs do you usually do?"

"S-Ranked jobs, mostly. Facing my mortality every other day. That kind of stuff."

"Your family must get worried about you a lot."

"Eh, not really. My brother is the one that trained me to do them, and the rest of my family is either dead or trying to kill me. They didn't really adjust to this world very well."

"No, I mean your kids."

"Oh…" She muttered, recalling the practical joke that Bickslow pulled the previous day. Instead of just verbally explaining it to her, she reached over to the nightstand and picked up Sky's vessel, summoning him to it. "Bickslow uses human soul possession magic, which binds wandering souls to the vessels he chooses. He considers them family, so he refers to them as his babies. Since they call me 'mom' all the time, and I kind of adopted this little guy, we refer to them as 'our' babies."

"Hi! I'm Sky!" The fire vessel spoke, and if the woman had had more energy, Claire didn't doubt that she would have fallen off the bed in fear.

"But to answer your original question, I worry them all the time. I've gotten injured a lot over the past half year."

"Mommy's not good at dodging."

"So that's… your baby?" Stacey asked hesitantly, looking up at the firey, floating, creepy object.

"Like I told you on the train, I've never given birth before. I consider them like my children, but they're not my children in the traditional sense."

"I died last year." Sky spoke, and Claire chuckled at the terrified expression on the sick woman's face.

"I'm pregnant." The brunette stated loudly, and both the floating soul and fire woman stared at her for a moment, not expecting the announcement.

"… huh. Who's the dad?"

"Johnny… or Jeremy…"

"Oh my, my!" Sky spoke in a rather feminine voice, and the brunette hid her face in the blankets further curled up to Claire's leg. There wasn't much room on the twin bed, so the embarrassed girl found herself hiding between her bodyguard's thigh and mattress.

"So you have a thing for 'J' names, huh?" Claire asked, chuckling.

"My family is going to kill me."

"They're not going to kill you… well, I don't know them all the well, but I'm guessing you won't. Are you sure you're pregnant?"

"I took a test yesterday."

"How far along are you?"

"1 month."

"Huh. What are you going to do? Do you have any friends or family to talk to about this?"

"I have friends back home…"

"Good. Try not to make any major decisions until you talk to them, alright?"

5.

They had a family bonfire by the lake that night, complete with campfire stories and roasting marshmallows.

Stacey stayed pretty quiet for the night, not surprisingly, as the others talked about their day at the festival. They talked about the music, the costumes- some complaints about the nudity-, and the creative fairy-themed performances and acts through the day.

"Who's up for ghost stories?" Bickslow asked with a grin, and Evergreen groaned.

"No."

"What, you scared?" He asked, waggling his tongue at her. She rolled her eyes at his childish behavior, but the other guys were intrigued.

"Ghost story!" Natsu cheered.

"Yeah, dude, I'm up for a ghost story." Arnold, Bickslow's watch, added.

"I guess you would be pretty good at those, huh?" Gray asked, and seith mage nodded with a proud grin. Claire could sense his souls nearby, and smiled, knowing that he would probably use them in his story telling.

"Gh-Gh-ghost?" Lucy stammered next to the checker woman.

"A ghost saved our lives once, remember?" Claire asked her, but the blond still stared at the seith mage with wide brown eyes, already frightened before he even started the story.

"Have any of you heard the story of Jason?" Bickslow asked all of them, and they shook their heads. "This is story is actually about the first job I did with Claire, and the horrors we witnessed that night. Do you mind if I tell it?" He asked, looking over to his girlfriend. "We're only a few miles from it, so it'll be perfect."

"I don't mind, but are we really that close to it…?" She asked, and then looked at a magic map of the area, her shoulders slumping when she realized he was right. "Damn it."

"According to you, as long as we don't go to the lake itself, we should be fine." He reasoned, and she nodded. "Everything I'm about to tell you actually happened. 80 years ago, on this very evening…"

6.

Claire woke up that night from someone nudging her shoulder. Opening one of her eyes, she could make out the vague form of three figures around her. As her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, they started to become more clear, and she realized it was the women she was sharing the room with.

"Did it a-actually happen?" Mary asked.

"Did what happen? What time is it?" Claire asked groggily, and sat up, searching for a clock.

"It's midnight." Lucy answered. "We can't sleep."

"Can we sleep with you?"

The checker woman tiredly looked between the three women, who were jumpy and shaking as they held onto each other. _Damn it Bickslow…._

"We can't fit 4 women on one twin mattress, and Lucy, you're a Fairy Tail mage. Act like it."

"W-what if we put all the m-mattresses on the floor to make one really big bed?" The blond asked, and the other girls gasped, nodding frantically.

"It'll be like a slumber party!"

"Let's do it!" Another said, and Claire grunted as she fell back on her bed, suddenly having a lot more appreciation for her fairy obsessed teammate. At least she would pretend to not be scared and suck it up in situations like this.

"Come on," Stacey spoke, pulling at the fire woman that was trying to go back to sleep. Making a whining sound as she was pulled to her feet, she tiredly followed the woman over to the two beds that had been dragged to the middle of the room, carrying her pillow along. She plopped down on one of the mattresses, laying on her back with her pillow comfortably under her head.

Two of the girls, still shaking, lay down on either side of her and clutched at her pajama shirt, anxiously looking around the darkness.

"Go to sleep. If anyone tries to hurt you guys, I'll torch them with my fire magic. Happy?" Claire asked, already falling back asleep.

Not even ten minutes later, she was shaken awake again, and groaned at the sudden bright light.

"We can't sleep."

"Why the hell not?"

"Watch your language." Mary told her, and then hid behind Stacey at the death glare sent in her direction.

"If you don't want me to fucking curse, then don't fucking wake me up in the goddamn night, twice, because you're scared of a fucking monster. If you're scared of anything, it should be of me." Claire seethed, and Lucy laughed awkwardly nearby.

"Why don't we get some hot chocolate to calm our nerves, and maybe a midnight snack?" Lucy asked, and the other girls nodded excitedly.

"Why don't you just go to sleep?" Claire groaned, but against her wishes, she was hoisted out of the bed by her arms. The three women, or scared little girls, huddled around her as they pushed her along, making her open the door and serve as a shield for any monsters or ghosts they might encounter. They jumped at any sound they heard, and even sounds they made, clutching to the half-asleep fire woman for dear life.

Once in the lit kitchen, they loosened up a bit. Lucy got started on the hot chocolate while Stacey and Mary went to the fridge and started making snacks. Claire sat on a stool at the little 'island' in the middle of the large kitchen, resting her arms on the table and placing her head in them tiredly, blocking out the sounds of the busy women.

They chatted about this and that as they moved around the room, nervously trying to fill the eerie late night silence.

Claire grunted when she felt a nudge on her shoulder again.

"We're moving into the dining room to eat. I made you hot chocolate." The celestial mage said with a grin, and the checker woman looked up at her from the nook of her elbow, eyeing the extra cup of hot chocolate in her hand. Begrudgingly she moved from her stool, following them into the dining room and taking a seat next to Stacey, the steaming hot liquid set in front of her.

"So Claire- what do you think of this world?" Mary asked across from her, and popped a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

"Eh." She replied with a shrug, and brought the warm liquid to her lips, meanwhile further heating up the delicious drink with her hands.

"It must have been barbaric without any magic. I can't imagine living a world without it."

"My world is at least 50 years more advanced than this one in terms of technology. Coming here is like living in the Stone Age." Claire informed her, suddenly extremely homesick. Her new Galaxy S5 android… she'd only had it a couple of days and spent way too much money on it….

"Without magic?" Mary asked in disbelief.

"Chya. You guys are way behind. You don't even have a cell phone equivalent. No internet, no Netflix, airplanes are practically nonexistent here… Your lack of technology on this world has probably been the most difficult thing to adjust to." She rambled, half asleep. "Don't get me started on your lack of cameras, movies, and youtube. God I miss Youtube."

"So, in a way, you had a magic equivalent of things." Lucy asked, and she shrugged.

"Sure. Why not? On the plus side, this world hasn't been as damaged by humans, probably because of all the monsters and whatnot. Not nearly as much pollution. Your air is tons cleaner."

"So how long were you on this world before you started dating Bickslow?" Stacey asked between bites of her sandwich.

"Uh… about two months, I think. We hung out a few times before that, and when I was homeless, he let me crash on his couch. Then after Tenrou Island and he lost his apartment, I let him crash on my couch. Now we live together."

"Don't tell grandma that." Mary said with a smile, and the checker woman shrugged.

"How've you been holding up since your dad?" Claire asked Lucy, who was munching away at the bowl of popcorn with her watch.

"It's hard, obviously, but Natsu and the others keep me busy." Lucy answered, her posture caving slightly at the change in conversation topics. "It's weird not having him around… I spent my whole life hating him, and just when we were starting to get along, Tenrou Island happened…."

"What about your mom? How is she holding up?" Mary asked.

"She died when I was young."

"So you're an orphan?" Stacey asked with wide eyes, and the blond nodded, looking down at her hot chocolate.

"We should start a club." Claire joked dryly.

"You lost your parents, too?" Stacey asked.

"Most of the wizards in Fairy Tail have. It's part of the reason everyone is so protective of each other in the guild." She said with a shrug. "Shit happens."

"How did your parents die?" Lucy asked, looking up at her with watery eyes.

"It's depressing. You don't want to know."

"Were they murdered?" Mary asked, and the intrigue in her eyes made Claire want to stab her. _What is wrong with her? You don't act happy at the idea of someone's parents being murdered._

"Have either of you two lost family?" Claire asked instead, looking between Mary and Stacey. They both shook their heads.

"What-"

"AAAAH!" The girls screamed at the sound from the door, and when they turned to look, screamed again at the sight of none other than Bickslow. He was dressed in a faded green t-shirt and black pajama pants, and had jumped back in alarm at the sudden screaming.

"What the hell is with all of this racket? All of you are clothed, so I'm guessing it's not a naked pillow fight…" He asked, still standing in the doorway and leaning against the frame tiredly.

"This is your fault." Claire glared, and took another sip of her hot cocoa.

He raised one of his eyebrows, and with it one of the small arms of his soul tattoo.

"You scared the bajeebers out of us!" Mary exclaimed, her hand over her heart as she tried to calm down. "And who the hell are you!?"

"'Bajeebers'? Really?" The seith mage asked with a grin. "I guess you haven't seen my face yet, huh? I'm Bickslow."

"They won't let me sleep because of that stupid 'scary story' you told." Claire told him, watching the corners of his lips pull to the sides of his face, and the prideful glint in his eye. She was not a morning person, nor a woken-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night person.

"Don't tell him that." Stacey whispered, her eyes wide as she pleaded to the annoyed fire woman.

"And that wasn't even our 'scariest' job together." Bickslow spoke.

"I know."

"And I even left out some of the scariest parts."

"I know. Please lie and tell them none of it happened so that we can go back to sleep."

"What's all the noise about?" Gray asked as he walked up behind the seith mage, rubbing his eyes tiredly and peering into the lit room.

7.

Claire didn't like staying still for very long; unless there was alcohol involved, and even then, it was difficult for her.

After a night of no sleep and plenty of jumpy ladies screaming at the slightest provocation, she was glad for the peace and quiet, but wished she could have slept in that time like the others. Instead she was sitting wide awake and watching over her young female companions, sitting on the sidelines and keeping an eye on their sleeping forms.

Since her companions were tired from the previous night (no surprise there), Mary had suggested that they go to the meditation center and take a nap. It was actually a nice little space, with silent charms cast around the area to allow people to meditate without interruption, as well as other silent activities like yoga and Tai Chi. The floor was mostly cushions and pillows, and there was a light purple wall guarding them from the curious eyes of 'fairies' walking down the pathways. There were twenty or so people present aside from their little group, and given some of the sketch individuals of the fair, Claire didn't feel safe falling asleep with them. So she volunteered to keep watch, sitting near the door and sipping away at her caffeinated and slightly alcoholic beverage.

Lucy at least attempted to look like she was meditating, with her legs crossed beneath her and eyes closed in a classic meditation pose. Her watch, Mary, was the complete opposite- as she simply sprawled out on the ground upon their arrival and immediately fell asleep. The last one, Stacey, did as her cousin but was slightly less obnoxious about it. She currently lay on her side, curled up, and taking up very little space.

Like the day before, Claire found herself enjoying the view of her fellow fair-goers. In particular was a trio of very attractive naked men close to her age doing yoga, and on the other side of the meditation center were two women practicing a form of Tai Chi, also nude. The checker woman tried to not be obvious in her ogling by 'reading' the _Fair Festival Guide_ , but it the thin booklet was so utterly preposterous that even pretending to read it was painful. Back on her world she would have been entertained by a place such as this, but in her time on this world, her opinion changed. It seemed frivolous and stupid now.

A smile came to her lips, still pretending to read the pamphlet, as she wondered if Bickslow was enjoying the fair. Fairies weren't his cup of tea either, so she wondered if he'd resigned to enjoying the view like her or found something else to entertain him. From what she observed he'd been forced to spend time with Natsu, which the man had admitted to have a loathing hatred for.

She snuck another glance at the males in the corner of the room, only to find one of them openly staring back at her. He winked, moving into a very suggestive yoga pose with his leg in the air, and she went back to her magazine with a smile and blush.

Bringing the cup of liquid to her lips, she awkwardly tried to keep her eyes locked on the pages of the guide.

' _Fairie Drum Circle: 12:00-1:00 PM, Sparkle Fire Pit_

 _Fairie costume contest: 2:00-2:30 PM, Main Stage_

 _First-hand encounters: 1:00- 4:00 PM, Wing Circle_

 _Fairie…'_

The next few hours were awkward and uneventful, as she simply sat around avoiding eye contact with the nudists and drinking. About an hour into her watch she summoned Sky, so that he could keep an eye on them while she left to get a refill and buy a book to read. The only book she could find that wasn't about sparkly fairies, at least in the short time that she searched, was a romance novel.

When she returned to her original spot nothing had changed, and she sent Sky away again. Curled up against the wall with some comfy pillows, she took another sip of her drink, and opened the book to the first page.

' _Once upon a time, there was a beautiful fairy by the name of Edna…_ '

Realizing that the merchant had lied to her about the contents of the book, she barely suppressed a groan in the silent space. Torn between laziness and her newfound dislike of fairies, she decided to first skim the book for any 'naughty' scenes she could make fun of before making a final decision.

The novel was just over 500 pages, and otherwise was rather average in size and appearance. As she skipped to random pages and read occasional chapters, she couldn't help but smile at how poorly written it was.

Taking another sip of her drink, she prepared herself for a few hours of suppressed laughter at the book's expense.

8.

While she tried to sleep that night, the other girls giggled and talked into the late hours of the night. Mary and Stacey had bought a few new outfits at the festival, so they excitedly put them on and showed them off in the room. The celestial mage tried to keep them relatively quiet so that they wouldn't wake up the tired fire mage with no success, and the next day was a repeat of the previous one.

As she sat at the breakfast table the next morning, Claire barely kept herself awake.

"Why do you look so tired? Did you not get any sleep last night?" Bickslow asked, nudging her awake. She'd fallen asleep on her hand, arm propped on the table next to her bowl of cereal. Upon the nudging her eyes reluctantly opened, looking over at the seith mage.

"Huh?"

"Tired?" He asked with a sympathetic smile, and she nodded.

"The girls wouldn't shut up last night, so I didn't get any sleep. Again."

"Why don't they look tired?"

"Because they slept at the mediation center yesterday, and probably will today as well."

"There's a meditation center?" He asked, and she nodded.

"The only consolation is that attractive naked people do yoga in there."

"What time will you be in there? Maybe I can come and visit for a while." He asked, letting his tongue hang out.

"Bickslow, I thought you weren't going to do that at the table while we're here?" Evergreen asked across from him, the old lady at her side glaring in pure hatred.

"I agreed to not do that at the dinner table. This is breakfast." He said, waggling his tongue at them. Claire chuckled at his side.

"It's the same table, you idiot."

"But we're eating breakfast, so this is rightly the breakfast table until lunch time, when it'll become the lunch table. Last night I agreed to not do it at the dinner table."

"Can you please not stick your tongue out at this table at any hour?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Eating breakfast isn't supposed to be 'fun'."

"Not the way you eat it." He replied, keeping his tongue hanging out all the while. The other girls at the table were quietly giggling at his antics now, unintentionally egging him on. Of course Claire was the only one he was listening to and cared about. Of course.

"How does sticking your tongue out make it more 'fun'? It's gross for everyone else."

"It's not gross when everyone does it. Have you ever tried it?"

"Of course not."

"Then you're missing out."

9.

"You're gonna get fired if you keep it up." Claire whispered when he arrived at the Meditation Center, but he merely stuck his tongue out again and took a seat next to her. Arnold, the man he was supposed to be watching, made a beeline for the group of nude women doing Tai Chi, asking to join them.

"Nice to see you too, Checkers." He whispered back, criss-crossing his legs beneath him and grabbing a pillow to cushion his back. After shifting around and getting comfortable, he looked back to his girlfriend, who was looking up at him with a smile. He leaned down to place a small kiss on her adorably cute lips, and went back to leaning against the wall. "You can nap for a while. I'll keep an eye on everyone."

"Thank you, honey." She whispered, and shifted to lay on her side, using his lap as a pillow. Watching her face relax and her body finally sleep, he was glad he had managed to convince Arnold to come here. It didn't take much, as the mention of 'sexy nudists' and 'yoga' had him practically running here.

This job was supposed to be easy money, but Claire was too much of a softie to make the girls let her rest, which was making it a lot more difficult than it needed to be for her. It would take her a while to find a balance between strict and leisurely, so he planned to help her find that balance the best he could.

Discovering that their surroundings were boring as hell, (much like the rest of the festival) he reached for the book that Claire had been reading.

 _I didn't know that she was into this kind of stuff…._ He thought as he read the first paragraph. _Maybe I can get a few tips from this…._

Two hours later, Mary and Lucy awoke and headed out, and only an hour after that Stacey woke up as well. Although he wanted to let his girlfriend sleep longer, since she looked so gosh darn comfortable, he had to wake her up. Arnold had been occupied by the nudist ladies for most of their time, but he'd gotten bored and had been giving Bickslow annoyed glances every few seconds for a while now.

"Sorry babe, but you've got to get up." Bickslow whispered, and gently caressed the side of her face. Normally she would protest and roll over to hide her face, but she had enough awareness to simply sigh and roll onto her butt, rubbing her eyes tiredly and reaching for the caffeinated/alcohol beverage. "I'll see you later." He said, and kissed her cheek before getting up. He nodded to Stacey who was now standing in front of Claire expectantly, and then gestured for Arnold to leave with him.

Claire yawned tiredly in her hand, and then slowly put her book in her large purse. The brunette in front of her held out a hand to help her back on her feet, and the checker woman accepted, drink in her other hand.

The little brunette kept their hands locked, leading her bodyguard out of the Meditation Center and into the busy pathway. Claire's senses were abruptly assaulted by an array of smells, scents, and sounds, but in her tired state it all blurred together in a haze of mush. She didn't really pay attention to where they were going, as the shorter woman led her through the crowd and to various booths for her to see. It was common to see people holding hands, especially of the same sex, so their hand-holding went unnoticed to the other festival-goers.

When they were noticed for something, it wasn't the contact.

"Ma'am, empty your pockets." There were two people that approached them, both of them wearing tie-dye shirts with the words "FAIRY FESTIVAL SECURITY" on it. Instantly waking up, the fire woman straightened her posture and looked at them, and then to the woman next to her, who they were staring at.

"Excuse me, what seems to be the problem?" Claire asked, and while the man turned to her, the other kept her eyes on Stacey.

"We've been getting reports of her shoplifting around the fair, and just saw her put several earrings in her pocket. I'm sorry but I'll have to ask you to do the same." He instructed her, his rainbow meditation beads around his neck contrasting greatly with his demeanor.

"Stacey, did you actually shoplift?" Claire asked, turning to the brunette. She was looking away, her eyes cast downward and posture caving in on itself. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was guilty, as she was terrible at hiding it. "She'll pay for everything she took. Her family is loaded."

"Are you her friend?"

"I'm her body guard." She told him, and handed him her bag. "The only thing in there from this festival is a book that I purchased, and the receipt is in the front cover."

10.

"Why the hell did you shoplift from a bunch of broke hippies? We're lucky that this isn't going on our permanent records." Claire asked, narrowing her eyes at the brunette. They were currently sitting in a very large jail cell, which housed not only them but 20+ other women that weren't in Fairy Festival gear. Even though the officers weren't going to press charges, they were taken to the county jail cell where they would spend the remainder of the day.

"I… I don't know." Stacey muttered, looking at her fidgeting hands in her lap. She was dressed in a light orange dress covered in sparkles, and her large, beautiful matching wings were on her lap, being picked at.

"Have you ever shoplifted before today?"

"… a couple of times…" She muttered, still not looking at her.

Claire rolled her eyes, sighing as she folded her arms and leaned back against the cement wall, looking around the room. Her eyes locked with a particularly violent looking bunch, all of whom were in torn up clothing and had bulging muscles. They were looking back at her, and she couldn't help but smirk. "Sup, ladies? How's it hanging?"

"We don't appreciate that offensive language." One of them glared.

"How is that offensive?" She asked, scrunching her nose up in confusion.

"'how's it hanging' infers that we have male genitalia and further enforces the patriarchy in our society."

"Really? So, if I asked how you assholes are doing today, that would be more politically correct?" Claire asked with a grin, entertained by their hostile faces. "You girls look so cute when you're mad."

"What the hell are you doing?!" Stacey whispered, watching the fire woman stand up, hands in her pockets and looking smug as hell.

"Having a little fun." She replied, and winked at the girl sitting down. The group of 5 women circled her, looking ready for a pounding. One of them ran forward with her fist aimed at her face, but Claire easily side-stepped and kept her foot out, effectively tripping her. "That was terrible form."

Two of them attempted to grab her arm to hold her still, but she easily burned them and sent them flying back with a hit to their solar plexus. Another tried to sucker punch her while the other tried to kick from behind, but it was all too easy to spin and grab her leg, latching onto it and throwing her into the other woman. The woman she had tripped earlier ran at her again, only to be tripped once more and hit her head on the cell bars.

"Is that the best you girls got?" She asked, smirking down at the groaning women on the ground. When none of them looked ready to challenge her again, she looked around to the other woman in the room. "Anyone else feel like fighting? We've got, what, 5 hours of time to waste?" Claire asked the woman she was supposed to be body guarding, only to realize that the brunette was on top of another woman... making out. "Pregnant, shoplifting, gay… you're just full of surprises."

"You feel like fighting, huh?" A voice questioned, and upon recognizing it, a chill went down her spine. Turning towards the source, she smiled awkwardly at the requip mage, her earlier cockiness gone.

"Sup Erza? How's it, uh… going?"

"Not too bad. You two got kicked out of the festival as well, I see." She spoke, glancing at Stacey on the bench.

"She got caught shoplifting, so we're stuck here until the festival is over. Whar are you doing here?" Claire asked, eyeing the red head as she visibly tensed.

"I, uh… was shopping, and had a miscommunication with a merchant owner, and one thing led to another…"

"How much of the festival did you destroy?"

"Only 5 booths. Natsu and Gray took down a few others as well. They're currently in the men's jail cell."

"Only 5? I had guessed you would take down half the festival." The checker woman joked, although the other mage wasn't as amused. She yawned, still tired. "So, fighting… want to show me a few moves? Preferably ones that don't involve a broken limb?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Erza said with a confident smirk, and Claire hoped she was joking.

11.

"Heeeey, Wendy…" Claire spoke as she approached the young mage, causing her to look up at her with wide, curious, brown eyes. She was dressed in an adorable light pink dress, and Carla was standing next to her with a matching one. The fire mage had found the small group in the living room of the condo, and the rest of the guests were scattered through the house and yard. "Could you heal me up?"

"Of course!" She said with a cute grin, and instructed her to sit down on a nearby couch with her.

"What happened to you?" Lucy asked, taking a seat near them and watching the dragonslayer heal her. Witnessing her unique healing magic was always fascinating to observe, and it wasn't long before they had a small crowd.

"Erza and I bonded." She replied with a grin. Flinching at the blue-haired mages tiny hands, Wendy briefly stopped her healing magic to visually look at the damage.

"Wendy, when you're done with Claire, would you be willing to heal me as well?" The red head asked as she entered the room.

"You hurt Erza?" Lucy gasped.

"It wouldn't be the first time… although most of them cheap shots." Claire spoke awkwardly, grinning at the feel of Wendy's magic. It tickled, not entirely unlike Laxus's magic.

"I wouldn't say they were all cheap shots. Well, one of them definitely was, but the others were just good hits on your part. Don't sell yourself so short." Erza complimented, taking a seat next to her. Since they had left the jail, she had changed back into her fairy outfit, decked out in a flowing white dress and beautiful silver wings.

"I can't believe you guys were acting like that. It was embarrassing." Stacey said with a grimace.

"You're one to talk, rug muncher." Claire retorted, smirking as the girl's face instantly turned beat red. In her short time with the woman, she'd realized something- Stacey was brilliant at playing the 'innocent girl' act.

Once the fire woman was healed up, she moved from her spot to let the requip mage take her place. Still standing in the middle of the room and about to move to the side, blackness suddenly encased her sight and fabric shielded most of her body from the others. A pair of strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her close to an all too familiar body, his scent filling her nostrils.

"You guys didn't see anything." Bickslow spoke from behind her, and the strong arms picked her up (keeping the cloak around her) and started walking in a mystery direction.

"What are you doing?" She asked, and was hushed by the large man.

"I'm stealthily kidnapping you."

"I don't think that word means what you think it means." Claire informed him, but was hushed yet again. His arms around her midsection wasn't entirely comfortably, so she hoped that they would get to their mystery destination sooner rather than later. "Where are we-"

"Sssssh," He hushed again.

"This isn't comfortable."

"'Sssssh' does not mean start talking. We're almost there." He informed her, over theatrically pressing himself against the wall or ducking into corners whenever he heard someone nearby. Eventually they made their way out of the house, and when they were safely out of sight from the others, Bickslow set her on her feet but kept the cloak around her.

"Are we there yet?"

"Nope. Start walking, and I'll tell you when we're there." He informed her, to which she grunted but complied, just glad to not be carried anymore. Wendy had healed most of her wounds, but she would still be sore for the next few days.

In order to keep from stepping on her feet, it took a few tries to get walking in sync. After about twenty minutes of walking they eventually arrived at the secret location.

"Okay, close your eyes." He instructed, and she obeyed, becoming further curious about whatever was going on. As he removed the cloak, he peered at her face, making sure that she wasn't peaking. While the fabric slid across her exposed shoulders his hands moved to her waist, resting comfortably on her curves. "Surprise~"

"Can I open my eyes?"

"Yes ma'am." He replied, and as her eyes blinked open, felt his head drop down to the nook of her neck. After a moment of staring around her, she tried to find anything remotely interesting or out of the ordinary about the area. It was a relatively secluded spot in the middle of the woods, and was a very small clearing, like a camping spot, with only one pathway leading out of it.

"… Uh… what am I supposed to be looking at?"

"I just wanted to… nom, nom-" He spoke in her ear as he slobbered over it, gnawing softly at her flesh as she squirmed in his arms. He tightened his grip and continued his onslaught, earning a combination of 'aaw, gross!' and giggles from the young woman.

"Knock it off!"

"Nom, nom," After a few more 'noms' he eventually let her spin in his arms, although never leaving his grasp, and beamed at her annoyed expression.

"What was that for?" She tried to get the saliva off of her ear, rubbing it with her hand and trying to get her shirt to soak up some of it.

"For picking a fight with Erza. Idiot." His tongue hung out as he spoke, and his grip loosening slightly when her arms came up to snake around his neck. He loved the feel of her hips in his hands.

"But I was bored, and I asked her to not break any bones."

"Did she?"

"Well, yeah, she broke my arm… again… but Wendy healed me. Is that really the reason you had to run off with me the way you did?"

"No. I just wanted to abscond with my girlfriend for a little while. When I found out you picked a fight with the most powerful woman in Fairy Tail... well, the noms seemed like a reasonable reaction."

"It wasn't a real fight. I asked her to teach me some moves, so we did some hand-to-hand combat stuff."

"You've been fighting a lot lately, though. I just worry about you."

"So when you 'nom' my ear, it means that you're worried about me?"

"Mmhmm~" He hummed, and leaned in to kiss her on the lips, slithering his tongue out to play with hers.

12.

They were greeted by knowing smirks and winks when they returned. Ignoring the people on her way upstairs, she went straight to her bed, wanting to sleep. She could hear the muffled words of Stacey, her grandmother, and a few others in a room on the third floor.

Lucy was already napping when she arrived, so she didn't have to worry about anyone trying to wake her up.

"So how'd it go, man?" Arnold asked with a knowing smirk, and seith mage refrained from shuddering at the older gentleman. Bickslow wasn't usually so prejudiced against larger men, but his personality was so repulsive that he couldn't help the insults that popped into his mind whenever he spoke. The man was in his late thirties, dark hair styled like he'd just gotten out of bed, and always wore a stained t-shirt and jeans. He was the kind of guy Bickslow pictured sitting on his ass all day ordering his wife around like a servant, and made lewd, immature comments about women like a prepubescent teenager.

"We hiked around the lake for a while and talked about our day."

"Did you… you know." He wiggled his eyebrows for emphasis and nudged him with his elbow. "'Do the deed'. Get lucky. Boppin' squiddles. Corking the onion. Doodle-bopping."

"Dude, stop- you're embarrassing yourself. And no."

"A guy and a girl alone together only means one thing. Come on, you can trust me."

"Believe it or not, I actually enjoy spending time with my girlfriend outside of the bedroom."

"Then she told you about how she got arrested, right?"

"Yeah, that's where she and Erza fought." Bickslow replied smoothly, suddenly wishing that he had asked her a brief summary of her day before coming back. At least it made sense now why she was bored enough to fight Erza of all people- he knew from experience that people acted differently when forced in a jail cell together. The how or why she ended up there was a mystery, though.

"You should have seen my mom's face when she found out. She started screaming at Stacey and Erza, and plans to rip Natsu a new one for destroying half the festival. The rumors of you Fairy Tail wizards destroying entire cities wasn't exaggerated."

"It's mostly Team Natsu that does that."

"But anyway, tell me more about your little randavez with the girlfriend. She's pretty cute." He said with a wink and standing entirely too close for the seith mage's comfort. His belly fat was touching the mage's arm. "How long have you guys been doing it?"

"None of your business."

"Come on, don't be such a square."

"Don't be such a nosy Nancy." Bickslow countered, sticking his tongue out at the man.

Upstairs, Claire was jolted awake by a screaming old woman hitting her, and barely refrained from using magic when she realized who it was. Her client, Mrs. Scattle, was absolutely livid about something, and the fire woman was confused as hell by the sudden hostility. She was screaming at the top of her lungs incomprehensibly, and curses flowed from her mouth in random order that made no sense. For a little old religious lady, her language would embarrass a sailor.

"What are you yelling at me for!?" The checker woman asked, holding up her arms to protect herself from the violent small woman.

"OUT OF MY HOUSE!" She screamed, the first comprehensible sentence she'd put together thus far. Sleep deprived and confused as hell, Claire grabbed her duffel bag from the floor and jumped to her feet, avoiding further thrashing from the woman.

"Claire, what's going on?!" Lucy asked with wide eyes, sitting up on her bed with a matching startled expression.

"I don't know, I just woke up to her screaming at me to get out." She said, and slung her bag over her shoulder as she was shoved out of the room and towards the stairs, slightly disoriented from her rude awakening. Heading to the stairs, she was happy to see her knight in shining armor at the base of the steps, and quickly hid behind him once she'd reached him. "Help."

"Oi, oi, calm down." Bickslow spoke, finding himself stuck between a scared girlfriend and an enraged client. He tried to restrain her arms to keep her from hitting them, but she screamed bloody murder whenever he did so, and he was about to use Figure Eyes on her when Evergreen thankfully showed up.

"Mrs. Scattle, please calm down and tell us what happened." The brunette spoke, crouching down to eye level with her and instantly calming her down. Well, a little, at least. With how contorted in rage she was, her winkles were amplified and showed her true age.

"That little witch touched my granddaughter, and blackmailed her into doing despicable things."

"Nuh-uh." Claire spoke, still hiding behind Bickslow and peering over his shoulder at her. She had to stand on her tip toes, and clung to the fabric of his cloak. Usually she would never even consider using someone else as a human shield, but he had enough padding to handle himself.

"Mrs. Scattle, I'm sure that this is just a misunderstanding. I've been working with Claire for a long time and-"

"There's no mistaking it. I'm paying you people good money and I want her out of my HOUSE!"

"Look, why don't we calmly talk this over in the living room over some tea, like civilized people?" Evergreen asked, and when the woman was reluctant to say anything, she continued. "If you don't, the entire Thunder Legion will terminate our contract with you and ban you from requesting jobs from our guild, as well as make your name known to other guilds to recommend not working for you. Do you understand?"

With a huff, and extra glare in Claire's direction, she crossed her arms and stomped into the living room.

"You okay, sweetie?" Bickslow whispered over his shoulder. She responded with her usual whining sound, resting her forehead against the back of his shoulder.

"How about I take Claire to the kitchen until you guys need us?" Lucy asked stepping forward. The others were all hustling into the living room, curious about what the conflict was about and giving Bickslow glances on their way. Natsu, Wendy, Elfman, and Cana were all hiking around the lake with the people they were guarding. Gray, Erza, and Evergreen were in the living room now.

"That's probably a good idea; we'll let you know when we need you. I have a feeling that it'll take a while to get her side of the story." He spoke, and took an experimental step away from the fire woman, feeling her hands reluctantly let go of him. "Don't worry, we're going to get this sorted out."

"Come on, let's go get some hot chocolate." Lucy said sweetly, and guided the shaking woman down the hallway. There were two paths to the kitchen from their location, one of which led through the living room, and the other the dining room. The blond took them through the dining room and into the kitchen, preparing some hot chocolate.

"She's not allowed to eat any food here." The mages looked to the door, realizing that Mary had entered from the living room.

"Under contract, she said that she would provide me food." Claire glared, her racing heart beginning to slow down.

"That was before you molested her daughter."

"I didn't do anything to her."

"Then why is Stacey crying her eyes out upstairs? She's terrified of you for what you did."

"She got us arrested for shoplifting and I'm the bad guy here?"

"Hey, Mary?" Lucy asked awkwardly. "These packets are only like, 30 cents each, what if we left money for it on the counter? Or replace them tomorrow?"

"Nope. I'm in here to make sure that she doesn't eat any of grandma's food." The girl said decisively, parking herself on the side of the wall closest to the door, leaning against the counter with her arms crossed. "You can have some of her food, but she can't."

"What if I gave her some of my food?"

She shook her head, and the blond frowned for a moment, but then smiled.

"Fine, I'll just have Virgo bring us something."

Back in the living room, the Fairy Tail mages quietly listened to the 90 year-old's rantings about their comrade, trying to hear her out. Most of the strange stories were so obviously fake they wondered how she believed what she was saying, and the others were undoubtedly false, just from knowing the checker woman so well. Given that Evergreen had the most success talking to her in the past, she did most of the negotiating and talking.

Once the woman was done explaining what her granddaughter told her, set down her tea and looked her client in the eye.

"I'm sorry that your granddaughter is in distress. From what you've told us, it sounds like she's very upset."

"Damn straight, because of your-"

"Please, let me finish." The brunette spoke, holding her hand up. The client instantly silenced, her mouth forming a thin line. On either side of her were her sons, Arnold and Darwin, and to the side was Arnold's wife, Elsa. "From what you've told us, and if your granddaughter is in as much distress as she is, it's possible that she was drugged at the festival without her permission. I've heard stories of people every year getting sprayed with water bottles laced with LSD and other drugs. It's rare, but it happens."

"Why the hell aren't you interrogating that… that monster in there!? She hurt my little girl!"

"Mrs. Scattle, please understand. Most of your claims are simply impossible to have happened, so unless your granddaughter is directly lying to you, I can't think of any other possibility to explain what she has told you."

"This is unbelievable. You-"

"Claire is a member of the Thunder Legion, and we don't let just anyone bare that title. Regardless of what she's accused of you treated her poorly, without getting her side of the story first, when she's working to the best of her abilities for the past 4 days. This is also the second time that you have either lied or tried to terminate our contracts prematurely, wasting our time."

"You're calling me a liar?" She seethed, narrowing her eyes at the brunette. The fairy woman didn't bat an eye, sitting with perfect posture and elegantly crossed legs.

"Last time you requested a job with us you did, and I don't believe Claire is guilty of any of the things you accuse her of."

"Then what if I gave you evidence?"

"What kind of evidence?"

"My granddaughter has a hickey on her neck, and she sure as rain didn't give it to herself. It's on her neck."

"Actually," Erza spoke up, sitting similarly to Ever. "When we were in jail today, she found herself rather… tangled up with another woman. When Claire and I were practicing martial arts, your granddaughter was having relations with another woman."

And just like that, their client was in hysterics again, so far gone that not even Evergreen could calm her down.

13.

"Well, at least we all had fun at the festival." Evergreen spoke with a grin, and got a mix of responses from the other wizards on the train.

After over an hour of trying to reason with Mrs. Scattle and her family, they had eventually given up, simply stating that they would bill her for their time and add cancelation fees to it. As a result they doubted that they would get paid anytime soon, seeing as they would likely need special collectors to get the money from her, but at least they had the deposit that would barely cover Lucy's rent.

Once the hiking group returned to the condo they made their way to the train station, ready to go home.

"Yes, I got some amazing new outfits." Erza agreed, sitting next to the fairy woman. It was a miracle that they weren't fighting yet, and Bickslow just hoped that their peace would last at least most of the long journey.

The seith mage absently stroked Claire's checker hair, occasionally petting and massaging her ear and neck. She was laying on her side and using his lap as a pillow again, using the extra seat to her left to put her feet up. Once again she was attempting sleep, although this time she hoped that Bickslow would protect her.

"Have you ever had such a difficult client?" Evergreen asked Erza, and she shook her head.

"I've had my fair share of difficult clients, but none quite like that. I expected her to be upset over the destruction at the fair, but not at Claire."

"It was pretty rough. I think that was the first time I've ever seen her actually scared of someone." Bickslow spoke up, although trying to keep his voice low to not wake the sleeping woman. "I've been on the receiving end of pissed off parents… they're pretty terrifying."

"What if we did a girls night when we got back?" Lucy asked, sitting next to the requip mage and across from Bickslow.

"That's pretty random." Ever commented.

"Well, since this job didn't go too well, why not do something fun to cheer us up?"

"There's a cool bar on the edge of Magnolia I've been wanting to check out," Kana spoke, appearing from behind Bickslow and Claire's chairs. "Drinking, dancing- a girls night sounds rad!"

"Are you guys free tomorrow?" Lucy asked Erza and Ever, and they both nodded.

"Hey Gray, up for a guys night?" Bickslow asked, tilting his head back. As predicted, the ice mage appeared over his chair, buck naked.

"Sure, why not?"

"Yeah, a Man's Night!" Elfman cheered, jumping up from his seat.


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note:** Holy canned canolies! I just realized that 94 people are following this story, 60 favorited, and there's over 50 reviews- that's a new record for me on all fronts! That's amazing! Thank you all so much for following, favoriting, and reviewing this story! You all are amazing, and thank you so much for reading and sticking with it! Here's a long awaited update!

 **Side note** : in response to so many people getting upset over the spelling of Freed's name: when I wrote this a few years ago, that's how his name was spelled on his wiki, and 50/50 in the subtitles and fanfics written with him. I would guess that it's because in Japanese, Freed would probably be spelled as "Fried", or "Frid", since the "i" is pronounced like "ee". The sound "ree" would be translated as "ri." When I google his name now, it ONLY pops up as "Freed", so I'm guessing they made the switch official since I wrote this. If you search for "Fried Fairy Tale fanfic", old fanfics will pop up with that spelling. (So I'm not crazy!)

Since so many people commented on it, though, I changed the spelling to "Freed" for this chapter, and will try to do so for future ones.

 **Walking Cliché 22**

 _Girls Night_

After a full night of rest, Claire was surprised by the lack of a warm body at her side. It smelled like home, the bed felt like home, and the familiar humming of Sky nearby felt like home.

But there was a crucial part missing.

Clad in undies and a wife beater shirt, she slowly pulled the blankets off of her upper body, and looked around the room. On their nightstand was a piece of paper, folded in half so that it was in the shape of a triangle on the flat surface. Her name was scrawled along the front in her boyfriend's handwriting.

Deciding that it was too cold that morning, she grabbed the note and pulled the blankets back up to her shoulders, snuggling back into the warm sheets. It was an added bonus that she the pillow and sheets were riddled with her boyfriend's scent, which always filled her with a warm, bubbly sensation.

" _Claire,_

 _Freed stopped by this morning with a job, so I'll be with him and Laxus for a few days. Have fun at girls night!_

 _Love you!_

 _XOXOXO,_

 _Bickslow"_

She made a small whining sound and looked over at the clock, finding that it was almost 10 AM. Compared to her recent jobs, that was sleeping in.

"What are you going to do today?" Sky asked as he hovered over to her, floating within eyesight of her.

"I was going to spend the afternoon with Bickslow, and then do a girls night with some friends from the guild. But it looks like I've got half the day to myself."

"You could do that dance lesson." He suggested, and she grunted.

"No way. This is my first free day in a long time." She replied, and hummed within the warm blankets, a giddy smile on her face. "There _are_ a few things I've been meaning to buy at the market. Including a new vessel for you."

"For me?" He asked cutely, moving so that he was mere centimeters from the bed.

"Yeah. Bickslow suggested that since I'm technically your seith mage, I should get you your own vessel different than his. It's also kind of weird to have a repeat- since you'll always have the same looking vessel as the others."

"Oooh, what kind of vessel am I getting? Can it be a race car?"

"No, I was hoping to get something a bit more subtle. Maybe animal themed."

"Oooh, like a rooster?" He asked, and spun.

"Maybe. We'll see."

1.

Their first stop was a music store.

The fire woman had been so busy with training and jobs that she never really had time until now, so she took the opportunity to do something she'd been meaning to get around to for months now. Gajeel had recommended this place to her months ago.

The small shop smelled of rosin and dust, and was filled with a variety of instruments. Sky was at her side, not bound to his vessel, looking around at the metal and wooden instruments. Aside from them and the man behind the desk, the shop was empty.

"Can I help you find anything?" He asked, peering up from his magazine. He seemed like a very prim and proper man, in his late forties, and adorning a suit and tie.

"I was hoping to buy a guitar. A friend of mine recommended this place."

"Oh? What's his name?"

"Gajeel."

"Redfox?" The man asked with a grin, and stood up.

2.

"Sky! Knock it off!"

"Weeee!" The little soul cheered, flying through the air like a maniac. Guitar strapped to her back, she groaned at the happy soul.

"Not to meddle, but why don't you just… do that thing where you control them?" The woman at her side asked, and the fire woman's shoulders slumped.

"I can, but I try not to because it hurts him. I have a very rare magic that hurts him, and when I get forceful, it hurts more." She explained, but after a few more seconds of watching the wandering soul zoom around the enclosed space, she finally resorted to using it. A small 'aaaw' sound emitted from the vessel, and when it was close enough, she unbound him and let the small vessel drop into her hands.

The place they were at used to be a garden center, but had been converted to house an artist's sculptures. A chain link fence surrounded the hundreds of shelves housing her art. Bickslow had been buying vessels from her for years, and when he was low on cash, would get blank vessels that he would carve and paint at home. He'd had the sculptor design the vessels for him before hand, so all he had to do was copy the earlier carvings.

Claire eyed the vessel in her hand. It was rather gothic looking, and although the appearance wasn't great, the quality of it was so far Sky and her's favorite for maneuvering and flying. Over the years Bickslow had worked with the woman to develop a variety of prototypes for his babies, so Claire and Sky were currently going through some of his old ones to see which she liked best. Bickslow liked having all of his vessels the same regardless of the soul's fit, since it got expensive and tiring to get a different kind for each soul; even though each soul fit each vessel differently, just like clothes. Unlike him, Claire only had the one soul, so she could splurge a little for Sky.

"The only problem with that one is that it's not very durable. It's light and easy for the soul to move around in, but it's not great for battle." The artist explained, and Claire nodded, continuing to roll the wooden object in her hand.

"Would it be possible to make another like this, but with a different appearance?"

"Yes."

"Would it be possible to make multiple vessels with the same appearance, but different design? For example, use this kind for day to day things, but have another for battle I can switch to?"

"Yeah, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Have you picked out the design your want for your vessels?" She asked, and the checker woman shook her head.

"No. I'm not much of an artist, and to be honest, I don't really know what I want, other than it has similar dimension's to Bickslow's vessels."

"Alright, why don't you give me a description of what you're looking for, and I'll draw up some ideas for you? You can come back in a few days, and if you find which one you like best, I'll get started on it."

"Awesome. How long will that take?"

"Depends on how many vessels you want, and which kind you choose. The lighter one you're holding would probably take two days, and some of the others are trickier. It also depends on how much business I have at that time."

"So if I asked for like… 4 vessels, would you say a month would be a good estimate?"

"Most likely. Once we get the designs done I can give you a better estimate."

"Sweet." Claire said, still holding the vessel in her hands. It was remarkably light.

"Since it might be a while until I can get those vessels to you, you can use one of these on loan. Bickslow is the only seith customer I've had, so I don't have much use for these."

3.

"What are you wearing?" Sky asked over the bed, watching Claire smooth out her dress and look at herself in the mirror. Feeling rather self-conscious in the only dress she owned, she looked over at the wandering soul in his new vessel, her arms out to the sides.

"What do you think? Too much?"

"You look pretty!" He said, and spun in the air.

"Be honest." She pouted, and turned back to the mirror, tugging at the hem of the dress. It was a dark purple, mostly skin tight dress that went to her knees. There was a metal belt around her hips, and just above it, the soft fabric loosened slightly and tightened again at her chest, accentuating her features. Her back was exposed, strung together by black string, and her sleeves were loose pieces of fabric sewn together at the top in the same fashion as her back, leaving a slit of skin exposed along her arms.

"Why don't you dress up nice with dad?" He asked curiously, hovering over just behind her shoulder, peering at her in the mirror.

"I prefer to not wear dresses."

"So why are you wearing one now?"

"Because Lucy asked me to. All the other girls are, and they asked me to wear one as well. I haven't worn a dress in public in years."

"Don't be nervous. You're pretty." He complimented, coming up next to her and nuzzling the side of her face.

"Thanks, Sky." She thanked, reaching up to pull him into a hug.

4.

The group had decided to meet up at the Guild Hall, inviting the women that weren't busy at the last minute, and ended up with a pretty good group.

Mirajane, Lisanna, Lucy, Erza, Evergreen, Kana, and Claire all walked to the bar their local drunk had suggested, clad in their short dresses and dolled up hair. Their groups got quite a few looks as they made their way to the edge of town, and when they arrived, were pleasantly surprised that it was a dance club. They instantly made their way to a table in the back, eyeing the dancers in the middle of the large room. The lights were dim, strobe lights flashing, and bass was blasting in the room.

The tables to the side of the room had silencing charms cast so that they could talk amongst themselves, but it allowed enough sound to get through so that it was pleasant background sound.

"Have you done the dance lesson this week?" Evergreen asked her teammate, smirking at her knowingly.

"I don't think there's going to be enough room for ballroom dancing here, Ever." She countered, noting that the most popular 'dance' at the moment was grinding.

"I think there's enough room for salsa dancing. Mira? Want to dance?"

"Maybe after we get some drinks started?" The mage asked, and Ever nodded.

"Kana is already getting them." Claire spoke, and they turned to the bar, seeing the brunette in question ordering drinks for their table. After talking to the bartender, showing off her cleavage in the process, she started flirting with the guys at the bar. "So what was with the dress only rule?" She asked, turning back to the group.

"We just thought it would be fun. You're the only one that's taken, and we were planning to have a good time." Mira told her, a mischievous glint in her eye. Her hair was pulled back and loose curled locks framed her beautiful face, and she was wearing a blue and yellow dress.

"Are you planning to get lucky tonight?" Claire asked, the white-haired mage shrugged, while her sister laughed and hit her arm.

"What? No way!"

"Does anyone know where the guys are doing their 'man's night'?" Evergreen asked.

"The Guild Hall, last I checked." Erza replied.

"Seriously? What kind of guys night is that? They drink there all the time…"

"Everybody ready for some SHOTS!?" Kana yelled as she approached the table, and received a roar of 'woo!'s and 'hell yeah's.

The fire mage was surprised how pleasant the night became. Unlike her previous experiences with the group of women, whether it was a result of the alcohol or not, it was much more pleasant. There was some awkward dancing, teasing each other for one thing or another, bad singing along with the occasional corny song that played on the dance floor.

Lucy and Claire opted out of the group dance party that was starting up, voting to stay at the table and guard their purses. They laughed and smiled at the group making its way to the dance floor, who occasionally gave sultry looks to men they passed by, and it wasn't long before their group was the main attention on the dance floor. Erza, being by far the least graceful dancer, bumped and accidentally punched several people.

"So how are you and Bickslow doing?" Lucy asked, striking up conversation with the checker woman. "How are your babies?" She added with a giggle.

"We're all doing good. We're excellent, actually."

"Have you thought about marrying him?" She asked, and thanked the waitress as yet another free drink made its way to their table.

"I don't want to get married to anyone right now. Maybe in a few years." Claire replied, and took another sip of her mojito. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"No, I'm not really interested in dating anyone. I like where I am right now."

"Good for you."

"On a slightly related note…" Lucy spoke, shifting in her seat and swirling the straw around in her drink. Claire looked to the suddenly awkward blonde, curious about what she wanted to ask. The previous questions had sounded a little forced. "I was just, wondering… Kana has been recommending a support group, and I was wondering if you had gone to any of the support groups she hosts?"

"Were you planning to attend just to check it out, or to actually get help for something?"

"Nothing, like… just to check it out. Since Natsu and Happy can be so intrusive, Kana thought I might benefit from going to a meeting."

Claire paused before answering, making sure that Kana was out of ear shot and being careful with her words. "I went to one of those meetings a while back, but when I went, it was mostly just a bunch of women complaining about guys. It could be a good place to vent about Natsu, if you wanted to do that."

"Why did you go?" She asked, leaning in slightly.

"I'd rather not talk about it." Claire told her, and turned to the group of women approaching them. They laughed and giggled as they returned to their seats, pulling at their skirts as they sat down. "I'm going to run to the bathroom." Claire announced.

… but she didn't know how or why she told them that.

A sinking feeling enveloped her as she flashed them a smile and gracefully got up from her seat, her body moving on its own accord. Like a puppet on a string her body moved without her permission, moving gracefully to the bathrooms, but not actually entering them. It was crowded enough that she slipped past the restroom and to the back door, and the small hallway leading to it was deserted, so her disappearance went unnoticed.

The smell of garbage met her nostrils as she pushed the heavy door open, and on the other side, a hand pulled the door the rest of the way open for her to exit, and used a random pipe on the ground to prop the door open a few inches.

This alley was surprisingly empty for being next to such a popular club; a chain link fence was on both ends of the ally to block it off from the public. A dumpster was close to the street, sitting several yards from them, and close to full. Graffiti covered the outside of it and some of the surrounding brick walls.

Claire felt the spell relinquish from her face and head, allowing her to look and speak on her own. The necromancer, Clarence, faced her now in street clothes. He wore a pair of plain navy blue jeans, green and white striped shirt, a simple blue baseball hat that shadowed most of his facial features, and his hair was pulled back in a low pony tail.

"Do you have to use that spell on me whenever you want to talk?" She asked, annoyed. The man merely chuckled, and she felt herself walking backwards as he stepped closer. Cold, gross, bricks met her exposed back and the necromancer's hand landed next to her head. A cold chill ran up her spine at the smug look her gave her, and she was all too aware of the grave position she was in.

"Yes. When you get to my age, you find that toys are much more fun when they obey."

"I'm not a toy."

"You're right. You're simply a messenger." He said, and the smug look was replaced by a serious one as he held his hand up to her face. A small, folded piece of white paper was between his index and middle finger. "A very powerful, hot-headed messenger that isn't afraid to kill someone that threatens her." Clarence spoke, and slipped the piece of paper into the pocket on her thigh.

"So you control me because I scare you." She asked, eyeing the man carefully. After their last two encounters, both of which terrified her, she was oddly calm this time. In the back of her mind she reasoned that it was the alcohol in her system making her less scared; on the other hand, maybe she was just getting used to these odd meetings. If he didn't kill her after she torched his student and 'trespassed' on his home town, it was doubtful he'd kill her now.

"'Cautious' or 'nervous' would be better words to describe my feelings regarding your power- you hardly _frighten_ me. You may be able to kill people but you're a true Fairy Tail wizard, and won't kill unless it's necessary. Your ability to destroy someone's soul without casting a spell, on the other hand, both fascinates and makes me cautious."

"How did you know that?" Searching her memory for a time that she divulged that information to anyone, she was unable to think of one, and she stared into his softened features.

"I took a closer look at my student's ashes. Anyway, get that message to Makarov tonight."

"Mr. Stonewald!" A voice called out, and both of them turned to the new voice, their eyes wide. Clarence immediately removed himself from the compromising position, and tightened his magic hold on the woman, controlling her face and vocal chords again.

A short man was running towards them with a small paper pad and pen in his hand, along with a camera hanging around his neck. A badge was around his neck with the bold letters "MAGNOLIA PRESS" on it. Claire guessed that he had been hiding behind the dumpster while they were talking, and it made her wonder about the Ghoul mage's abilities.

"Mind if I ask a few questions?" The reporter asked. "Who's this little lady?"

"She's a friend. What is your business here?" Clarence asked, and for once, Claire heard the anger in his voice.

"I was just in the area, and happened to see you walk in here. Thought I'd see if there was a story."

"The 'Magnolia Press' is a newspaper, as a recall, not a gossip magazine."

"Oh, I wouldn't publish an article on you personally. The photos and any interview I get would be given to a friend of mine in another publishing company, for some profit, of course."

"So money is what you are after." Clarence clarified. "How many photos did you get?"

"Plenty of good ones." The reporter replied with a smirk; just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, replaced by a confused one. His face paled, sweat covering it, and he gripped at his chest. He tried to reach forward to the necromancer, but fell back instead, grasping at the night sky.

As he lay dying, the green-haired mage reached over and unclasped the camera from his neck. Over his shoulder she could see him going through the photos and deleting them.

"Can you burn this so that there's no evidence of it being here?" He asked, turned looking up at her.

"I can melt it to the point that no one would be able to recognize it."

"But then we'd have to worry about the smell… I'll just take it with me." He said with a shrug, and pulled out a compartment from the camera, likely the film portion. He cast a spell on the camera to remove his prints, and then clipped it back onto the now dead reporter, who was frozen stiff still reaching for the sky.

"How did you kill him?"

"I stopped his heart using my body possession spell- the same one that I'm using on you right now. I can control any living being within this city, from their movements to their organ functions."

"How old are you, again?" She asked, recalling something he said earlier.

"A little over 400 years. Zeref taught me the basics of my magic, and I've been expanding on it my entire life." He answered, and extended his legs to stand, putting the small device in his breast pocket. "This will look like natural causes, so you won't have to worry about being blamed for it. Get that message to Makarov by the end of the night."

Her body moved again without her consent, although she was relieved to be moving away from him. Her hand reached out to open the door leading back into the dance club, and the booming sound of the music calmed her nerves a little. Instead of going back to her friends her body moved to the women's restroom, nodding with a smile to the occasional person she saw, and only when she was alone in a stall, did the spell release itself.

She actually fell, hitting her knee against the hard floor and smashing her side into the stall wall, and accidentally gripped the toilet seat to steady herself. Both the earlier alcohol and the sudden release of his spell made her dizzy, and it took a minute to regulate her breathing.

 _Fucking hate that spell…._

When she felt steady enough to stand, she pushed herself back to her feet, leaning on the stall walls for support. The world threatened to move around her, and occasionally shifted as she moved, but she kept herself together. She first made her way to the sink to wash her hands off, and another woman in the room was polite enough to point out the black grime on her back. Normally she would just burn off the gross substance, but since her dress wasn't fireproof, she had to awkwardly try to clean it off with a paper towel.

Stumbling slightly on her way back to the table, she found that everything was just as she left it. Hardly anyone had noticed her absence.

Instead of sitting back down, she swallowed her pride and went to Erza's side to whisper in her ear.

"The necromancer just gave me a message for Makarov. Can you walk with me back to the Guild Hall?" It was rare that Claire asked people for help, as Bickslow would attest to that, but in this case there was no other option. Whether she drank too much or the spell made her sick, walking was difficult and quite frankly, she didn't want to be alone.

"The necromancer is here?" Erza whispered back, and Claire nodded. "Are you alright?"

"I feel sick, but otherwise I'm fine."

"What are you guys talking about?" Lisanna asked, turning to the whispering pair.

"We're going to finish our 'girl's night' at the Guild Hall." Erza announced, reaching for her purse. As she did so, Claire walked around to her seat, grabbing her small purse as well.

"What? Why?" Lisanna asked, and a similar confused response resulted from the other women. A loud 'bang' echoed from the body that was thrown against the wall near them, and they all looked to the source- drunk Kana. Timing worked out perfectly, and Lucy grabbed the brunette's purse as they exited the club, following the drunk being kicked out.

Evergreen was nice enough to hold Claire steady as they made their way back to the Guild Hall, keeping an arm around her waist while the checker woman had an arm around her neck. The brunette would make the occasional snarky comment, but for the most part, she had a lovely buzz that kept her in a good mood.

"You can't hold your liquor for shit." Kana laughed at the pale fire woman.

"Don't be mean, Kana. Not everyone is a tank like you." Lisanna defended, walking next to Erza and her big sister. As they walked, Erza kept an eye out for any strange activity, but tried to appear casual. It wasn't unusual to see her tense when she was in an unfamiliar area, especially after drinking, so her tense behavior went unnoticed.

"It's too bad we got kicked out so soon. Lisanna didn't get to dance with the cute blond at the bar." Mira teased, smiling at her little sister.

"Yeah, Kana. I didn't get to dance with a cute guy because of you."

"Relax," The brunette spoke, falling back and slinging an arm around the white-haired mage, and burped loudly in her ear. "There are plenty of cute guys to dance with at the guild, and if you don't want to dance with him, we can do another girls night somewhere else!"

"You'll probably get us kicked out of that place, too." Lisanna told her, trying to keep the brunette from falling over as they continued down the mostly empty street.

When they finally made it back to the Guild Hall, it was alive with the sound of deep voices laughing and conversing with one another. It was a large group of 20+ people gathered on the main floor in the corner, all of them drunk and merry.

"Elfman! When are you and Evergreen going to hook up!?"

"Yeah, dude! You two are perfect for each other!"

"W-what!? I don't know what you're talking about!" Elfman stuttered indignantly, and hid behind his mug as he took a long swig of it.

"Come on, be a man!" Macao spoke boisterously, smirking at the large man across from him.

The women all hid in a corner of the Guild Hall, eavesdropping on their conversations. Their arrival had gone mostly unnoticed, and the few who did see them enter kept their mouths shut for whatever reason, likely to mess with their colleagues.

Claire was the only one disinterested, and stealthily made her way over to the women's restroom, becoming reacquainted with the toilet as she regurgitated the contents from her belly.

"Yeah, make your move already! Your bickering every single time you two meet in the Guild Hall has been giving me a headache." Wakaba spoke, and many of the guys nodded in agreement.

"If she likes me, then why does she yell at me all the time? It's so un-manly."

"Well, she is a girl…" Gray commented.

"You yell, too. It's just sexual tension. At least ask her out and see where it goes from there." Macao told him, and the shape-shifter muttered a 'I guess I can try…' as he looked away, thinking about the strange brunette. "Anyone else need girl advice?"

"You're hardly one to give advice, you old fart." Wakaba insulted, starting a brief angry bantering between the two older men.

"Anyone have suggestions on how I can deal with Juvia?" Gray asked the group, and he barely refrained from smashing his face on the table when the blue-haired mage made her presence known. She was hiding behind the bar with hearts in her eyes, on her knees with her hands clasped as she lost herself again in a fantasy.

"Have you told her you're not interested?" One of them suggested, and he nodded.

"Yeah, I straight up turned her down. She won't listen." He told them, and finished off his glass of whiskey.

"It's too bad you don't like her. She's pretty cute." Loke commented. On the other side of the room, Lucy barely kept herself from gasping in surprise, only now realizing that he was there. "Not nearly as cute as my Lucy, but you know, cute nonetheless."

"Is Lucy seeing anyone?" Macao asked curiously, and the spirit shook his head.

"Nah, she's not really into the dating scene. She's turned down every person that's asked her, including me."

"Maybe the right person just hasn't asked her." The blue-haired mage commented, nodding towards the unconscious man on the floor. The fire mage was currently passed out, thanks to the resident ice mage, and wouldn't be awake for a while.

"Lucy and Natsu are in loooove~" Happy said with a fish in his hands, and promptly went back to eating it.

"How are you and Bisca doing?" Macao asked Alzack, and he grinned at the mention of his wife.

"We're good. She's home watching our daughter tonight."

"Do you still want a babysitter next weekend?" Makarov asked, and the mage nodded.

"Yeah, are you still up for it?"

"Of course!" The Guild Master stated, thrusting his drink in the air and almost falling off of the table. "When the hell are you pathetic lot going have kids!? I want more grandchildren!" He yelled to the group of men.

"One is enough for me." Macao said defensively.

"Elfman! Hook up with Evergreen already and give me grandchildren! That's an order!" He demanded, causing the man to gasp and fall out of his chair, his friends laughing hysterically at his expense. The fairy woman's face turned red in the corner of the room, and the girls giggled quietly.

"I think you'd have better luck with Bickslow, Guild Master. Aside from Alzack he's the only one with a girlfriend out of all of us." Gray spoke up.

The group suddenly became silent as they all shuddered in unison, imagining the pair having children. Even though the seith mage had become significantly less creepy over the past half year, he was still a seith mage, and he loved to 'joke' about stealing their souls. The fire mage, Claire, could be down right terrifying when she wanted to be.

"I think they'd be great parents. Someone remind me to order them to have children next I see them." Makarov instructed with a nod, and took another drink from his beer.

"Are you saying that because you actually think they would be good parents, or because you wand grandkids?" Gray asked.

"Both. They may look frightening to outside observer, but they're actually softies when you get to know them. You should have seen them with Bickslow's nephew this summer."

"I wouldn't let them babysit Asuka unless it was an emergency." Alzack spoke up. "Whenever I think about Claire, I always remember that one time she came to the Guild Hall covered in blood, and her fight against Raven Tail at the Games."

"Uh…" Gray muttered, his eyes widening at the figure emerging from the hallway. The sharpshooter choked on the drink he had just taken a sip of, and the rest of the guys either tensed awkwardly or snorted, trying to contain their laughter at the perfect timing.

Claire walked over to Makarov, reaching into her pocket to pull out the paper, and took a seat next to him on the table.

"What's this?"

"Necromancer wanted me to give it to you tonight." She asked, looking unusually pale. She tiredly rested her jaw against her palm, watching his eyes widen in alarm.

"He contacted you again? What happened?"

"He gave me that note and took off." She replied, ignoring the awkward stares of her comrades.

"Look, uh… I, uh… did you hear what I said?" Alzack asked from the next table over.

"Yeah. I don't like babysitting, so it works out." She replied, and then looked around, realizing that none of the girls were present. "Where's the girls? Did they go home?" As she questioned the men, hushed whispers were heard on the other side of the Guild Hall, and the entire group turned towards the source.

"How long have you guys been there!? That's so unmanly!" Elfman yelled, eyes wide and pointing at the group. Having been caught, the women emerged from their hiding places with a mix of guilty laughter and trying to act like nothing was out of the ordinary.

"How long have you been eavesdropping?!" Gray asked, his fellow comrades yelling questions as well. As the fight started, Claire turned her attention back to Makarov, who was looking down at the now unfolded piece of paper. He had a serious expression on his face, and looked troubled.

"What's it say?" Claire asked, not expecting him to tell her anything. When it came to more serious matters like this, he had a habit of shutting her down and saying 'trust me', and then leaving her in the dark. She hated it, but after enough times, she was starting to get used to it.

"An invitation." He grumbled, and handed the piece of paper to her.

A little excited to be let in the loop, she took the piece of paper and read it.

' _Dear Makarov Dreyar,_

 _Given our recent disputes, I would like to invite you to the Ghoul Guild Hall in order to work out a treaty between our two guilds, and if you represent the Magic Council, the details for that treaty as well._

 _Meeting time: 2:00 PM tomorrow afternoon_

 _Address: North of Phoenix Village in the Phoenix Mountains._

 _Password: Guild Master's guest Makarov_

 _Bring one death mage user (Claire Groh is technically not a seith mage, but is an acceptable substitute) and one other wizard of your choice. Declining this offer or failing to arrive would not be wise._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Guild Master of the Ghoul Guild'_

"Are you going to go?" She asked, looking back to the Guild Master. He was looking down at his mug, deep in thought, and he didn't reply for several seconds.

"Yes."

"That's a pretty big risk." She commented, knowing all too well the power of just one of the Ghoul Guild mages. If Bickslow and Clarence were any indication as to the power of the other wizards in the guild, she wouldn't want to go anywhere near this proposed meeting.

"If you're willing, I'd like to take you and Evergreen."

 _Of course he wants me to go…_ She thought glumly. "Why Evergreen? And is Bickslow too far away?" She asked, and he nodded.

"I suspect that the Senators nephew, the necromancer, is actually the Guild Master for the Ghoul Guild. Given his recent shows of power, not just to you but across the country, I wouldn't be surprised if he was actually the one in control. Since Evergreen is the most knowledgeable on him and has experience with this kind of magic, she makes for a logical choice."

"She would also be good for a quick escape, but I think an S-ranked mage would be a better choice. Mira would probably be best."

"What do you have against Evergreen?" The old man asked curiously.

"I have nothing against her, I'm just afraid that she'll get too excited about talking to him and get herself killed. She practically worships him."

"Let's ask her what she thinks of the idea." Makarov suggested, and turned, screaming at his 'children' to shut up.

5.

The next morning, Claire yawned as she boarded the train, warm coffee securely in her hands. Her Guild Master wasn't much of a morning person either, and given that Evergreen was about to speak to her idol for a second time in her life in just a few hours, she was chipper and happy.

The trio made their way to a small compartment, and while Makarov sat on one side, the two girls sat on the other.

"So, just curious, how do you know that they're not going to kill us when we get there?" Claire asked after taking a sip from her coffee, her legs crossed beneath her and back leaning relaxed against her seat.

"By killing me he'd be declaring war on the magic counsel, and given our recent negotiations, that would be against his interests." He answered simply, nursing his own warm beverage as he fought off the onslaught of headaches and nausea. _I'm getting too old for this…_ He thought dimly, and looked out the window.

"We don't know for sure that Mr. Stonewald is the Guild Master, right? For all we know, it's someone that we've never met." Evergreen asked, and the old man nodded.

"Yep."

"Do you have to bring that fire ball with you?" Evergreen snapped, looking over at the flying totem between them. At her reaction, Sky flew to the other side of Claire, hiding behind her.

"I'm going to unbind him before we get to the village, but yes, I like having him with me until we get there." She withheld her amused smile, feeling strangely a little chipper at making the previously happy brunette get on edge. This wasn't the first time that Ever had snapped at her 'baby', and she sometimes wondered how Bickslow put up with the fairy woman after all of these years- for that matter, how he put up with the judgmental eyes of any person that talked bad about their babies.

"I understand why Bicks has his souls with him, but why do you? It's just weird. You're a fire mage, not a seith mage."

"Can't I be a little of both?" Claire asked.

"No, just pick one."

"Makarov, can I openly use two magics, or do I have to choose one?" Claire asked, turning to their Guild Master.

"The more magic you learn, the better." He said simply.

Claire turned, sticking her tongue out at the brunette.

"Does that rule still apply when dead people are involved?" Evergreen asked him.

"Are you two going to bicker like children this entire trip?" Makarov asked, and they both looked at the ceiling thoughtfully, and then shrugged.

"Maybe." They said in unison.

"Oh yeah, weren't you supposed to ask Claire and Bickslow about when they're going to have kids?" Evergreen asked, recalling the night before when she and the other girls eavesdropped. The old man looked at her confused for a moment, but then recalled what she was talking about, his gaze moving to Claire.

"Huh?" The checker woman asked, confused by the stares she was suddenly getting from them.

"When are you and Bickslow going to give me grandbabies?" Makarov asked with a straight face, the bags under his eyes amplifying to make him borderline terrifying. In the corner of her eye Claire saw the brunette smirk triumphantly.

"We haven't even been dating for a year."

"But the year mark is coming up, isn't it? Bisca and Alzack got engaged after only dating for half that time, and married by the end of the year."

"Weren't they working together years before that, though?"

"That's not the point."

"And we already have babies. Right, Sky?" She asked, turning to the floating firey totem.

"Right!" He cheered, moved to hide beneath the folds of her cloak and nuzzle into her side, humming softly.

"But don't you want children of your own someday?"

"Not really. Bickslow and I already decided that if we ever changed our minds, we'd adopt."

"If you two have talked about it, which means that you've at least considered it." Evergreen commented.

"Oi, don't encourage him." Claire chastised, whining when she saw the grin tug at the Guild Master's lips. "I don't want kids, so please stop trying to pressure me." Finding herself yet again on a train with someone lecturing her about children, she sipped away at her coffee, contemplating whether to quit Fairy Tail just avoid these situations.

6.

The Ghoul Guild Hall was just as dark and creepy as they had imagined it.

Its layout was similar to their own Guild Hall, but slightly larger and decorated differently. Skeletons covered the walls in various poses and outfits, some of them comical while the others depicting torture, and the lighting was slightly dimmer. It was sparse of people, but of the few that were there, they turned and stared at the group that entered. It had a gothic, almost circus theme that the wizards matched.

One woman in particular locked eyes with Claire, and for a moment, they had a staring contest. She had long blond hair pulled into a side ponytail and dark make up, along with a black and white, striped, skin tight suit. On her waist was a red and black plaid mini skirt, and two diagonal belts went across her chest forming an 'x'. Her eyes were pure white with small black dots in the center, which were presumably her pupils.

"We're here to see the Guild Master." Makarov announced, standing at the entrance with the two mages by his sides. He was wearing a white fur-lined coat with gold shoulder pads, and a gold medal on his chest. Evergreen adorned her usual brown coat with white fur lining and green dress beneath it, and her teammate wore her dark red cloak.

"Follow me." A man stated by the base of the stairs, and they all turned to look at the gentleman. He was dressed in a gothic styled suit, and nodded before retreating up the stairs. The group of wizards followed him up the staircase that led to the second floor, and to an open door on the opposite side.

Claire had been hoping that Makarov was wrong about who the Guild Master would be, but to her disappointment, he wasn't. Upon entering the rather large office Clarence sat behind the large wooden desk, clad in a dark suit that matched the rest of the guild.

 _Is this a guild or a gothic circus…?_ Claire wondered, eyeing the strange office. The candles were twisted and contorted in odd shapes, carvings on the walls of demons and skeletons, and some of it just looked so ancient and strange she didn't know what it was.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?" The green-haired mage asked, gesturing to the seats. As usual she felt his spell take hold, and she was the first to take a seat in one of the three chairs. Makarov and Evergreen followed suit, although eyeing Claire at how quickly she'd sat down.

"What exactly is it that you want?" Makarov asked.

"I simply want things to go back to the way they were. The Magic Council has been overstepping their boundaries by passing laws that directly affect me, and I'd like those laws terminated."

"It's not that simple." He replied, and from there, began the rather tedious and boring negotiations about specific laws and regulations Clarence wanted undone. Claire tried to pay attention, but her mind wandered when they got to the specific knit-picky details after about an hour of sitting there. The strangeness of her body being controlled was beginning to wear off, but staying absolutely still was the worst part, and she was starting to feel stiff.

It was five hours until they started to wrap things up, and they came to the topic of how to communicate to each other in the future.

"Communicating through Claire is out of the question. If you need to contact me, either do it in person or find another way."

"That doesn't work with me. I prefer living messengers, particularly a fellow death mage user."

"They have no affiliation with you and they are not part of your guild. They are Fairy Tail wizards."

"Either you forfeit one of your mages to be my messenger, or our dealings are over and I follow through with my threat to seize control over the government by force. Your choice."

"Why is it that you need a person to deliver your messages?" Evergreen asked.

"I'm old fashioned in that sense."

"One of your bad habits from being as old as Zeref?" Claire asked, the eyes of both mages to her side widened in disbelief.

"What did you just say?" Makarov asked, gaping at the fire woman.

Clarence chuckled, reclining in his polished leather chair. "That's what I like about her. Such a great memory."

"How are you over 400 years old? You look like you're in your mid-twenties." Evergreen asked.

"My secrets of immortality are just that: secrets. If you would like to think over who you'd like to replace Claire, you can decide that later, and next time I meet with her she can inform me who the next one will be. The location of my guild hall moves frequently, so if you try to come back here with reinforcements, you'll have no luck. Is there anything else you'd like to discuss, Makarov?"

"No. We're done here." The Fairy Tail Guild Master stated, and stood on his chair. "We'll show ourselves out."

"Oh, there's one more thing, Claire," Clarence spoke, and they all paused. "Your sister has been requesting to join my guild. If that happens, she'll be forbidden to attack you or anyone else in Fairy Tail."

"The bat shit crazy one that's tried to kill you twice now?" Evergreen asked, looking to her friend.

"Either that, or my other sister that went bat shit crazy, too." Claire said sarcastically. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Any time."

7.

"Goddamn, how long were we in there?" Claire asked when they were on their way back to the village, stretching her extremely sore muscles once she'd been relinquished of the spell. Being that still for so long, not even being able to change how she sat or at least move her arms a little, had taken its toll. Even her magic felt stiff.

"It felt like forever." Evergreen groaned, similarly stretching her arms.

"Thank you girls for coming with me. I assume I don't have to remind you not to repeat anything from that meeting to anyone." Makarov spoke.

"Of course… I can't believe you were right about him being a necromancer. He acted so differently there." Evergreen commented, and jumped back in alarm when Claire shifted into her fire form. "SHIT, you could have given us some warning!"

"The body possession spell he uses on me doesn't allow my magic to circulate very well. Anyone else feel like going on a jog?"

"What body possession spell?" Makarov asked, staring up at her firey form. She shifted back to normal fleshy self, jumping on the balls of her feet and moving around, stretching and moving her limbs.

"It's a spell he uses whenever he sees me. My magic mages him 'nervous'." She explained, using air quotes as she spoke. "Takes control of my body, and I have no idea how to counter it, if I can at all."

"He's used it on you every time you two have met?"

"Yeah. Last night it made me sick as hell, but I'm guessing that something about mixing alcohol and the spell is a bad mix. I probably should have asked him to not cast it when I'm drinking, in the future."

"Do you think Bickslow will be willing to take your place?"

"He'll probably insist on it."

1.

Bickslow both loved and hated these kinds of missions.

They were boring, time consuming, and the only pay was free drinks for the next month, plus any expenses on the job. It was a simple info-gathering mission, which required lots of sitting around and waiting for something to happen.

His babies did most of the work during the day, wandering around the outskirts of town to look out for any unusual activity, and report back every few hours. In the mean time, the three mages would wait at their campsite half a mile from town, reading books or napping. At night they would search the area, cloaked by the shadows, and on their third day planned to openly explore the town and talk to the residents. Freed set up enchantments through the entire surrounding areas.

The town in question was called Orston, and all they knew about it was that the Ghoul Guild had done something to it. They weren't given specifics, but they knew the job could be extremely dangerous, and to stay on guard.

"I wish we'd brought booze." Bickslow announced on the second day, bored out of his skull. Laxus was sleeping and Freed was reading, as per usual, and Bickslow was left with nothing to do but sit around and meditate. Sure he'd brought a few books, and even a sketchbook to doodle in, but that got boring after a couple of hours. He even tried yoga to entertain himself, but alas, that also lost its charm.

"You knew we'd be sitting around for most of this trip. Why didn't you bring anything to do?" Freed asked, looking up from his large book. Next to him was a notebook that the seith mage just noticed.

"Why do you have one of Claire's notebooks?" He asked, recognizing his girlfriend's signature drawing of a flower on the cover of it.

"She let me borrow it. It's her notes on everything she's learned about necromancy over the past few months. She also leant me the one on human seith magic. I figure that if we're going to be dealing with the Ghoul Guild, it would be good learn as much as possible."

"I didn't know she knew enough to fill an entire notebook." He commented, frowning at that. After what happened to him and his babies last time he dealt with that guild, not to mention when she was practically kidnapped by _Clarence_ , that cocky bastard, he hated her having any part in it. Even finding her researching it always put him on edge, and on more than one occasion he would knock the book out of her hands and distract her any way he could.

"It's not filled, and I've only just skimmed it. There's practically nothing on record about necromancy other than very vague references, so I look forward to reading it more in depth. She told me that she added tons of extra knowledge and theories from her home world, and variations of necromancy that could come into play."

"So she's the local expert on necromancy now, huh?" Bickslow asked, and reached over to grab the notebook.

"Knowing about something and using it are completely different things." Freed spoke, watching his friend skim through the notebook, pausing on some pages to read the titles. "The one on seith magic is much more extensive and detailed. You might enjoy reading that one more."

"Did you know that she has an entire shelf at home dedicated to her notebooks? She has like, 50 of them. It's nuts." He commented, and looked up when he saw the green-haired mage move in his peripheral vision. Freed held out the seith mage notes to him.

Begrudgingly, he traded notebooks with him, knowing that continuing to even skim the necromancy book would set him further on edge. Besides, he'd been curious about what Claire had gathered about his magic. When he realized that she'd filled more than half of the book with notes, front to back, he couldn't help but feel a little flattered that she had put so much time and energy into it.

2.

"This town is weirding me out, but I can't put my finger on it." Bickslow told them at the bar, and they both nodded. They'd arrived in town just an hour earlier, chatted with a few locals, and sat in the corner of the only bar within a 4 mile radius. This used to be a very religious area.

For an early afternoon in a very conservative place, the bar was packed. People were dancing and singing, drinks were going around, and when they tried to ask what the occasion was, they couldn't get an answer. They'd say 'the occasion is that it's a beautiful day!' or, 'it's always like this in Orston' and then go back to what they were doing, chipper as ever.

"It's almost like… it's a play, or something. It's too perfect." Freed guessed, and Bickslow nodded, slowly taking a drink of his cool beer.

"Is this colored water?" The blue-haired mage asked, grimacing before spitting up the liquid back into the mug. Both of the other mages took a sip of their drinks, making similar expressions.

As Laxus tried to wave down the waiter, Freed whispered to the seith mage, "Do you see anything unusual about their souls?"

"They seem pretty normal to me. I thought that about the Crystal Ball a few years back too, though."

"What is this?" Laxus asked the waiter when he finally made his way over to them, the man's grin faltering slightly at the blonde's demanding presence.

"I-it's beer, sir."

"This is water." Laxus said, and held it up to him. "Taste it."

"I'm sure you're mistaken." He replied, and smelled the beverage. "It definitely smells alcoholic to me. If you would like a different drink I can get something else for you."

"Tequila shots? Should be hard to fuck that one up." Bickslow asked, and the waiter nodded before scurrying away through the bustle of loud people, back to the bar. "Maybe the Ghoul Guild stole all of their booze, and now they're delusional."

"I'm a little nervous about what our food is going to be like." Laxus commented, surveying the room as he spoke. "Other than the feeling that something is off and our waiter's incompetency, what else do we have?"

"They're partying like it's a holiday, but they don't know what the holiday is." Bickslow added. "We do that all the time at Fairy Tail, though…"

"This is a deeply religious town, so this tavern shouldn't be busy at all." Freed spoke.

"There's a very, very faint scent of death that I've caught a few times now, but I can't pinpoint it. Let's keep our eyes open." Laxus spoke, and when the waiter came back with their shots, he grabbed the shot and brought it just beneath his nose. "Water, again?"

3.

"Finally, actual beds to sleep one. Hallelujah." Bickslow said mid yawn, and made a jump for the middle bed. He'd dropped his bag on the side of the room before leaping into the air, his body parallel to the mattress, only for a loud crack to permeate the air at his landing. He cried out in pain and sat up, holding his now injured shoulder.

Freed immediately went to his injured friend, while Laxus went over to one of the other beds, touching the surface with his outstretched fingertips. He then knocked on it, and pulled back the sheets, finding that the 'mattress' was just a box spring. Bickslow's landing had caused one of the beams to break on his bed.

"What kind of shit motel is this?" Bickslow asked mid cursing.

"Take your shirt off so that we can get a closer look at it." Freed instructed. As the mage started to comply, wincing as he did so, some nearby decorative dolls came to life.

"What happened?!" They asked, floating over to levitate in front of him.

"I'm fine, just startled me is all. Did you guys find anything?" He asked, and when he was down to his wife beater shirt and guards, he looked back up at his dolls.

"Yeah, it was super weird." Pappa spoke. "They were emptying these weird bags from their chests."

"Did they look hollow on the inside?" Freed asked.

"Yeah!"

"What does that mean?" Laxus asked.

"There could be another explanation, but… it sounds like the residents of this town are dead, and the Ghoul Guild is using necromancy to make it seem like they're still living. Your shoulder looks fine."

4.

After another grueling 3 days of investigating and searching the town, he was glad to finally get home.

Whenever he left town his babies loved to bring up how much they missed Claire, how they wanted more 'Claire time', and he was tempted to unbind them every time they brought her up. It was hard enough to keep his mind on something else without them making her miss her all over again. And after this last job, he wanted nothing more than to coddle and hold her for a week straight.

"Claire time?" His babies asked again, and he shushed them, bringing his index finger to his lips. They were all standing outside of the door to his apartment, and he heard a strange music drifting from inside. As he pulled out the key from his pocket, he took his time, trying to identify the tune.

Sensing that his babies were getting agitated by waiting, he hurried his movements and opened the door, surprised by the lack of light.

Sky was lighting the room, floating only centimeters above the coffee table in front of the couch, where he could see the silhouette of his girlfriend. Pappa closed the door behind him and on his way to the couch, Bickslow set down his pack.

The guitar she played didn't falter in the slightest at his arrival.

"I didn't know you played guitar." He spoke softly, and came up behind her, placing a soft kiss on her temple and lightly stroking her neck. Making his way over to the empty side of the couch, he made himself comfortable and observed the guitarist. He unstrapped the visor from his head and placed it on the table near Sky.

"I haven't played in years. I'm rusty and out of practice." She told him.

"I think you sound great. What song are you playing?" He asked, leaning the side of his body against the back of the couch and watching her. Aside from sleeping, he couldn't recall seeing her so relaxed before; Sky's mood lighting only added to her serene state

"I've been trying to remember songs from my world." She answered, and then stopped. Carefully, she picked up the wooden instrument and propped it against the side of the coffee table.

"Don't stop on my account."

"I was going to take a break before you got here, I just lost track of time." She said, and crawled over to him, sitting on her knees with his hands in hers. "How did your job go?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He replied, and shifted so that he could lay down, and have her lay half on top of him and half on the couch. His feet hung off the edge and Claire reached over to grab the pillow that had fallen on the floor.

His earlier worries and anxiety seemed to vanish as he held her close, feeling her nuzzle into his neck and shift until she was comfortable. It honestly one of the most comfortable places for cuddling, but he didn't really care about the place.

Once they had settled their babies took their prospective places on them, humming softly.

"We missed Claire!" They all cheered. Sky stayed over by the table, providing 'mood lighting'.

"I missed you guys, too."

"We did training and vessel shopping!" Sky announced excitedly.

"You guys did training without me?" Bickslow asked, and Claire paused, not expecting the surprise in his voice. He almost sounded hurt.

"You've been emphasizing Sky and I doing stuff together, and I thought that included training. We didn't do any formation stuff, since it's just Sky, and mostly just messed around."

"Mommy broke her arm." Sky announced.

"What did I say about telling people about my injuries?"

"… that I should tell them?" He asked, and the woman shifted so that she could glare at the small soul.

"Souls have pretty short attention spans, honey. Don't be too mad at him." Bickslow chuckled, and kissed the top of her head as he tried to get her to lay back down again. He understood her annoyance at Sky, as the little soul had a habit of announcing random things about her to him (and strangers), but he also liked getting the little updates. She could get lost in her own head at times, and Sky kept her grounded.

"I can hear him laughing in my head, so I know he's purposely messing with me. It's a habit he picked up from you."

"And you. I've seen you use that line on people before." He reminded her, and she grunted, finally going back to her initial cuddling position. "So what kind of training did you do?"

"It was mostly just messing around, seeing what he was capable of and trying out a few vessels. Jumping, flying, balancing- stuff like that."

"Did you do it over a mat or net, at least?"

"No, I used my usual training place. And I did the stupid dancing lesson, by the way." She added, and again he chuckled. He didn't understand the woman's extreme disdain for the activity, especially since the entire group was doing it and Evergreen was the only decent dancer of them. He personally sucked at it, and Laxus wasn't exactly light on his feet, either.

"I'm glad. How did it go?"

"Eh. I still think it's stupid."

"Thank you for humoring us." He spoke, and sighed, silently wishing he'd taken his guards off before getting so settled. "And in the future when you train with Sky, there's a good place on the edge of town I typically go to. It's a little pricey, but they have nets and mats so that you can train and not get injured."

"Yay!" Sky cheered.


	23. Chapter 23

**Walking Cliché 23**

 _Any Publicity Is Good Publicity… Unless It's Bad_

They walked into the Guild Hall the next day, hand in hand, oblivious to the stranger-than-normal stares they got. After stopping by the bar to ask Mira for breakfast, they made their way to the second floor where Freed and Evergreen were already sitting. Laxus was no where to be seen.

"Sup, homies?" Claire asked, taking a seat across from Evergreen. Bickslow took the spot across from Freed.

"Where have you been?" Evergreen asked, leaning in a little closer to her.

"Training in the forest and home, resting. Why?" Claire asked, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. It was early, close to 8 AM, and she missed the days when she used to sleep in.

"You've seen the pictures leaked, right?" She asked, and the way she said it, caused a knot to form in Claire's stomach.

"What kind of pictures? What pictures? What are you talking about?" _It's way too early for this crap…._

The brunette dug into her side satchel, a bag that she very rarely had on days she also wore her green dress, and she pulled out a magazine. "Have you seen it?" She asked, looking to Bickslow.

Before she could show him, Claire grabbed the magazine, grimacing at the cover photo. It was the photo that Clarence had killed the reporter to get, but evidently he hadn't been thorough enough.

"Is that you?" Bickslow asked, and the checker woman looked up, seeing that Evergreen had given him another copy of the same magazine. On the cover, next to the main image of the necromancer leaning over her provocatively (or so the angle suggested), were several sub headlines of other articles in the magazine. ' _Clarence Stonewald settling down with Fairy Tail mage?' 'Local sighting of pop star Sierra Carter…' 'SEX TIPS: HOW TO PLEASE YOUR MAN!'_

"I told you that he contacted me." She muttered, and skipped to the page in the article about her supposed 'love affair' with the billionaire. To her misfortune, there were several pictures of them together, some of which scared the hell out of her, because he had been places she didn't know he'd been. "He was at the Fairy Festival?!" Claire asked, looking up at Evergreen for confirmation. The specific picture in question was of Clarence interacting with several young ladies, but in the background circled in red was a clear image of her with Stacey.

"He goes to tons of events like that. He practically owns it- he's one of the biggest financial contributors to the festival." The brunette replied, jumping when Bickslow abruptly left the table, kicking a chair on his way out. "I'm surprised you guys didn't see it until today. The pictures have been everywhere."

"It's just a rumor. It'll pass." Freed comforted, busy reading an open book in front of him.

A few minutes later, Mira arrived with their breakfast, surprised at Bickslow's disappearance. "Where'd Bickslow go?" She asked, and the fire mage simply held up the magazine, to which the mage nodded in understanding. "I heard about that. It must be hard for him."

"Yeah."

"So when are you two having babies?" She asked with a giddy smile, and Claire glared.

"Why don't you guys harass Bickslow about that instead of me?"

"Because he's not around as often." The shapeshifting mage said simply, and then walked away, her hips swaying with each step.

"So, have you been keeping up with the dance lessons?" Evergreen asked, changing the topic.

"I went to one a couple of days ago."

"You're supposed to have had two lessons by now. Have you scheduled the next one?"

"Yeah, it's for later today. Bixy's is tomorrow." She spoke, and started eating her large breakfast.

1.

After seeing the magazine, Bickslow knew that he shouldn't be around people. He immediately left without a word and hurried out of the busy guild hall, trying to appear normal and calm.

As soon as Claire and him became public with their relationship, he knew that something like this would happen. They were both powerful wizards in love, which was a surprisingly rare combination, so it made them the center of attention in a lot of situations they'd otherwise go unnoticed. If he was dating a 'normal' person, someone without magic abilities, this wouldn't be happening. Hell, no one would even care or give it a second thought. Even though they were regarded as a 'creepy' couple to a lot of people, they were still well known, especially after the _Sorcerer Weekly_ issue. Some days he wished that he was still dating her in secret like Evergreen and Elfman were.

He had started getting over the rumors of her seeing other people, since they were just that- rumors. Most of them were absolutely ludicrous, and Claire proved to him time and time again that she was loyal to him and him alone. She wanted to be with him and him alone.

But other people didn't seem to get that.

The only reason he could fathom the Ghoul Guild having an interest in her is to mess with him. To prove that he wasn't strong, that he couldn't even protect his girlfriend if he wanted to. That, or to take advantage of her lack of experience in this world and convert her to dark guilds, thinking that Bickslow would follow her. If it came down to it he probably would, too.

Fairy Tail was his home, but so was Claire. He didn't think he could live without her.

Living without Fairy Tail was also a horrid thought, though. Sure he didn't have the best of memories with them, but he did have some pretty good ones, and they'd given him friends and work over the years. Thanks to Fairy Tail he'd had a roof over his head, never went hungry, and could practice magic without fear of persecution.

After walking around the surrounding streets for a while and working out his frustrations, he finally found himself walking back to the guild. His stomach was rumbling loudly, and he'd forgotten that he probably have breakfast waiting for him at the Guild Hall. Assuming Claire didn't eat it already….

When he made it back to the guild hall, he first approached the Guild Master, who had been leisurely sitting near his fellow guild members sipping at his drink. Upon his arrival the old man looked up, smirking.

"Bickslow. I was wondering when I'd see you."

"I just wanted to let you know that I'll be taking Claire's place as messenger." The seith mage spoke, disliking the look in the man's eyes.

"I figured you would. I have a very important question for you, young man." He said with a straight face, and others around them watched curiously. Makarov paused for suspense, making sure he had the seith mage's full attention before speaking. "Why haven't you and Claire had babies yet!? Are you not man enough!?"

 _Say it louder gramps, I'm pretty sure someone across town didn't hear it._ His eye twitched, both embarrassed and shocked by the question, the blood draining from his face. "Just because we don't want kids doesn't mean I'm not a man."

"I want grandkids! Get to it, young man!"

"Take it easy, old man. You're going to have a hernia if you keep yelling like that." Macao told him awkwardly, feeling bad for the seith mage. Ever since 'guys night', the guild master had been particularly hell bent on having more grandkids.

"Guild Master, why don't you try setting up a day care center?" Mira asked, walking over to the group and saving Bickslow from Makarov's wrath. He had already scared the hell out of Levy and Gajeel that morning.

"'Day care'?" He asked, blinking up at her.

"It would bring in a lot more wizards to the guild, and the people that do have kids can leave them here when they go on jobs."

"Hmm…" The older man contemplated the idea, and seeing that he seemed distracted enough, Bickslow tried to quietly slip away. "I'm not done with you!" He yelled, and the seith mage froze in place.

2.

"So," Claire spoke, grinning up at her boyfriend as they entered the apartment. Their babies were gone for the day to wander, and after the chaos just hours earlier, they were both looking forward to some alone time. "Did he change your mind about babies?"

"That was probably the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me at the guild. Ever."

"At least you weren't trapped in a train car with him for hours on end, with Evergreen cheering him on."

"At least you didn't have to go through that with the entire guild watching."

"Touche." She conceded, and hopped onto the kitchen counter, smiling up at his less than happy man before her. His arms automatically wrapped around her waist, and she further pulled him closer by wrapping her legs around him. "Thank you for not telling them the biological reason we can't have kids."

"You asked me to not tell anyone, so I won't." He told her, and placed a soft, loving kiss on her forehead. It was a simple gesture, yet a flurry of happy butterflies fluttered through her stomach, reminding her of why she loved him so much; he truly respected her and her privacy, and it was a characteristic she adored. Not just because he kept her secrets, but that he made the effort, knowing what they meant to her. "Besides, biological reasons aside, we don't want kids right now. We're not married, and I like where we are. Now if we could get the Ghoul Guild to leave us alone, I'll be happy."

"For the time being, we have to put up with them. There's no sense in worrying about things out of our control."

"Half the people in the city think you're boning that ass hole. How can I not worry about it?"

"You're not one of those people… right?" Claire asked, her voice dropping in volume. She had tried to look up at his face to gauge his reaction, but with the visor, it was near impossible. Instead of being reassured she was met with the reflection of her own guilty face, and the brief silence hit her like a bowling ball.

"Of course not." The only reason he paused was because he didn't expect the question. He had never really considered that she was cheating on him, and she had told him about every time the necromancer had used the body possession spell on her. Although he'd never witnessed that particular spell used on living people, it didn't surprise him that it existed, nor that a wizard capable of slaughtering an entire town and reanimating their corpses was able to cast it with such ease.

She pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a hug.

"I'm not mad at you, and I never could be. I'm sorry for teaching you seith magic."

"I'm not." She spoke in his chest, closing her eyes as she pressed the side of her face into his chest. "It's saved both my life and yours at this point."

"Then I'm sorry that it's my fault for making you a target."

"It's not your fault so stop trying to blame yourself." She told him, and pulled away to look up at him, only to be met by a hungry pair of lips on her own. One of his hands reached to hold the back of her head as his tongue slipped past her teeth, swirling and exploring the space he knew all too well. His other arm kept strong against her back, holding her firm against him.

This was a part of him that had become all too common after the kidnapping, but had been happening lightly less frequently. He did this when was anxious and he needed a release. Sometimes it was exciting to have him forceful like this, and other times, it was just awkward and painful, so she'd have to stop him.

But this was different.

It wasn't just anxiety that he was expressing: awkward fumbling and steel hard caresses that bruised. No. He was holding her as if it was the last time they'd see each other, like she'd run or shatter into a million pieces if he let go. He wasn't kissing her like he was thinking about the end game or needing a release, but instead just needing _her_.

He was scared of losing her.

His arm around her back pinned down one of her arms, but she reached up with the other to undo the clasp on his visor. She hated kissing him with the damn thing- it had cut her face on more than one occasion, and it hurt like a bitch.

Once she got the clasp undone he reached up and removed it, pulling his lips away from hers in the process. They both gasped for breath and he loosened his hold on her, slightly, so that they could breathe.

"Bedroom?" She asked, and as she gazed up at those smoldering green eyes, felt her nether region heat up and flutter in excitement.

He leaned down and kissed her again, his hands moving down her sides and to her thighs, indicating for her to wrap them around him again. Moving his hands back to her rear, he pulled her into him and hoisted her up, moaning into the kiss as she gently bit and sucked at his lower lip. Her arms had automatically moved around his neck, keeping her securely pressed against him, and as her tongue licked and played with his, her fingers tangled in his soft blue hair.

 _I'm still here._

Surprisingly gentle, he lay her on the bed and reluctantly pulled away to start removing his clothes. After she got her shirt off, she started helping him with his guards, removing them one by one and placing kisses along each patch of new flesh that became visible to her.

Just like him, she was scared. She didn't want to lose him to stupid rumors or the dark guild, nor did she want to be lost in the chaotic web she'd gotten herself caught up in.

She wanted him.

 _Needed_ him.

Once he was rid of all his garb, she reached behind her back to unclasp her bra, but was surprised when he stopped her. Leaning forward with his hands on hers, he nipped lightly at her ear. "Allow me." He whispered, and it sounded more like a request than statement, as he paused in his movements until she gave him the go.

"A-all right." She replied, closing her eyes as he pressed his lips against the sensitive flesh beneath her ear. Tingles trailed along her flesh with the tips of his fingers, as they moved from her wrists to her back, taking his time as he felt her exposed skin.

Eventually he unclasped the back of her bra, using his teeth to pull the strap to the side, and then slowly pushed her down. They both scooted a little further up the bed so that their legs wouldn't dangle off the edge, and then resumed their previous, painfully slow pace. Once the bra was off he straddled her hips and looked down at her, looking across the expanse of curves and slightly pink flesh, while his hands never stopped moving on her.

"Are you okay?" She asked, and he nodded, pinching her nipple slightly and causing her breath to hitch.

"I just want to enjoy the moment. I want to enjoy you." He spoke barely above a whisper, and leaned down again, his eyes locking on one of the three scars on her chest. Her mind stopped working, both confused and intrigued by his choice of words combined with where his attention went. His tongue flicked out to lick the one on her right shoulder, giving it ample love and affection. After a moment he moved onto the one on her other shoulder, doing the same, before moving on to the scar on her left breast. The one that truly almost killed her, the one that almost pierced her heart.

The one that almost took her away from him.

He reached up with his right hand to gently cup and caress her breast as he licked and kissed it, a soft moan humming against his lips as she arched into him. This scar was part of who she was, and he wanted her to know that he loved every inch of her, even the parts that carried bad memories.

Her hand went to his black and blue hair, and her eyes closed, focusing solely on his lips and hands.

Eventually he made his way to the last scar on her torso, the one on her left hip. As he made work on the small, white, smooth piece of dead skin, he undid the button on her pants. After he felt he'd given enough attention to the scar, he slowly moved down, taking the zipper between his teeth. His eyes locked with hers, and she felt the liquid pooling in her loins at the sexy look.

But then she realized that he was going to look at the scars on her thighs.

Clad in just her underwear now, her heart nearly stopped as he made his way to the outside of her thigh, and her hands bolted out to stop him.

Bickslow looked up at her questioningly, surprised that she would let him make out with her other scars, but not this one. In their time together he had asked her a few times how she got this scar and the matching one on her other leg, but she masterfully changed the topic every time, and she was surprisingly good at hiding them so he'd forget they were even there.

Watching her muscles tense and feeling her hands begin to shake against his face and scalp, he crawled back up her body and kissed her, pressing his body flush against her. When he tried to pull away she pulled him back, keeping their lips locked and trying to make his tongue play with hers again.

He reached up to her forehead, holding her down so that he could separate the kiss, looking curiously into her blue eyes. He couldn't recall a time he'd seen her so nervous in bed with him, and it made his mind race for ideas and theories as to why she'd be feeling that way.

Without thinking his hand moved up and down her side, one of his knees firmly between her legs, and his hand stopped on her thigh, raising it slightly. Caressing the textured skin with his thumb, her face heated up, and muscles tensed again.

"Please don't." She whimpered, and he immediately stopped.

"Why?"

"I don't want to talk about it." She tried to turn away from him, but he moved his hand to keep her looking at him. She avoided direct eye contact, looking at his cheek below his eye.

"Don't hide from me." He said softly, yet a subtle undertone of sternness weaved beneath his plea. "Please, look at me. I love every part of you, and there's nothing that could change that."

But she couldn't bring herself to look at him, and when she couldn't turn her head, shut her eyes.

"I love you." He whispered again, and pressed his lips against her cheek. "I love you, every inch of you, even your scars. They're beautiful."

"No, they're not." She choked.

"Yes, they are."

Seeing that she wouldn't be opening her eyes anytime soon, he tried something he wasn't sure would work. Hell, it wouldn't surprise him if he got burned for it.

He removed his hand, gliding it down her down her body and caressed her lower abdomen, above her underwear line. Her breath hitched at the sudden contact, and he dipped his head to her neck, placing more kisses along her skin.

She moaned when he licked at one of her nipples, and the sound caused his softened member to come back alive. He popped the small nub into his mouth and swirled it around as his hand rubbed small circles on her belly, moving south to her sweet spot. After rubbing briefly on the outside, he pushed the underwear to the side and dipped his fingers inside her slippery folds, pleasantly surprised at how wet it was.

"Bickslow," She moaned as his fingers continued working on her sensitive lips. Feeling a bit more eager to satisfy her after making her feel so awkward, he pulled her underwear off, helping her shimmy out of them, and aligned himself at her entrance. She reached down and helped guide him, and then gasped when he pushed himself in.

"You are so hot," He breathed, pulling himself out and then in again, briefly closing his eyes at the wonderful sensation. His hand moved back to her thigh, fingering the textured flesh as he leaned back down to suck on her nipple. Before she could protest his hand, he started pumping in and out of her at a steady pace.

Claire felt a mix of strong emotions, and she didn't really know how to deal with any of them. On one hand she was angry that he was going to that one spot, when she asked him not to, on the other hand he was inside her and she loved feeling so close to him. Whatever she felt was being transferred to her sex drive, and all she wanted was to fuck and get whatever she felt out of her system.

She pulled him up to her lips and grabbed his rear, pulling him roughly into her. As he pulled back she sucked on his lower lip, and he rammed himself back into her, watching her moan and bite down hard enough to draw blood.

He did it again, and again, watching and feeling her moan and writhe beneath her, further hardening his dick inside her. He picked up the pace and before long was going as fast and hard as he could, getting more moans and screams from her than he ever had before.

It felt so great that she almost didn't want it to end, but her lower abdomen clenched tight and then released, all the while he continued pumping in and out of her, riding her through the wave of pleasure that washed over her. Feeling her walls clamp down on him allowed his own orgasm to follow, his body twitching at the hot and pleasurable sensation.

He collapsed on her, gasping for breath at the good workout, his hand never leaving her leg.

"I love you." He breathed, resting his sweaty face against her dry one.

"I love you, too." She said automatically, and finally had the strength to reach over and pull his hand from her leg. Still breathing hard and inside her, he couldn't help feeling hurt by the action. After everything they'd been through together, after everything he'd shared with her, after all the times they'd had sex, she was keeping something from him: something both physical and emotional.

3.

"I've got a job for us." Freed announced the next day, and handed the flyer to Bickslow. "We leave tomorrow."

"What kind of job?" Claire asked, reading over the seith mage's shoulder. He had sat down before her, so instead of moving to her seat across the table, she stood behind him for a moment. With all his armor she couldn't see him tense at the proximity.

"There's a group of dark wizards terrorizing a town and threatening to kill them if they don't pay a ransom. It should be easy enough to locate and take them down." As Freed explained it, Bickslow handed the flyer to her, and she walked over to the empty seat next to the rune mage.

"These names… are they what the wizards names are, or their kind?" She asked curiously, smiling when she realized that she recognized some of the words. ' _Ekek', 'Aswang', 'Nix'_ , and ' _Kappa'_ were printed on the flyer.

"It's their species. It's pretty rare that creatures this diverse form gangs like this." Freed commented.

"I recognize some of these from my world, when I studied folklore. I wonder how accurate they were."

4.

Bickslow and Claire sat across from each other at the table in silence, eating their respective meals. After Bickslow's dance lesson they'd decided to eat out for the evening, and Bickslow chose the first place they'd gone out together- the small diner down the street from his old apartment.

Usually whenever they had some sort of discord, Claire would insist that they talk it out and express themselves. This time she didn't want to talk about it, she just wanted to ignore it and hope that it went away. Unfortunately, although Bickslow had been waiting for her to bring it up and hash it out, he finally got fed up with waiting.

"Are we really not going to talk about this?" He asked halfway through their meal, and Claire almost choked on the bite of chicken in her mouth. Keeping her gaze away from his, she reached over and grabbed a glass of her water, taking a sip. "I mean, we don't have to talk about it here specifically, but we do need to talk about it eventually."

"I really don't want to."

"Did you think it was easy for me to talk about my scars?"

"Did I pressure you into telling me about them?" She asked, finally looking up at him. He sighed, leaning back in his seat and looking at her, recalling that fateful beach trip. As much as he tried, he couldn't remember her asking even once how he got his scars, and even recalled that when it accidentally came up later in conversation, he told her that he didn't want to talk about the specifics, and she respectively backed off.

"No." He answered, quietly contemplating what he wanted to ask her. She had that look on her face like she was going to run out of the restaurant if he said the wrong thing, and that was the last thing he wanted. Bickslow wanted the fire mage running _to_ him, not away. "Can you just answer one question, then? I promise that it's nothing too specific."

"… sure."

"Did it happen before or after you came to this world?"

"Before." She answered, and went back to eating her food.

"Thank you." He told her, and did the same, while thinking about her answer. He hated that she closed herself off to him, but it was also something he'd come to accept, to a small extent. Claire knew that if she needed him, he was there for her, and vice versa. When it came to family and issues about her home world it was rare that she talked out her feelings, but everything else, she at least tried to relate to him on. "Did I hurt you last night?" He asked after a while.

"Not really."

"But you're upset that I crossed a boundary for you?"

"A little." She muttered, pushing around one of the last noodles on her plate. Bickslow reached his foot over to hers, rubbing his foot up and down her calf, and saw a slight smile tug at her lips. He rubbed it a little higher to her knee.

"What if I make it up to you?" He asked, and then coughed when the waitress came back to collect their now empty plates, moving his foot back to his side of the table.

"Can I get you guys anything else? Dessert?" She asked, and they both shook their heads, holding back a giddy smile.

5.

Before leaving for the job, Evergreen and Claire decided to take a dip in the communal baths of Fairy Tail. The guys decided to as well, so ultimately, the team would be relaxed and ready for their long journey. It would be a 5 hour train ride to their destination, and from what they knew about the gang terrorizing the town, they would be tricky to take down.

The checker woman sighed as she descended into the warm water, already feeling her tense muscles relax. It felt like there was always something going on with her and Bickslow nowadays; when they weren't joyously in love, they were stressed and tense for one thing or another. Both of them had troubled pasts and nosy guild members making them extra anxious, which didn't help.

In the guys communal bath, she could hear the male wizards conversing, and when Bickslow entered, they talked about the pictures. In the girls communal bath she got glares from the newer mages she didn't know very well, and curious ones from the ones she did know well.

"So is it true?" Kana asked, sitting near her in the bath.

"Is what true?" Claire asked, although suspected the answer. One voice in her head told her she shouldn't have asked, but another reasoned that setting the record straight would be a better plan.

"About cheating on your boyfriend."

"I'm loyal to Bickslow, and I've never cheated on him."

"Yeah, Kana. She would never cheat on someone she has babies with." Lucy giggled, and the checker woman rolled her eyes. "They're practically made for each other."

"Do you love him?" Levy asked nearby, joining the group.

"Yeah." She replied without thinking, and the other girls let out an 'aaaw'. Claire couldn't help but chuckle. If she'd told them that months ago they would have given her weird looks and questioned her sanity.

After a half hour of soaking and chatting with their friends, Evergreen and Claire eventually got out and went to the locker rooms to change.

6.

"You guys ready to roll?" Claire asked the tired group, who looked more inclined to cancel their job and stay at the Guild Hall, lazing around and eating food, than leave.

"Is it too late to cancel the job?" Evergreen asked, and the green-haired mage nodded.

"The train leaves in a half hour. We need to get moving."

"One more drink?" Bickslow asked. Since their last job they would be getting free drinks for the rest of the month, so he wanted to make the most of it while he could. The 'free drinks' wasn't just alcoholic ones, either- it included milkshakes, smoothies, and a variety of other fun concoctions that Mira had the skill to make.

"You could get it to go?" Claire suggested, and the seith mage grinned.

"That is an excellent idea!" He stated dramatically, jumping to his feet and pointing at the ceiling.

"What are you doing?" His babies asked.

"He's making an idiot of himself, as per usual." Evergreen said with a roll of her eyes. "Go order your stupid drink so we can go."

"Aye aye, captain!" Bickslow said exuberantly and jumped in the air, landing on his babies. As he flew over the banister and down to the bar, the group couldn't help but smile.

"Is he getting another chocolate milkshake?" Evergreen wondered, watching her friend start chatting with Mira and almost knock over some of the other mages when he landed on the ground. He joked loudly with some of the other men at the bar, some of whom joked loudly back in their drunken state. It was only 1 in the afternoon. "And what else is Mira putting in those drinks? He's hammered."

"He's making use of the free drinks rule while he can. Damn, I should be loading up on mojitos. I wonder if I could get one to go?" Claire asked, the other two mages shrugged.

"Probably. Do you think it's such a good idea to get drunk right before a job?" Evergreen asked, amused by the woman's excited behavior. She didn't understand her obsession with the drink, but it was fun to watch and interact with when she had one (or several).

"We're going to be sitting on a train for 5 hours in a tiny box. We'll be sobered up by the time we get there." Claire said with a wink, and got up from her seat, jogging across the floor and down the steps to Bickslow.

"She does have a point." Evergreen commented, looking back to Freed.

"It's going to be a long 5 hours with them drunk." He told her, and she chuckled, getting up from her seat. "Don't tell me you're going to join them."

"Relax, it'll be a light drink. Besides, Bickslow is the only one drunk- one mojito is barely going to make Claire tipsy." She told him, but the word mage still had a worried expression on his face.

"Mira, what do you put in those chocolate milkshakes? What booze do you put in?" Claire asked the bartender, and the white-haired mage smiled up at her as she expertly made the drinks.

"It's a secret recipe. Alcohol wise it's a little stronger than a mojito."

"Wait, what? There's alcohol in those chocolate shakes?" Bickslow asked, turning back to her.

"You know that you're drunk, right?" Claire asked, looking up at the taller man. He stared at her from behind his visor for a moment, silent, having to think about it. His mouth was slightly open, and she wished she had a picture for the dumbstruck expression- even if only half his face was exposed.

"Do I seem drunk?"

"Yep!" His babies chorused around him.

"Aw, Mira, couldn't you have warned me about that? I've had like 10 of those today!"

"10? Seriously?" Claire asked, unable to hide the smile on her face. "How are you still alive right now?"

"Because shut up. We're doing a job today, and I'm going to have the worst hangoveeeer tomorrow." He whined, and smashed his forehead on the counter, causing many of the surrounding wizards to jump at the sound. "No wonder today has been so great."

"Here's your milkshake, Bickslow." Mira told him, holding up the to-go container to him.

"Woohoo!" He cheered, instantly stranding straight and grabbing the drink, grinning from ear-to-ear and starting to slurp up the delicious liquid like there was no tomorrow. Meanwhile, Claire and the others around him stared in awe, amazed by the man's sweet tooth.

"Excuse me," A small voice to her side spoke, and Claire turned, finding that there was a young girl tugging on her arm and trying to get her attention. She looked to be around 13 years old with dark brown hair pulled back, wearing a cute baby blue dress and white ribbons in her hair. "Are you Claire Groh?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry, have we met?"

"I'm your biggest fan." She said with a giggle.

"You are too cute. What's your name?"

"Sarah. I joined the guild because I want to be just like you." Sarah told her, and held up her hand, where a dark red Fairy Tail emblem was stamped to the back of it.

"Fairy Tail is a good guild. You made a good choice." Claire told her, feeling rather prideful. She'd never had a _fan_ talk to her before. _Don't get too cocky, mom._ Sky told her telepathically, but the fire woman ignored him for the time being.

"I… I was… I was hoping that you could teach me. I already know some fire magic, but I want to learn yours. It's so amazing the way you use it."

"Sorry, I'm not looking for any students. There are plenty of other fire mages at this guild that I'm sure would love to teach you. Romeo, for example, is around your age and-"

"But that's not the kind of magic that I want to learn. Can I tell you a secret?" She was a good half a foot shorter than her, so Claire leaned down closer so that she could whisper something in her ear. "I heard that you use hellfire magic to destroy souls. That's what I want to learn." The fire woman's eyes widened and she took a step back, keeping her eyes on the innocent looking girl.

"And where the hell did you hear that?"

"Whispers, rumors, and judging by your reaction, I'd guess that they're true."

"No, but it a serious accusation. Are you from the Ghoul Guild?"

"Unfortunately, no. I figure some hellfire could change the guild master's mind, though."

"I'm sure as hell not going to help you. If you want to use that kind of magic, you should join a dark guild. Fairy Tail is not the place for you." Claire told her, and after a moment of the girl simply staring up at her, her eyes flashed to a strange rainbow, and then back to their previous chocolate brown.

"Fine. I have the ability to tell when someone is lying, and I don't have the time or energy to change your mind." She said, still sporting the cutesy smile, and held up her hand again. The Fairy Tail emblem burned off her skin, and without another word, walked away.

"Oh my, did she just quit the guild?" Mira asked, getting the checker woman's attention. Claire just now noticed that her drink was on the bar next to her, and Bickslow was a few feet away listening to someone's conversation while sipping happily at his drink. Evergreen was nearby as well, and it appeared that she was waiting for whatever Mira was making.

"Yeah." Claire said, and reached for her mojito. "Shoot, I left my bag upstairs…"

7.

"DUDE, why didn't you bring your guitar?!" Bickslow asked loudly in the train car, much to the dismay of the word mage. The checker woman chuckled, tipsy enough to be entertained rather than annoyed at her boyfriend's antics. "Dude, why does my mouth taste like chocolate? Do I have a milkshake?"

"You already drank it." Claire informed him.

"So you really had no idea there was alcohol in those shakes?" Evergreen asked, still sipping at her strawberry daiquiri.

"There's what in what? Where are we?" The tall man asked, looking around them, and then gazing out the window for a moment. "Do we have any s'mores? We should have s'mores."

"What if we play a game?" Evergreen suggested.

"What kind of game?" Claire asked.

"Woohoo! Game!" Bickslow cheered, pumping his fists into the air.

"How about 'truth or truth'?" The brunette suggested.

"Ugh." Freed groaned, and the fairy woman nudged his arm with her elbow.

"Come on, it'll be fun. We haven't played this in forever, and we've never played it with Claire before."

"I suppose that's true. Do you know the rules, Claire?" Freed asked, looking up at her.

"Same as 'Truth or Dare', right?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Basically we ask each other questions, and if we choose to not answer the first one, have the option to answer a second question instead."

"Sounds easy enough."

"Evergreen!" Bickslow shouted, pointing at the brunette. "Truth or truth!"

"Truth." She replied, gently pushing the index finger away from her face.

"Would you rather walk on glass, or walk on fire coals?"

"Fire coals, duh. You always ask that." She said with a roll of her eyes, and the seith mage giggled. "Claire, truth or truth?"

"Mmmm, that's a very difficult question…" She spoke, pretending to think over the question as she sipped at her drink. "Truth."

"What do you miss the most from your home world?"

"Netflix. Your movie selection on this world is shit." She answered easily, and Bickslow snickered.

"Is 'Netflix' a movie…?"

"It's an online database of millions, possibly billions of movies, tv shows, and… well that's pretty much it, but it's amazing and I miss it. I'll never know how my favorite TV shows end. Freed, truth or truth?"

"Truth." He replied.

"Hmm… is green hair a natural hair color on this world, or did you dye it that way?"

"That's your question?" Bickslow scoffed.

"Is it not a natural hair color on your world?" Freed asked, and Claire shook her head.

"Natural hair color on my world is limited to black, brown, blond, and red." She told him, and the mage let out a small 'huh' sound, and then turned to Bickslow, who bounced excitedly in his seat.

"Bickslow, truth or truth?"

"Truuuth~"

"How can you drink 10 milkshakes in half a day without puking?"

"Cuz I'm amaaaaziiing~" Bickslow sang, still grinning. "In my early teens my parents stopped caring what I ate, so I had tons of sugary foods, so I built up a resistance to sugar. Freed, truth or truth?"

"Truth."

"Would you rather fly for the rest of your life, or stay grounded? Like, never touch the ground again, or never be able to leave it?"

"Grounded." He answered simply, and turned to Claire. "Truth or truth?"

"Truth." She replied.

"How did you convince Laxus to let you train with him outside of team training?" He asked with a deadpan expression, and Claire snorted at his seriousness, seeing his inner Laxus fanboy appear.

"When he's in town we just do strength training. He's the one that asks me to join him, actually." She explained, watching the man crumble on the inside, disappointment clearly written all over his face and slumped form. "I'm sure it's nothing personal."

"I've asked to train with him for years, and he's always turned me down."

"Well, she is more built for that type of training," Evergreen defended.

"I would be too if I had someone to train with."

"Why not train on your own and build up your muscle? That's what I did when I first came to this world."

"Freed's a wimp." Bickslow snickered, letting tongue hang out and waggle tauntingly at his friend. Freed continued in his self wallowing, and since Claire had no idea how to comfort or cheer him up, she continued the game.

"Ever, truth or truth?"

"Truth."

"Who do you think is the most attractive person in the guild, regardless of gender?" Claire asked, but unfortunately, never got an answer. Drunken Bickslow started guessing that it was Elfman, and then Evergreen started yelling at him, and they started fighting. Between them bickering and Freed still crying over Laxus not training with him, Claire just curled up in the corner and sipped at her drink, trying to disappear.

8.

Once they arrived in town, they went straight to the hotel to rest. The seith mage had passed out in the train car close to their destination, so they had to wake up the lug and practically drag him to the hotel. Between the yelling, crying, and alcohol, they were all thankful to get off of the train.

Upon getting their two hotel rooms, Claire helped take Bickslow up to their room and planned to meet up with Freed and Ever in a few hours for dinner. Evergreen, Bickslow, and Claire all took a short power nap.

After getting setting his luggage in their shared room, Freed left to explore the town and set up his usual enchantments. He always did so whenever they entered a new area, in case they got into a fight and he needed to activate them in a pinch. It was a sunny and beautiful day for the walk, and after the chaos to get there, he was glad for the fresh air.

He honestly didn't mind when Ever and Bickslow bickered, because after almost 6 years of working with them, he'd gotten used to it. In fact he'd grown to like it, strangely enough, and had missed the sound when they'd stopped arguing so much. The green-haired mage understood why his best friend spent less time with the group, but it didn't mean he couldn't miss him a bit. On the other hand the seith mage had been opening up to them considerably more since he started dating Claire, and he'd learned more about Bickslow in the past 6 months than their 5 years of working side-by-side together.

Whether Evergreen realized it or not, she'd also changed over the past several months. The fairy woman had started becoming more tolerant of people, less judgmental, and slowly opening up to more of their colleagues. It was a slow process for her, but it was happening nonetheless and he suspected that her time with Elfman would make a positive impact on her when she finally accepted her feelings for the man. Just like Bickslow it was good that she was getting close to someone, and Freed hoped that she would eventually open up to the Thunder Legion in the same way Bickslow had.

Freed found himself wandering in a park aimlessly, enjoying the last couple hours of daylight. It was a surprisingly empty area considering the beautiful weather, and the park was well kept and maintained, but he suspected the lack of activity was due to the gang terrorizing the town. Even in the streets he noticed people looking cautious and anxious, and near everyone was in a group, rarely straying from their pack.

Bickslow had Claire. Ever had Elfman… who did Freed have? Had _he_ changed at all?

Despite being turned down by Laxus time and time again, he'd always hoped on some level that the answer would change one day. That Laxus would give up his stupid rule of not dating guild members, and finally admit that he had feelings for the word mage. That he'd had those pent up urges all along, he was tired of holding himself back, and just wanted to kiss Freed passionately into the night and make sweet love to him. He dreamed of it almost every night; of those beautiful toned abs, v-lines on his hips running down to his well-endowed….

But, on another level, he knew that that would never happen. If the blond broke his rule for anyone it would most likely be Mirajane, who was perfect for him in every way. As much as he wanted to ignore the looks they gave each other, he always saw them, and it broke his heart every time.

Along with his infatuation with Laxus, he'd always hoped that he was bisexual deep down inside, so he wouldn't have to deal with the mess of dating another man. It was one thing to date a girl, because it was normal and expected, and the rules were generally straight forward. To date a guy required finding a guy that swung his way, which he had a horrible 'gaydar' as it was, and then learning all the extra rules involved when it came to dating them. Not only that, but he had no interest in a strictly sexual relationship, which he had heard most homosexuals were interested in. He hadn't even had sex before and he wanted his first time to be with someone special.

He sighed, stopping his walk and looking up at the sky, a stray white butterfly fluttering past him.

Whether it was the pressure of dating someone like his friends, or the genuine need to connect to another person on an intimate level, he made a decision. The lone butterfly on the path joined another one, and they flew around each other in a beautiful dance.

9.

"So what's up, dude? What did you want to talk about?" Bickslow asked the green-haired mage, and yawned tiredly in his hand. They were still eating their take-out in the hotel room, but for reasons still unknown to the hungover man, Freed insisted on talking to him one on one. Evergreen and Claire were in the other room eating and chatting about random things.

"Well, I was thinking about dating… and I was wondering if you had any tips." Freed told him as the seith mage took a bite of his food, only to choke on it.

"Dating? You?" He asked, and then swallowed his food between coughs, reaching over to his glass of water to wash it down.

"Why is that funny?"

"It's not, it's just… I thought you'd be pining over Laxus for a few more years. You're really over him?"

"Seeing you and Ever find love has made me a little more open to the idea of dating. I can't wait around for… _him_ , my entire life." He found it too difficult to say his name out loud, which he hadn't expected. "He's an amazing wizard and I'm still devoted to fighting by his side, but it seems like dating other people could be healthy for me and grow as a person."

"Good for you, dude! Definitely a positive attitude! Did you have anyone in mind to go out with?"

"Not particularly. I'm not really sure how to go about it."

"I heard there's a really cool gay bar in Magnolia we can check out when we get back. Claire has been wanting to check it out, so we could go as a group to make it a little less intimidating."

"Wait, why do you think I want to date guys? And why would Claire go to one of those?"

"Dude, come on." Bickslow spoke, briefly setting his fork down in his paper container of food. "We've been friends for how long now? I've never seen you look at a woman once in the entire time we've known each other. Even the times I tried to hook you up, you never even considered it unless they looked masculine enough."

"Maybe I want to try dating both men and women to see which I like better."

"Alright, fair enough." Bickslow replied, holding his hands up in surrender. The younger mage was blushing madly at this point, and he didn't want to push his buttons _too_ much. "Have you ever gone on a date before?"

"No, but it doesn't look too difficult." Freed told him calmly, and the seith mage burst into laughter.

10.

Claire found herself wandering around the area after dark, alone, exploring the interesting town. The rest of her team had retired to sleep, and after her earlier nap, she felt refreshed and awake.

There was only one place open at the late hour of midnight, and she was pleasantly surprised when she found it: 'Rainbow Gate', a very popular gay bar in the center of town. She'd been to a few of these places with Bickslow since she arrived on this world, and although they paled in comparison to some of the more colorful ones in Portland, she still enjoyed them. In general they were more interesting and fun than the normal bar, and the people were colorful and accepting than the average person.

As she entered the large space, her eyes assaulted by an array of colorful and bright lights, a familiar scent reached her nose.

Laxus.

Smiling, she squinted and made her way to the relatively crowded bar, avoiding bumping into people while keeping an eye out for the blond dragonslayer. She also smelled a different, vaguely familiar scent, but couldn't place it.

"Do you serve mojitos?" The checker woman asked the bartender, and he immediately nodded.

"Yep." He replied, and after she made her order, he went back to moving quickly behind the bar. Claire took a seat on an empty barstool and looked around the building. There were two floors, and upon further inspection, she realized it was more of a dance club than a bar. Music was blasting loudly all over the building, couples of all kinds were humping on the dancefloor, and on the second floor, were tables so that people could eat and drink in privacy.

Her eyes widened, and her mouth made a small 'o' shape when she recognized a couple on the second floor.

On the opposite side of the building on that second floor, sitting at a small table with a bowl of fries between them, were two dragonslayers she knew all too well.

Laxus and Gajeel.

And they were holding hands.

Laxus was wearing a silk dark blue shirt, blond hair styled up slightly more feminine than usual, and he wore a diamond earring on his left ear. The man across from him, clad in his usual metal piercings, was dressed in a similar fashion. His hair was tied back, green button down shirt covered his torso, and multiple chains hung from his stylish black jeans.

Absolutely stunned, all she could do was stare wide-eyed at the couple. They remained oblivious to her astonished stare, talking about something out of her ear shot, and then Laxus reached over and gently touched the side of Gajeel's face. They leaned in for a brief kiss, dismissing any doubt in her mind.

 _Laxus… and… Gajeel? Together? A couple? Was I transported to another world again?!_

"Miss?" The bartender tried to get her attention, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight. After a few more minutes of staring, her drink set next to her untouched on the bar, the piercing blue eyes of her team leader locked with hers.

Laxus visibly cringed, and the iron dragonslayer turned to look in her direction, only to have a similar reaction.

Shock was suddenly replaced by euphoria.

Her lips tugged to the sides of her face.

 _Laxus and Gajeel sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G._ Too distracted by her mental songs and giddiness at catching the two dragonslayers, she barely registered that they had left the table, and were making their way over to her. Rumors of wizards hooking up at Fairy Tail were common, but actually catching them in the act?

This was gold.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Laxus asked as he approached her, glaring at the young woman. His _partner_ was close behind, and although he tried to appear annoyed at her, she could see a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"I thought you didn't date wizards from the guild?" Claire asked, still grinning from ear to ear. The blond simply glared, his gaze alone communicating the anger and contempt he was feeling towards her. "You're just lucky Freed didn't catch you. It would break his heart." She commented, and glanced at the brunette, then back to the pissed off lightning mage.

"Is he in town?" Laxus asked.

"The entire team is in town. They're sleeping right now."

"But you're the only one _here_ , right?" Gajeel clarified, and she nodded.

"I told you we should have gone somewhere else…" Laxus told the other man.

"How long have you two been dating?" Claire asked before they could start arguing about being caught.

"None of your business." Laxus snapped, his glare returning to Gajeel when he heard him chuckle.

"A few months."

"Shut up." The blond seethed, and the iron mage rolled his eyes.

"This was bound to happen sooner or later, and you know it. Better she find out than anyone else on your team."

"So am I the first to catch you guys?" Claire asked.

"Yep." Gajeel confirmed, and she squirmed happily in her seat as she reached over to start drinking her cold beverage.

11.

The next day, Laxus joined the team for their job, while Gajeel went back to Magnolia. They'd made an agreement early on in their relationship to avoid him interacting with his team, although Gajeel would purposely break the rule on rare occasions to get a rise out of him.

After breakfast together, the team headed towards the known location of the gang terrorizing the town. Unfortunately, when they walked through the park to get there, they walked into an invisible wall.

Bickslow cursed loudly at the abrupt solid object smashing into him, or the other way around, and jumped back a few feet. As they looked up they saw rune words flash across it, eerily similar to Freed's enchantments, but slightly different color and style. "Dude, what the hell?"

"It's not my enchantment." Freed informed him, stepping forward and observing the words floating in front of them. The seith mage instinctively moved closer to Claire, and the group looked around them for any nearby enemies. "It seems that they found away to get around mine, and have trapped us here for the time being. Judging by the complexity of it, it may take me a few hours to manually get rid of it."

"It says that we have to successfully complete a quiz about each other in order to escape." Evergreen spoke, summarizing the rules. "That doesn't sound so hard."

"I appears that this enchantment is reading our minds and formulating questions as we speak." Freed spoke, and upon learning this, all of their eyes widened.

"What? Hell no. Make it stop." Claire yelled first. _I don't want other people to know what I think. It's bad enough having Sky eavesdrop on my thoughts and emotions._

"It appears that whenever this enchantment asks us questions about a specific member, it will make that person silent, so that they can't answer the question themselves. For each person there are 3 questions and we must get either one of them fully correct, or all of them partially correct."

"What happens if we don't?" Laxus asked.

"It'll kill that person." Freed answered. "Or it'll severely wound them, at least. I'll have to look at it further to find what mechanism it uses to attack the person."

"So we just have to answer questions about each other, though?" Bickslow asked, and the green-haired mage nodded as he continued looking up at the runes, pulling out his sword in the process to further prod and examine the spell. "Sounds easy enough."

"Bad guys aren't going to attack us by making us do a simple team exercise." Evergreen rolled her eyes. "It's probably a distraction or it has ulterior motives."

"Mind game, maybe?" Claire asked, and she nodded.

A beep got their attention, and they looked back up at the wall of words, seeing that they had changed.

 _QUIZ 1: EVERGREEN_

They saw the woman in question move, and when they looked at her, realized that she was trying to say something. No words came out of her mouth.

 _QUESTION 1: HOW MANY SIBLINGS DOES SHE HAVE?_

 _(ANSWER IN THE FORM OF: "THE ANSWER IS _")_

"So we can talk to the person the quiz is about, but they can't say anything?" Claire asked, and Freed nodded as he continued looking at a part of the enchantment, appearing busy trying to disable it.

"You don't have any siblings, right?' Bickslow asked the woman, looking over at his silent teammate. She made a face at him, frowning, and after a second of standing there, held up her index finger. "I thought you were any only child."

Evergreen looked away, unable to say anything and uncharacteristically solemn.

"The answer is one." Laxus spoke, and a 'ding ding' sound voiced around them. "So now we don't need to get any more correct in order to finish this round."

 _QUESTION 2: WHO IS EVERGREEN IN LOVE WITH?_

"The answer is Elfman." Bickslow said with a grin, and then snickered when another 'ding ding' resulted. In the corner of his eye he could see the woman huff and fold her arms in front of her, clearly unamused.

 _QUESTION 3: HOW DID SHE GET HER PETRIFICATION MAGIC?_

"Answer is: she was born with it." Bickslow answered, and blinked in surprise when he didn't get the previous 'ding ding' response. He looked back over to Evergreen again, finding that she was looking away from the group with her hands gripping the front of her brown coat.

 _QUIZ 2: BICKSLOW_

"Shi-" Mid-word he was silenced, and he frowned, unable to speak. He crossed his arms and tried to ignore the evil grin from the fairy woman.

 _QUESTION 1: WHO DOES HIS FATHER WORK FOR?_

"Before we answer, how about we agree to ask the person about the answer before officially sending it in, to avoid losing points?" Claire asked the group, and everyone nodded. Freed was still busy with the enchantment, so in the mean time, the others continued playing.

"Aside from them dying and not dying, I don't really know anything about them." Evergreen commented, going back to the question.

"When I met him, he seemed to be a military type." Claire commented, and the seith mage nodded. "Is military the answer?"

He shrugged.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"The answer is: military." Laxus spoke, not bothering to wait. A single 'ding' echoed around them, and the enchantment informed them that they got partial credit.

 _QUESTION 2: WHY DID BICKSLOW CHEAT ON HIS GIRLFRIEND?_

"You what?!" Evergreen screeched, and walked over to punch the man in the arm. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"The answer is: because he was drugged." Claire spoke, and two 'dings' resounded. Evergreen looked back and forth between the pair, confused, before hitting the seith mage's arm one more time.

 _QUESTION 3: HOW DID BICKSLOW GET THE SCARS ON HIS BACK?_

"It seems that the questions are geared towards emotional and difficult parts of our lives." Freed commented, looking up at the question.

"Do you think it's trying to turn us against each other?" Laxus asked, and the green-haired mage nodded.

"Your parents attacked you, right?" Claire asked her boyfriend, who nodded curtly while staring up at the question. "The answer is: his parents attacked him." Another two 'dings' resulted.

"If we don't answer the questions, maybe we can avoid this stupid quiz and just have Freed get us out of here." Bickslow suggested, now in a sour mood. He had had a little fun with Evergreen's questions, but the ones about him were a little too personal.

"It'll take me hours to get around this, but I'm learning valuable information in case we get trapped again. For now it's best to play by the rules to escape." Freed told him.

 _QUIZ 3: LAXUS_

Claire looked over at the dragonslayer, knowing that he was likely worried about the enchantment bringing up his boyfriend. If anything could cause a rift in the team, that information would be the best to do it. There was a time and place to talk about it, but this definitely wasn't it, and their resident word mage was their best weapon right then.

 _QUESTION 1: WHAT DOES LAXUS REGRET MOST IN HIS LIFE?_

"The Battle of Fairy Tail?" Bickslow asked the older man, who looked stoic as usual with an unreadable face. He nodded once, and the seith mage formally answered the question. Surprisingly they only got partial credit for it.

 _QUESTION 2: WHO IS LAXUS IN LOVE WITH?_

"You're in love with someone?" Evergreen asked, surprised. The entire group turned to look at him, including Freed, and the group was silent for a moment.

"Answer is: Natsu Dragneel." Claire spoke, and the trio all gawked at her for giving such a ridiculous answer. Laxus gave her a thankful look while the others animatedly scolded and chastised her.

 _QUESTION 3: WHO IS LAXUS' REAL FATHER?_

"What? When did you find out who your real family was?!" Bickslow asked, and the rest of the team was similarly surprised.

"You found your family _and_ you're in love with someone!?" Evergreen gawked. The leader of the group kept his eyes on the question, regretting having joined the group for this mission.

"Guys, try to calm down." Claire told them, trying to hold back her own anxiety over the question. She had a good guess of what the answer was, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to be right or not. "We need to get this question right, or else the enchantment will attack or kill him."

"How could you not tell us!?" Evergreen asked, hitting the man's arm. Laxus simply stood still and unmoving, staring up at the question.

"Is it Rain Riley Marlinie?" Claire asked over the chaos of the others, and as she waited for a response from the taller man, her heart thudded painfully in her chest. As soon as the name left her lips she had regretted asking, knowing how stupid it was, but this was a good a time as any to confirm that her theory was false. _It was stupid of me to think that he could be my brother. What are the chances that both of my brothers are well adjusted (mostly), powerful, sane, wonderful people? If Kale is out there, he's more likely to be some drug addict halfway across the world, or an insane assassin like my sister. There's no way-_

Her racing thoughts were cut short when he looked over at her, his jaw tense and body rigid as he looked at her, and his head moved slowly up and down.

The others were so preoccupied with lecturing him about keeping so many things secret, that they didn't hear Claire answer the question. When it dinged twice, they all looked between each other to see who had answered it, and their curious eyes landed on Claire. She was looking up at the words as they disappeared and were replaced by the announcement of the next round.

"Wait, who's your dad? What was the answer?" Evergreen asked.

"Why did you tell her and not us? I thought we were your friends?" Bickslow asked the blond, who was still looking over at the checker woman. After another moment of staring, he went back to looking at the question.

"This game is designed to ask sensitive questions to tear us apart. Are you going to let it succeed?" Laxus asked, to which the group fell silent.

"Question 1: What is Freed's sexual orientation?" Claire read out loud, regaining their attention. Ever and Bickslow now looked up at the question, now realizing that their green-haired friend was under the silencing spell.

"He claimed to be bisexual…" Bickslow said quietly, and looked over at Freed, who nodded.

"The answer is: Bisexual." Claire announced, but they didn't get the usual 'dings'. Not even partial credit. "Don't worry about it, Freed. No matter who you sleep with, you're still our friend." She said with a wink, although he didn't see it. The word mage was blushing madly and looking at the section of enchantment he'd been working on, probably trying to distract himself.

 _QUESTION 2: WHY DID FREED JOIN THE THUNDER LEGION?_

"… because I asked him to?" Laxus asked, and the word mage nodded, still not looking at them. "The answer is: Because I asked him to." A single 'ding' echoed around them, and the man grunted.

"Partial credit? Damn it." Bickslow grumbled, getting further annoyed at the game.

 _QUESTION 3: WHY DID HE LEARN WORD MAGIC?_

The four mages looked between each other, wondering what specific answer the enchantment was looking for. So far the questions for the mage had been simple, yet when they asked him about the answer, he didn't correct them. They had to get this one right to avoid him getting hurt, and they couldn't really trust him as a source.

"Isn't it because he loves reading?" Evergreen asked after a while, looking at Bickslow and Laxus for confirmation.

"He mentioned learning it with Levy at one point." Claire brought up.

"He learned it before teaching her, though." Bickslow corrected.

"Maybe it was to make his parents proud?" Evergreen suggested, and looked over at the sulking mage.

"Was it to make someone in particular proud?" Claire asked him, to which he finally nodded. "Was it your parents?" He shook his head.

"Was it Laxus?" Bickslow asked, and he shook his head again.

"Levy?" Again, he shook his head.

"Was it a guy you liked?" Claire asked, and after a second, he nodded. "Have you ever told any of us about him?" He shook his head. The checker woman pulled out a pen and notebook from her backpack and handed it to him.

"Hey, why didn't you get that out before?" Bickslow snapped.

"Because I didn't think of it." She countered, and once Freed had written it down, announced the answer. "The answer is: Freed learned his magic to impress his neighbor, Kyle."

 _Ding, ding._

 _QUIZ 5: CLAIRE_

 _QUESTION 1: HOW DID SHE GET THE SCARS ON HER LEGS?_

"Shit." Bickslow cursed, frowning.

"From her sister, right?" Evergreen asked, and he shook his head.

"She's got some scars from her home world that she refuses to talk about. She's super sensitive about it." He explained, and sighed, looking over at the checker woman. She was looking away, hands in her pockets and taking deep breaths. "Do you want us to skip this question? They're not going to get easier."

She nodded.

"The answer is: unknown." Bickslow spoke before the others could convince them to do otherwise.

"Once we pass this round, I'll be able to activate some of my enchantments to prevent us from walking into more traps." Freed explained, and they all nodded in understanding.

 _QUESTION 2: WHY WAS SHE CONFRONTED BY A DARK WIZARD RECENTLY?_

"'Dark wizard'?" Bickslow asked, and she mentally cursed. _Of course it brought that up._

She grabbed the notebook and pen out of Freed's hands and started writing down the answer. ' _She thought that if I taught my hellfire to her, the Ghoul Guild would let her join.'_

"Wonderful. Dark wizards are seeking you out." The seith mage muttered, grunting as he took a deep breath and took a few steps away, trying to calm down. She passed along the answer to the others, who looked at it surprised and then back to her, before Laxus finally told the enchantment the answer.

1 ding.

"You're hiding something?" Laxus asked her, and she glared. _Hypocrite._

 _QUESTION 3: OUT OF HER FAMILY MEMBERS, WHO DOES SHE MISS THE MOST?_

"Is it Carol?" Bickslow asked, and she nodded. "The answer is: her sister Carol."

 _Ding, ding._

"Why didn't you tell us about the dark wizard?" The seith mage asked, and now that Claire could talk, she groaned in annoyance.

"It wasn't a big deal. She asked me to teach her my magic, I refused, she left. No fighting, no threats, nothing- she just left." She explained.

"Then why'd we only get partial credit?" Laxus asked, glaring at her.

"You're lecturing _me_ on hiding things?" She glared, to which the man looked away. The other members of the Thunder Legion stared at their leader in surprise, having never seen him look so utterly guilty before. "You're a fucking ass hole. Let's get this job over with."

"Are you in love with Claire? Is that it?" Bickslow asked, looking between them. Both of them scoffed.

"No." They said in unison, and Claire started walking forward. "Let's just get this over wi-"

"Claire!" Bickslow yelled when the woman vanished, her body falling into an invisible hole and disappearing from sight. He instantly ran forward and knelt down, touching the ground where she had disappeared. "Claire!"

12.

She wasn't sure how long she was unconscious. The sound of Sky's voice inside her head woke her up, and upon finding herself confused as hell, bound him to the vessel in her bag.

The ground was cold, and her body felt sore. Weak.

"You need to wake up!" Sky repeated once again, nudging the back of her shoulder and continuing his repetitive pleas. In her groggy state her eyes opened, and after blinking for a few moments, found the room slowly coming into focus.

She was laying on dirt. There was a thin wall of fire around her. When she looked closer, she realized that the fire was moving, as if forming a trail, and going into a strange tube. There was what appeared to be medical equipment around the unsanitary room, and several yards from her were 4 men and women. They were being bound to the wall, their arms and legs strapped down with leather bands, and tubes were leading into their arms.

"What's going on?" She grumbled, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried to figure out what was happening. The men and women ignored her, but appeared to be excited about something, and were all looking in one specific spot. Her gaze moved to whatever it was, finding that it was a large, spherical shaped device. Leading into it was the fire surrounding her, and there were several tubes sticking out and leading to the strapped down individuals.

"You've been unconscious for a while." Sky informed her.

"How long?"

"I don't know." He answered, and she finally moved to sit up, feeling considerably drained. It didn't take long for her to realize that the fire surrounding her was her magic, and that it was some sort of enchantment circling her; probably from the same mage that trapped her team earlier.

"Where's Bickslow and the others?" She asked her soul.

"I dunno. I only came when I sensed you were knocked out." He told her.

"Who the hell are you guys?" She asked them, speaking louder than before. Her legs were crossed beneath her, and she felt considerably light-headed, or else she'd be standing.

"We're stealing your magic so that we can join the Ghoul Guild." One of them answered.

"That… doesn't make any sense." She told him, and looked back at the equipment.

"We used the earlier enchantment to get the information we needed on your magic. Once we transfer it to us, we'll be able to join the guild."

"Why would you want to? And why do you think my magic will get you in?" Claire asked, then sniffed the air, scrunching up her nose stale scent of blood and unknown chemicals.

"You can burn souls, and according to our sources, the Ghoul Guild will give almost anything to have that power."

"Dude, what's the point in telling her?" One of the women asked, giving the man next to her an annoyed look.

"She's going to die anyway from magic loss. Why not?" He said with a shrug.

"What is that?" Claire asked, referring to the spherical object currently holding a lot of her magic. It looked like it was mostly made of iron, and some kind of other metal, and was making a strange vibrating sound.

"This process is taking out your personal marker to it, and altering it to be compatible to us." Another male answered, who seemed relaxed in his spot. "My invention will alter your magic to become receptive to our bodies, and when it enters us, will allow us to use your hellfire."

"Seems like a pretty big risk." Claire commented, recalling the deadliness and unpredictability in her fire magic. She honestly had no idea if his invention would work or not, and she was feeling so drained, it was difficult for her to absorb all of the information. They were trying to drain her magic, convert and change it somehow, and put it inside their bodies.

Sky shot out a few bursts of energy at the wall of fire around them, but it merely caused words to appear on the fire wall.

 _NONE SHALL PASS._

She couldn't help but think of Gandolf, from _Lord of the Rings_ , and the resulting meme from that infamous scene. A wry smile tugged at her tired lips.

Sky flew to hover in front of her, standing between the four mages and herself, as some sort of guard. He shot at the wall again.

"All that's doing is draining my power, Sky." She told him, and rubbed her eyes tiredly. Normally when she powered up Sky with her magic, she felt nearly nothing, since she had so much of it. As it was dwindling, she had to be more careful with it.

"What do we do?"

The sound of screaming caused Claire to look back up, and she gently nudged the flying soul to the side, in order to see what was happening. From the device, her fire magic had started traveling through the tubes, and had reached the skin of one of them. He screamed and writhed in pain, struggling against the straps, as the fire singed and burned his flesh. It turned into open flames that devoured his arm, starting slow and then increasing in speed.

His comrades watched in horror as the flames enveloped him, and once it had killed him but was still eating the last of his limbs, the fire in the tubes made their way to the others.

"It's burning their souls." Sky informed her, and she looked at him surprised.

"Their souls, too?" She asked, and he moved up and down as a nod. "You shouldn't be watching this, Sky." Claire said over the screams, and pulled the small soul in her arms, holding him close. She pulled her backpack off to further shield him from the sounds and sight.

Her mind wandered as she watched, forming multiple theories in her tired mind at what was transpiring in front of her. It seemed that her magic, when she wasn't taming it, had the ability to devour practically anything, including souls. That, or whatever the device was doing made it act that way.

But as the flames devoured them, she couldn't help but wonder: did her magic always damage the souls of people she attacked with her magic? Of all the people she killed, was she not only killing their bodies, but also their souls?

For some reason that bothered her.

Killing people didn't bother her, but destroying their souls did. And what if she's been hurting Sky all this time?

Her mind wandered to the people she had killed over the last half year, and how she went about it. Even if her magic did damage souls, she couldn't recall a time that she burned an entire body with her magic (a live one, anyway) which meant that even if she had damaged their souls, she didn't destroy it.

Well, aside from that one time to protect Bickslow, and she purposely destroyed his body and soul.

Did this mean that she shouldn't use seith magic?

What would Bickslow think of her? Wandering souls are his family, his life- and he had made it abundantly clear in that past that he would choose his souls over her if he had to.

Did she have enough control over her magic? She had thought so, but as the last mage burned to ashes, she questioned the idea. After the incident of Bickslow being kidnapped, she had been experimenting with burning different elements, and had gained ample control of it. With her increasingly sensitivity to different types of magic, she had been thinking about learning how to burn a persons magic without physically hurting them.

But if her magic in its rawest form could burn souls, even if it was just a slight possibility, was it too dangerous for her to continue using?

 _I'm going to unbind you. Can you go tell Bickslow where I am?_ Claire asked telepathically to the small soul.

 _Yes, mommy~_ He said happily, and she unbound him. The soul left her arms, and she looked up in the direction he left, realizing that the enchantment around her had disappeared.

The strange, spherical device was humming louder now, and started to crack. As she watched it, flames licked out of the cracks and began burning the metal.

Hesitantly, she pushed herself to her feet, making her way towards it. Even if it wasn't 'her' magic, it was fire magic, and she should be able to handle it.

Step by step, she got closer to it. Her heart thudded loudly in her ears, and as the smell of the charred bodies met her nose, she wondered it eating the fire magic was the best idea. If this device had altered it too much, it was possible that it would do the same to her as it had to the others.

Before she could think too much about it she inhaled the magic seeping from the strange device, finding that it tasted rather delicious.


	24. Chapter 24

**Walking Cliché 24**

 _Awkward_

Claire spent most of the following days training with Sky.

Between her anger at her brother for lying to her all this time and the frustration of being a target for dark guild wizards, she found herself falling and bruising herself more than building muscle.

As she tried to land on Sky's flat surface, her ankle twisted, yet again, and caused her to fall over ten feet to the hard ground below her. She gasped at the pain that spread from her shoulder through her upper torso, and then rolled onto her back, looking up at the cloudy sky.

Her wandering soul hovered next to her, and if he could, would likely be giving her a quizzical expression.

Telling Bickslow about her power to destroy souls had gone surprisingly well. After weeks of avoiding the topic and stressing about what he would think of her, along with her added fears from the botched attempt from the dark wizards to gain her power, she'd been convinced that he would hate her. Instead, he was surprisingly understanding of the situation. Apparently he'd heard rumors years ago about fire dragons being able to burn souls, so when they'd started dating, he'd actually been keeping an eye on her around his souls. Especially with Sky. She had been a little peeved that he hadn't clued her in sooner, but when she voiced her annoyance he simply shrugged it off and redirected the conversation back to her magic.

Even before she had an idea of how destructive her magic was, they had always been careful with Sky, since her magic was so different. He'd been monitoring and keeping an eye on the soul, and even when she used her magic to reign him in and it hurt him, it never left permanent damage.

He'd insisted that she train where he usually did with his babies to reduce her injuries, but she was feeling oddly stubborn about continuing to train at this specific place. Erza had originally recommended it to her when she first arrived on this world, but soon after admitted that she practically never used it between jobs and other better training grounds. So this was like her own training place, and she liked it. Secluded, open space, and not too far from Magnolia.

She also didn't want to train with Bickslow until she was at least decent at working with Sky.

It didn't help that she tried not to directly control him, since it caused him pain, and consequently made it difficult to coordinate their movements together. Bickslow had the advantage of working with multiple souls to catch him when he fell and could directly control them when they messed up, not to mention they were more stable when he used them as platforms.

Wandering souls had limited memories, communication skills, and coordination. They were like toddlers more often than not, and after a couple of weeks working one-on-one with Sky, she had learned it the hard way just how short his memory was.

Despite the downfalls (literally), they were creating a system together. They'd been playing around with each other, flying through the air, using coordinated attacks, and simply messing around to figure out what they could and couldn't do. She found that he was bad at remembering combinations of movements, but he was great at spontaneous or on-the-fly things.

"Are you okay?" Sky asked her after a while, hovering near her and waiting for her to move. She'd been laying there for some time now, which was beginning to happen more and more frequently in their training.

"Yeah. Just tired." She sighed, and reached her non-pained hand to her forehead, wiping off the sweat.

Continuing to train would be stupid, and she knew it. Her shoulder was dislocated and she was pretty sure that her ankle was swelling up.

What she should do is go over to her bag and get the healing equipment she'd gotten from Porlyusica weeks ago. The old woman was tired of healing her, so she'd recommended some equipment for her to buy so that she could heal her own minor injuries.

A thump next to her caused her to jump, and she looked over to see that Sky had gotten the bag in question for her.

"Thanks." She told him, and the small soul hummed, watched her wince and sit up to sift through the duffel bag. After a few seconds of searching, she located the ankle brace and shoulder bandage. Sky stayed surprisingly quiet as she continued to apply the devices, meanwhile thinking about what she would do afterwards.

These were injuries that would heal after a could of days, but she needed to rest. Unfortunately, the usual places she 'rested' were the Guild Hall and home, both of which were places that Laxus frequented as of late. Bickslow had been encouraging her to make up with Laxus and even tried to sneakily get them alone together.

She didn't want to talk to him. Not yet.

Sky helped her relocate her shoulder, and once she had put on the shoulder brace, looked up at the edge of the field. To her confusion a man was walking closer to her, one whom she didn't recognize. He was blond with cat ears on his head, black diamond shapes along his skin, and behind him she could see a matching blond tail moving back and forth.

"I have a bad feeling about him." Sky muttered, moving closer to her. With his help she moved to stand, trying to not put too much pressure on her ankle.

"Who are you?" She asked, and when the man was only a few yards away, he stopped. An amused smirk played along his closed lips, and his animalistic eyes flickered down her body.

"You're not as impressive as I was led to believe." He spoke, his attention moving to the slivers of fire moving across her exposed skin. She was currently wearing a sports bra and loose capris.

"You're not a dark wizard, are you?" She asked, and he chuckled. His lips pulled back, revealing his jagged and pointed teeth.

"I'm a demon. I heard that you were one as well, so I came to investigate."

"I use dragon magic, not demon." She informed him. The cat man hummed, seeming interested in the fire she was producing.

"So you're not human."

"My magic isn't."

He reached down to pick up a stray rock, and moved it around in his hand for a moment, simply staring at it. "Have you heard of the Book of Zeref?" He suddenly asked, glancing back up at her with a glint in his eye that set her on edge.

"Who hasn't?"

"You see, my colleagues and I are all demons from the Book of Zeref, and refer to ourselves as 'Tartaros'. Essentially, we were all summoned from books that Zeref himself wrote. We are the direct product of Zeref."

 _A Zeref enthusiast. Great._ She thought to herself, and telepathically told Sky to be ready to dodge anything he threw at them. As she'd learned from her Fairy Tail friends, people that fought in the name of Zeref were usually extremely dangerous.

"We found a book that we didn't quite understand. It was different than the others, and even though it was undoubtedly written by Zeref, it was written and used much more recent. It also required dragon magic to cast, and also unlike the other books, summoned two demons."

"Are you trying to insinuate that I'm from the Book of Zeref?" She asked, and he shrugged.

"I dunno. The only way to find out is if you come with me."

"Fat chance."

"I suspected as much." He said, and flicked the small object towards them. Both Sky and Claire jumped to the side as the small rock exploded, and launched into motion.

Her opponent was significantly faster than she thought, and as he ran towards her, Sky rammed his body into his shoulder, catching him off-guard. Claire closed the distance and used the distraction to kick him further off balance, but unfortunately, he wasn't as surprised by the combo attack as she had hoped.

His black hands latched onto her leg and swung her away from him, nearly taking out her knee in the process, and the skin he had touched exploded.

Luckily, she was used to being burned.

It blocked her vision for a moment and left a seared mark on her leg, but she ran forward again to attack the assailant, landing a solid punch on his face before jumping back a few yards to get some distance. "Your hand!" Sky warned her.

"Yeah," She muttered, feeling whatever magic he was using bond with her skin and get ready to ignite, just as before.

"How the hell are you still standing?" Her opponent asked, wiping the side of his mouth with his hand. When the knuckles on her hands exploded, she was barely phased, continuing to stand there and watch him.

"Hey Claire, you need some help?"

Yet another unexpected visitor now walked towards her, and she couldn't tell if she was glad or annoyed by his presence. Of all the people, she never expected Gajeel to come to her aid. The iron dragonslayer was walking towards her from one of the three pathways leading into the field, his Exceed absent.

"I would appreciate it." She told him, and in the blink of an eye, the cat man disappeared. "Shit."

Just before the demon could punch her in the back of the head, Gajeel launched his iron fist at the creature, landing a solid hit.

"Anything his skin touches is explosive. Try not to directly touch him." She told him as she turned to face the fallen creature, who easily landed back on his feet and jumped away again.

"Now my hand is going to explode?" He asked, and she looked over, realizing that the man's hand was indeed pulsing, and gave off the same signature as it had her.

Sky managed to knock her opponent out of the way before he could attack her again, but the resulting explosion from his hand was much more loud and destructive than on hers. The force caused them to fall back, and small shards of iron had embedded themselves around the field- including the demon.

Realizing that the demon was temporarily distracted by the metal shard in his chest, which was pretty significant, she launched her fire at him. She had been toying with the idea of her fire eating someone's magic, so what better time to try it?

Unfortuntely, he didn't have magic.

In fact, it wouldn't even touch him- just like the bandit she failed to capture with her team. He didn't have magic.

"Gajeel, are you okay?" She called out to her friend, thankful when the man groaned in response.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a scratch." He replied, and when she turned back to the cat man, realized he was gone.

She thought to herself, and as she felt the familiar cold hands latch onto her upper arm, her fire shot out and attacked him. The explosion and her fire devouring him were simultaneous, and the force of his explosion caused his body to disintegrate into ashes.

"His soul is doing something weird. He's not dead." Sky announced in the dust cloud, over the sound of both mages coughing.

"Is he still here?" Claire asked between coughs.

"No. He's gone."

"Who the hell was that?" Gajeel asked, and as the dust cleared, she realized that he was standing just a few feet away from her. There was a black mark covering his fist and it looked a little warped from that angle, but she hoped that his iron magic would fix him. If not that, Porlyusica.

"There's been rumors about my magic circulating the dark guilds. Apparently the newest one is that I'm a demon." She explained, and sighed, now mentally debating whether to sit down and rest or not. She was already exhausted before the fight, and now she just wanted to sleep- or anything to get off of her pulsing, swelling, painful ankle.

"Laxus mentioned that dark guilds have been trying to recruit you. I'm surprised he's letting you train alone." He commented, holding up his hand and looking at it as he spoke.

"Will you be okay?" She asked, and he looked up to nod at her.

"Yeah, I've had worse. After eating some iron and resting, I should be fine."

"What were you doing here, anyway?" She asked suddenly. She'd never had visitors here before, at least not until today, so it was suspicious to say the least that two mages found their way here.

"I was in the area, believe it or not, and heard the explosions. There's a hiking trail about a quarter of a mile from here that I frequent regularly. I've smelled your scent in the area before, but never bothered investigating." He shrugged, and finally stopped looking at his hand. "Anyway, we should head back to the guild. I'll walk you."

"Thanks, but you don't have to. I'm going to rest up a bit and meet you there later."

"It wasn't a request." He stated, and his sudden hostility caused her to blink up at him in confusion. Sure, she knew that he was more often than not glaring or insulting someone at the guild (which, most people did there in good fun), but she'd never been on the receiving end of it before. Aside from when she first came to the guild, they'd never had issue with each other, and were usually rather polite.

"... why?" She asked simply.

"Laxus would kill me if I left you alone after you were attacked and injured." Gajeel said with a roll of his eyes, as if it were obvious. "Not to mention your crazy boyfriend would steal my soul. Just get your shit and let's get out of here."

She wanted to argue that she could take care of herself, and that he should be more worried about what she would do to him rather than her boyfriend and brother, but she was too tired. Instead she simply shrugged and walked over to the side of the field, where her bag had been thrown in the chaos, and picked it up. Pulling out a long-sleeve shirt, she managed to get it on without dropping the bag, and then turned to look back at the iron dragonslayer.

"For the record, I can take care of myself." Claire told him, standing there with the duffel bag over her non-injured shoulder, and free hand pulling out the waterbottle in the side pocket. The dragonslayer walked towards her, wearing his usual scowl and looking ready to leave.

"Like I care. Let's just go." He told her, heading towards the path he'd used to get there. As she followed behind, Sky hovered near her silently. "Why the hell are you training out in the middle of nowhere when dark wizards are hunting you down, anyway? Even Natsu isn't that stupid."

"You sure about that?" She asked, to which the man didn't say anything for a moment, continuing down the darkening path. It was getting close to nightfall, but there was enough light to get them back to town.

"Whatever. Doesn't change the fact that it's stupid."

"I needed some alone time. Simple as that. How often do you train with other people?" She countered, ignoring the sore muscles wishing for her to stop walking. The walk back to Magnolia was a half hour, and to get back to the Guild Hall was another 20 minutes.

"I train with Lily all the time."

"And I've been training with Sky."

"I'm adorable!" The soul announced happily, and did a little spin in the air. Keeping his eyes forward, the dragonsalyer neither saw nor cared about the floating vessel.

"If I was being hunted down by strong wizards like that one back there, I'd be staying close to the Guild Hall. Does Laxus even know you were out here?" He asked, ignoring the previous comment.

"Why the hell should he?"

"He's your brother, and he cares about you."

"Evidently not, since he lied to my face for 2 months."

"So what? He's your family."

"Just because I love my family doesn't mean that I can't be pissed off at them, too." She told him, tired of the conversation. Dealing with Laxus was something that she didn't want to do. Bacchus was hard enough to handle when she first found him, and just imagining how much of an emotional pain in the ass Laxus will be gave her a headache. Not to mention, she already had other more important things on her mind.

"He feels bad about it."

"No offense, but it's really none of your business. Would you drop it?"

"Just trying to help." He said with a shrug, and finally, the trio walked in silence for the rest of the journey.

By the time they reached the Guild Hall, it was night. The street lamps were lit, music drifting in and out of the various shops, and delicious food wafted from street vendors. Their guild headquarters was alive with laughter and dancing, alcohol and cheers, and they pair ascended the staircase to the Thunder Legion upon their arrival.

Kana and a few other random mages were up there as well, including the Guild Master. Bacchus was sitting next to Laxus and talking to him animatedly about something, drinks were in everyone's hands, and everyone was laughing and talking to each other. When they noticed Gajeel and Claire's arrival, Bacchus's face lit up.

"Sister! Dude, how are you not in love with your little bro? He's fucking awesome!" He told her happily. "Don't just stand there like an idiot. Pull up a chair!" As she reluctantly complied, grabbing a chair and sitting between/behind Laxus and Bickslow, she sighed. Her duffel bag was tossed to an empty table and she sat down, soon followed by Gajeel next to her. "Where the hell have you been? We've been waiting all day for you!"

As the drunken man yelled at her, she briefly regretted telling her about Laxus. Upon their arrival back in Magnolia after their last job, she had immediately sent him a letter about Laxus's true identity, but otherwise hadn't talked or addressed the issue in the slightest. "I've been training. I am a wizard, you know."

"We fought a cat!" Sky announced excitedly.

"I've been here for two days waiting to bond with my long lost bro and sis, and you think that

is the best time for training?"

"She could be doing worse things, like killing her brain cells with alcohol, like us." Laxus spoke in her defense, and the shorter man erupted into laughter.

"You are so fucking awesome! I love it!" He laughed, and pulled the blonde into a side hug.

"I'm going to get a drink. You want one?" Gajeel asked her, and she nodded.

"What if we do a group training session?" Evergreen suggested to the two brothers, having overheard the previous conversation. The martial artist made a small 'o' shape with his mouth, indicating his excitement over the idea, and then grinned.

"We should totally do that! You are fucking brilliant!" He yelled, and then leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. Claire watched in amusement as the fairy woman's face turned bright red, and behind them, her 'not boyfriend' stood up from his chair and caused it to fall over.

"That's not manly!" Elfman yelled, and gave the intoxicated man a 'manly punch'. Bacchus snickered, the alcohol heightening his tolerance for pain, and looked up at the angered mountain of a man.

"Sorry, didn't realize she was yours." He said with a smirk, and went back to his drink while the pair started stammering awkwardly. As he ignored them, going back to his brother, the pair started arguing loudly with each other which eventually ended with Elfman being turned into a statue.

"A group training session, huh?" Laxus asked, and Bacchus nodded.

"Training session? What?" Bickslow asked, turning to the pair.

"It would be interesting to have a larger group for training." The blonde commented. "Usually the Thunder Legion trains alone."

"Who wants to join us in a training session tomorrow?!" Bickslow asked loudly to the large group, most of whom cheered or looked up from their conversation in confusion. "8 AM tomorrow morning at the Solitary Patch! Be there, or be square!"

"What'd I miss?" Gajeel asked as he returned, a beer in one hand and her mojito in the other. He handed the drink to her and sat down, looking around at the group as they talked about potential training styles and ideas.

"Group training session tomorrow."

"When did you get here!?" Bickslow asked, turning around to look at her.

"A while ago." She said simply, and sipped away at her drink while her boyfriend went back to chatting with the others.

Bacchus was by far the loudest of the bunch, but he was so happy and overjoyed that no one could be mad at him- or stay mad at him, at least. He gave hugs to Laxus every few seconds, hugs to other people when he wasn't at the blonde's side, and giving out free drinks and the occasional kiss.

Claire had never seen him so happy. Despite her current annoyance at Laxus, she was just glad that their brother was getting some closure after waiting for 16 years.

As she watched her friends interact and have fun, she could sense that Sky was reacting positively to it. Something about watching Bacchus and Laxus triggered a dormant memory for him.

Once Bickslow and Claire made it home that night, Bickslow suddenly announced that they needed ice cream, so he immediately turned around and ran out the door. His spontaneous disappearance wasn't entirely uncommon, as when he was drunk, he would sometimes run off without much warning to do whatever whim he'd latched onto.

Instead of running after him, she plopped down on the couch tiredly. The Fairy Tail group volunteering to train in the morning had unanimously decided to head home earlier than normal, which was 11 PM, in order to get enough sleep for the following day. Judging by how many barrels of alcohol the group had chugged down in that time frame, she guessed that only half of them would show up the next day.

"Your brothers looked happy today." Sky commented, bringing her out of her thoughts. She sighed, opening her eyes and looking up at the floating doll. It was one of three that she'd had made for him, and it was their training one. One was for show, one was for training, and the last was an experimental one they were trying out with a strap on it.

"Bacchus did, anyway." Claire said tiredly, getting an odd sensation from the wandering soul. A new presence caught her attention,

and she looked over in its direction. Unlike most wandering souls she sensed, she could actually see this one.

She blinked.

Once, twice, thrice-

Still there.

It was a small boy, looking to be around 8 years old, and looked very sickly. He was wearing a hospital robe, a white band on his wrist, and his eyes looked sunken and tired. But a smile tugged at his lips as he looked over at Sky, and miraculously, he seemed to start looking healthier.

She jumped at the sound of Sky's vessel hitting the side of the coffee table and rolling across the carpet, stopping just short of the TV. Where the vessel used to be floating was a small boy, translucent just like the other, and wearing a t-shirt and baggy shorts. He looked a few years older than the other boy, and when she looked back at the new presence, realized that he'd changed into similar clothes.

Again, she blinked-

Once, twice, thrice, four-

Still there.

"What's going on?" Her voice pierced the awkwardly quiet room, and she felt almost bad when they looked at her, as if she shouldn't have said anything. It was a weird feeling, as if she did something wrong.

"This is my brother." Sky spoke, and it took her a second to realize that the boy next to her was in fact, Sky. He looked just as Bickslow described him, minus the hospital robe.

The other boy held out his hand.

Sky walked forward, grabbing it, and their bodies disappeared into a fine mist, floating up to the ceiling. Just like Peppe.

"... Sky?" Claire whispered, no longer feeling her telepathic connection to him. He was just… gone. "Sky?"

1.

If Bickslow hadn't quite literally shoved her out of the apartment, she wouldn't have gone to the stupid training session. He didn't want to be awake either, and in fact would have slept through it, if he didn't have the delusional fantasy of being Laxus's brother. Whenever she corrected him by saying he'd be his brother-in-law if they ever got married, not his actual brother, he would ignore her and go back to his fantasizing.

She was honestly worried he would ask her to marry him, just so that that would happen.

When they showed up at the meeting spot a few minutes late, she was mildly surprised at the sheer number of people that showed up. It was a much larger group than she thought, and not only did the people from the night before show up, but a few others from guild did as well.

Including Team Natsu.

"Come on, let's get started already! I wanna fight!" Natsu yelled impatiently, jumping from foot to foot and eyeing the lightning dragonslayer.

"Since when do you train in

?" Evergreen asked as she walked up to the fire woman, looking her up and down. Unlike usual, Claire had decided to forego her usual training gear in favor of large black sweatpants and a light green sweatshirt. It hid the previous days injuries and it was loose enough to move around in. Not to mention it was just comfortable.

"Since when do you train in

?" Claire countered with a smirk. "Are you training or going on a date?" It was common for Evergreen to wear heels and otherwise non-training clothing for their training sessions, but she outdid herself that morning. Hair styled perfectly, make up done extra nice, her

green dress hugging her hips and higher-than-normal heels extending her height.

She crossed her arms and huffed. "I don't know what you mean."

When Claire looked around for the white-haired mage, she smiled when she finally located him. Considering his height it wasn't too difficult, although he seemed extra…

, that morning. Hair combed back, pants practically sparkling white, and not a speck of 'manly' dirt on him.

"Glad you could make it, sis!" Bacchus greeted, slinging an arm around his tired sister and grinning at her. Laxus wasn't far behind, although avoided looking directly at the technically younger mage.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." She grumbled, shoving her hands in her pockets. As weird as it sounded she'd rather chat with Evergreen and banter about stupid shallow things, rather than talk to her family. Or Bickslow for that matter, since he was grinning like a Cheshire cat at Laxus.

"Everyone, can I have your attention?" Fried asked to the edge of the group, and the few people that heard him either nudged or yelled at the other people to pay attention. Claire tiredly reached for the side of the duffel bag, pulling out her coffee mug to sip away at it. Bacchus stayed on her arm as the green-haired mage continued speaking, and somehow managed to get his arm around his brother's shoulders as well, still smiling like an idiot.

"Since we have such a large group," Fried spoke once everyone had quieted down. "I suggest that we organize ourselves into smaller groups. I've already set up areas that will be designated to combat, which is a mix of non-magic spaces and magic-dampening areas, so that people can fight without damaging surrounding areas. There is a cool down area over there that Evergreen set up and is willing to do a yoga lesson if anyone requests it. As for other forms of training, Laxus has offered to lead a jogging group that will leave in a half hour, Bacchus has offered to teach some basic martial arts, and Erza has offered to teach basic swordsmanship. If anyone else has a skill they'd be willing to teach, let me know and I'll announce it with any other person that wants to teach something."

"You're teaching yoga in a skirt?" Claire whispered to Evergreen, snickering at how red her face got.

"Of course not! I brought pants to change into." She whispered back.

"I figure that we start with a basic warm up, the combat areas will open to everyone throughout the day, as will the cool down area. After an hour or so I'll check back with everyone to see what they want to do. Any questions?"

"I just want to fight someone!" Natsu yelled.

"Combat areas are over there." Fried told him, pointing him in the direction of the enchantments set up.

"Reminder that the jogging group leaves in 30 minutes. It'll by a 45 minute jog around the surrounding forest." Laxus announced, and most of the group nodded.

"I expect everyone to work their hardest today! Anyone that doesn't will suffer the consequences!" Makarov yelled after walking over to Fried, and his threat caused a mixture of fear and confusion.

"Let's get going already." Gajeel spoke, and with that, the group spread out and started doing warm-ups and chatting with each other. For the most part they were quieter than usual, given how early it was, but there was a fair about of noise from Natsu and his team.

"You're going to jog with us, right?" Bacchus asked his sister, finally letting go of her and grabbing his ankle to stretch his thigh muscle.

"I was hoping to do yoga with Evergreen for most of the day."

"Oh come on, you're not even going to train with Sky and the rest of us? Are you that self-conscious?" Bickslow asked, letting his tongue hang out.

"Train with Sky!" His babies echoed behind him. Since he was so intoxicated last night, and frankly she was still kinda bummed about it, she hadn't told him about Sky's crossing last night. She was happy that he had passed on, but in terms of training and using him as a fighting partner, it seriously sucked. Weeks of painstaking training- wasted.

"Come on, don't be so lame." Bacchus told her. "Run with your brothers."

"She doesn't have to if she doesn't want to." Laxus shrugged, still not looking at her. She did the same.

"But you two loved jogging together before you found out you were related." Bickslow spoke, still letting his tongue hang out and taunt her.

"You two were jogging buddies? Really?" Bacchus asked with a grin, looking between the obviously awkward pair.

"I twisted my ankle yesterday, and it still hasn't healed. I don't want to put pressure on it unless I have to." Claire finally told them, suddenly glad that she had the excuse. It would get her out of an awkward jogging adventure with the pair, and maybe get Bickslow off her back regarding Sky in the process. She really didn't want to tell him about the absent soul until they were alone.

"Just have Wendy heal you." Bickslow told her, and waved to the blue-haired girl in the distance. "Hey, Wendy! Could we borrow you for a minute?"

2.

Claire wasn't sure how it happened, but she had no doubt that Bacchus had planned it. Possibly Bickslow, too.

After Wendy had healed her ankle, or at least enough so that she could jog on it without causing more damage, she'd been pressured into going on the stupid jog. Since Laxus was leading it and Bacchus kept himself behind Claire to make sure she didn't run off (without them), at some point in the jog, the lightning and fire mage had gotten separated from the group. A little less than thirty minutes into the jog and the checker woman looked back to say something to Bacchus, only to find that he was gone, along with the rest of their party.

"Did you hear them leave?" Claire asked the blonde, and he shook his head, slowing to a stop. They were near the top of a small mountain, and as they looked down below, could see their party in the distance, moving away from them.

"I told them to stop doing this." He told her, and took a seat on a nearby boulder. Normally a jog like this wouldn't phase the fire woman, but after her constant training the past few days, she tiredly copied his movements and sat down nearby.

They sat in silence for what felt like forever, simply watching their group continue jogging, now being led by Bacchus. She wasn't sure why

was tired after such a short jog, since they had done more difficult terrain than this before, but found that she didn't care enough to ask. The idea of taking a nap sounded all too pleasant right then.

"I didn't think that he'd be so excited to meet me." He finally spoke.

"He's been waiting for us to show up for over 16 years. Of course he's excited." She told him. In the past they had moments like this all the time- when they'd simply sit in comfortable silence, lost in their own thoughts, and occasionally talking about whatever was on their mind; however, this was far from comfortable. Neither of them wanted to be there.

"He wants to do a sailing trip with us. Family bonding or something."

"The summer before you were born, we all went on a sailing trip. That's probably why."

"He mentioned that."

"Ready to head back?" She asked, turning back to him.

"Yeah." He nodded, and stood up. Claire took the lead this time, and since they didn't have a pack of wizards trailing behind them, they could go faster than before.

When they arrived back at the training spot, they'd returned sooner than the other group. Since Makarov had threatened everyone into doing the jog, they were the only ones there. Compared to earlier it was oddly empty, with bags and waterbottles scattered through the space. It was a section of a public park rarely frequented by non-wizards.

The checker woman immediately went over to the 'cool down' area, plopping herself down on the yoga mat with her name on it. As she started doing stretches, Laxus stood awkwardly near his own mat, staring at her. After a few minutes of simply watching her stretch, he sighed.

"Are we always going to be this awkward?"

Mid-stretch, she looked over at him with an indifferent expression, pondering the question. Neither of them had made any effort to reconcile whatever relationship they had, whether it was friendship or familial, at that point. The question itself could be seen as a form of reaching out to her, but he still hadn't apologized to her.

"We do have to work together, after all."

"Technically, we don't."

He paused, not wanting to ask the question, but finally blurted it out. "Are you planning to leave the Thunder Legion?"

"No. I was just saying… we don't have to work together if we don't want to." She told him, leaning forward to stretch out her thigh. "You're family, and I love you, but I'm going to be mad at you for a while. And you still haven't apologized for lying to my face for 2 months." She said pointedly, and when she finally looked back up at him, found that he'd taken a seat on his own mat.

"Fair enough. I'm sorry for not telling you." Laxus said, and started doing the same stretch.

They didn't talk for the rest of their time together. Some ten minutes later, the group finally made it back, half of them crying and complaining for one reason or another. Bacchus and Bickslow immediately ran over to the siblings, Bacchus to Laxus while Bickslow to Claire, asking for details about their time together.

"Dude, how'd it go? Did you guys make up?" Bacchus asked his brother, who grunted and continued his stretches.

"She's mad. I didn't push it." He shrugged, and the older man took a seat on the mat in front of him, lecturing him about 'how to deal with women'.

"Sooo," Bickslow spoke to Claire, taking a similar position on her mat, sitting in front of her. His babies hovered behind him. "How'd it go?"

"I wish you guys would stop doing that." She glared, annoyed that he was now blocking her stretching path.

"Not good, huh?"

"Sky moved on yesterday, so I have to figure out a new fighting strategy and weeks of training have gone to waste. I don't really have the time or energy to worry about my relationship to my brother."

"What? Sky moved on?" He asked, surprised. "When did that happen? Why didn't you say anything?"

"It happened when you went to the store last night. His ghost brother showed up, or something, and then Sky turned into a ghost thing, and then they disappeared like Peppe did. I'm glad that he moved on, but-"

"Hey, slow down," Bickslow spoke, grabbing her fidgeting hands and clasping them in his. He leaned forward to rest his visor on her forehead, and the close proximity allowed her to look in his eyes. Taking a shaky breath, and exhaling, he waited for her to calm down before speaking. "If I had known that Sky had left, I wouldn't have forced you to come here today. It takes a while to emotionally adjust when a soul moves on, especially when you relied on them so much."

"Does that mean one of us will replace him?" Pappa asked, moving closer to them.

"Maybe. We'll have to talk about it first." He answered, keeping his voice low. When he looked back to Claire, he suddenly realized just how exhausted she looked. Two days ago he had one of his souls check up on her while she was training, and when he reported back, said that she was hitting it pretty hard. "If Claire wants to, we can-"

"Hey, we're starting the martial arts lesson! Claire is going to be my dummy to explain how to do things! Everyone pair up!" Bacchus yelled, clapping and running around the small groups of people. Makarov joined in his enthusiasm, yelling for people to 'get off their asses' and take this training day seriously.

"If you want, I can help you escape." Bickslow said with a wink. Claire sighed, and pulled away.

"There's no escaping my brother once his mind is set on something." She grumbled.

Just as the jog had ended earlier, Claire somehow became paired up with Laxus for most of the lesson. Bacchus used the pair as an example to show how to do a specific move, and then lecture them both when they did it wrong. Once they were close enough to how the move should go, he would move onto the other wizards who were falling and tripping over themselves.

Despite their brother's attempts to get them talking, it didn't really work. The most they spoke was an occasional apology when they messed up, or Laxus's awkward comment about Sky, since he'd overheard her conversation with Bickslow. "Sorry about Sky."

"Thanks."

Back to fighting.

3.

"When did we get so much ice cream?" Bickslow asked that night, opening the freezer to find not just one, but several containers of various ice cream flavors. He stood there for a moment, scratching at his blue and black hair, confused by the bountiful frozen sugar.

"Last night." She answered, and collapsed on the couch. "When we got back from the Guild Hall, you said that we needed ice cream, and ran to the grocery store to buy half of their stock."

"You were really excited about it." Poppo added.

"Oh yeah… I didn't think that I bought this much, though…" He muttered, still staring. "You want any? Apparently we have one kind of everything."

"Not really." She sighed, closing her eyes. The familiar humming of their babies vibrated against her as they rested on her, and she felt a mix of sadness over Sky leaving and comfort over their presence. Ever since she mentioned Sky passing, they'd been slightly more attentive to her through the day, which she'd enjoyed. It was a nice break from Bacchus's constant expectant stare and Laxus's awkward guilty avoidance.

"So, have you thought much about getting a new soul to work with?" Bickslow asked as he rummaged through the kitchen for sandwich supplies.

"Not really. Bacchus kept me busy for most of the day."

"Our babies haven't been able to shut up about it all day. Apparently they like you better than me."

"We love daddy, too!" A few of the babies cheered, and immediately rose from Claire's body to fly over to him, nuzzling his cheek a little too hard and accidentally knocking over the jar of mayo.

"Hey, watch it- I was just joking. I know you guys still love me." He told them, quickly grabbing the jar and setting it back on the table. Luckily it hadn't been opened yet.

"They want me to be their seith mage?" She asked, surprised. Two of the souls were still humming against her thigh and hip, and she guessed that it was Pappa and Poppo.

"Well, it would give them the chance to work with someone one on one. Most of them have been working with me for years, so it would probably be a nice change of pace. The only one I don't want you working with is Peppe, but the others are fair game."

"What's wrong with Peppe?"

"He's not good with close combat, and he's pretty skittish. Plus... I just want to work with him more." He said, and reached out to poke the little soul, who giggled and flew to hide behind him. As he went back to sandwich making, the other souls flew back over to Claire, cuddling up to her. "Must be weird to not have the connection anymore. I'm surprised he moved on so quickly."

"Yeah, don't most wandering souls take years to move on?"

"Yeah, they do, usually. The shortest amount of time I've had a wandering soul was half a year. I've had Pappa for 10 years."

"He was your first soul, wasn't he?"

"No, he was my third. He doesn't seem to have an emotional reason for being stuck here, so I think it's just something with his soul keeping him tied to this world. Souls like his are extremely rare, and I was lucky to grab him before another seith mage did."

"Why is he so rare? I thought it was fairly common for dark seith mages to keep their souls for decades at a time?"

"As you know, it's extremely dangerous and risky to do it that way. Most of those mages don't live for very long."

"Well, yeah, but that still doesn't answer my question."

"I'm special." Pappa hummed from her hip.

"As you probably realized with Sky, it's ideal to keep one soul for an extended amount of time since you have to put so much work into training them." Mid sentence, he grabbed the two small plates and carried them over to the couch. She moved to sit up on one end, gladly accepting the food, and watched as he sat down next to her. "There's a lot of reasons why he's awesome. For one, he's a great back up in case the other souls moved on at the same time. It's extremely rare, but it does happen. He's also gotten better over the years at helping me train the other guys, which makes the process tons faster and easier. He kind of acts like the big brother of the group when he needs to. When you upgrade from two or three souls to five, like I did, it becomes essential to have a soul like him to help keep them all in check."

"So I take he's off the table, too?" She asked, and as he bit into his sandwich, he pondered it for a moment, and frowned.

"Guess so. Sorry."

"It's fine. That just leaves Pippi, Puppu, and Poppo." She commented, watching as the souls moved to hover over the coffee table. "If I did end up taking one of your souls, which if you don't want me to that's fine, could I call them something else?"

"I'd highly recommend it, actually. I don't suggest calling them by their real names, though, otherwise it's easy to get too attached."

"How about 'Riley'?"

"Why Riley? It's your middle name, isn't it?"

"It's a family name."

4.

Laxus closed his eyes as his breathing slowed, enjoying one of his rare moments with the fellow dragonslayer. Their time together was limited, between sneaking around his team and Lily, along with the rest of the guild, so they made the most of their evenings together.

He loved the feel of those large, calloused hands trailing up his torso, gently caressing his tired muscles. How the mage fit so perfectly under his arm and against his side, like they were made for each other, and the strangely arousing scent of iron exuding from him.

His mind wandered to, and not for the first time, that stupid 'quiz' days earlier. 'Love' was a concept he'd never entertained before and never even got close to feeling, so when it was brought up, it caught him completely off guard. In lust, certainly, but never

. What he and Gajeel had wasn't going to last no matter how much they liked each other, because they just weren't that kind of men, so there was no point in even thinking about it.

And yet, he couldn't get it out of his head.

He

have been worrying about his sister; because, hell, they were siblings. Or something. And he was supposed to care. No matter how much Bacchus and Bickslow bugged him about it he couldn't shake the feeling that she would get over it if he left her alone, so every time it came up in conversation, he had the urge to shake it off. If she didn't forgive him after a few weeks, he'd let her punch him or something. Emotionally she was more like a guy than a girl, so he wasn't worried about her holding a grudge like Ever or other girls from the guild. Mira was still mad at him for ruining one of her dresses seven years ago.

And just as quickly had his thoughts wondered to her, they were back to the man cuddling in his arms.

Cuddling.

Laxus Dreyar was cuddling with Gajeel Redfox, and both of them were actually enjoying it. When they first started secretly dating, they had avoided being 'feminine' gay guys, and acted overly macho in bed. Biting, scratching- even the occasional punch. Somehow that morphed into… cuddling.

"So how long with your sailing trip be?" Gajeel asked, bringing the man out of his thoughts. They were currently at Laxus's place, which was their usual hang out location, since Lily would see/smell him at Gajeel's.

"I rented it for the week, but we might come back sooner if Claire burns it down."

"So she still doesn't know, does she?"

"I mentioned it to her earlier today, but I didn't know Bacchus's plans until later. It's going to get us stranded in the middle of the goddamn ocean." He explained, and flinched when the mage licked at his exposed nipple. The sensation was pleasant, but unexpected.

"I would be pretty pissed if I woke up on a boat with Metalicana. Two S-Class mages and a fire dragon on a boat sounds like a terrible joke."

"Do you think I shouldn't go?"

"No, you should definitely go. You should also bring a water-proof camera so you can take pictures of the ship sinking."

"If I'm on the boat, how the hell would I get pictures of it sinking?"

"How the hell should I know? Use your magic or something. You're an S-Class mage, figure it out."

"I'm not sure if I like your tone."

"Tough shit." Gajeel retorted, only to find himself flipped onto his back with the lightning mage on top of him.

"You were saying?"

5.

Claire watched solemnly as the boat drifted from shore, coffee warming up in her hands.

Bacchus had tried to kidnap her in the middle of the night so that she'd wake up on the ship with no way of escape, somewhere in the middle of the ocean, but her babies didn't let him get more than two steps into the apartment before raising hell. When his initial plan to kidnap her didn't work, he instead went for the guilt trip route- which worked like a charm.

"Come on, cheer up. This is going to be fun!" The mage announced from the top level of the ship. It wasn't exactly a sail boat, as they'd been told, but was much better. It had a magic motor, much like their magic cars, and between the three powerful mages they had more than enough to move the giant vehicle.

"Did you account for Laxus's motion sickness, dumbass?" Claire asked, turning to look up at the brunette. His grin fell, scratching his head as he looked over to his little brother, who was currently popping pills in his mouth.

"I'll be fine." He muttered, looking off to the front of the ship. On the top deck, where Bacchus was currently located, was the control center for navigating where the ship went. On the floor below it, where Claire and Laxus were, was the main deck. Below that was the quarters where they would be sleeping.

"S.S. Groh ship, here we go! Yeehaw!" Bacchus cheered, bottle in hand as he steered the ship.

"Is it such a good idea to drink while driving?" Claire yelled up to him.

"Who the fuck cares?"

Rolling her eyes, she made her way to the front of the deck and planted herself on one of the empty chairs.

6.

"Why the hell are you still mad at our baby brother? He's so cute!" Bacchus spoke, standing behind his little brother and pinching his cheeks. The dragonslayer glared, regretting the decision to go along with his brother's idea. For some reason when he'd been listening to the drunkard the past few days, he'd completely forgotten about all the warnings Claire had told him about months before. Bacchus was powerful and brilliant when he wanted to be, but in his brilliance, he also had brilliantly stupid ideas- along with the uncanny ability to make those stupid ideas

brilliant.

"How are you not weirded out by him?" She asked the older man, and both of them looked at her confused. "We watched his freaking birth, and now he's older than I am."

"You were ten years older than me when I came to this world, and now I'm 5 years older. If anything, his age makes more sense to me than yours does. Chronologically you should be over 30 years old."

"Figuring out what age all of us should be gives me a headache." She groaned, and rested the side of her face in her palm.

"Did Laxus tell you what really happened to our dad yet?" Bacchus asked, and at this question, she looked over at him. Laxus was currently trying to swat the older's man's hands away, who seemed insistent on touching the lightning mage's face in one capacity or another.

"Erza said he died."

"Not before saving Kale. Turns out, dad spent his last hours alive saving little Kale here, and getting him to safety. Isn't that awesome?"

"It… yeah, it is, actually." She commented, and looking out at the horizon again.

"How is our dad dying awesome?" Laxus asked, confused. He was still trying to wrap his head around all the stories Bacchus had been telling him over the past few days, and piecing them together with what little Claire had told him over the past half year. There were some considerable inconsistencies in their stories, but between the two, he'd assumed that Bacchus was exaggerating in his versions to make his family seem better than they were. Since there was no way to prove either version, he'd tried to commit to memory the bigger points that they both agreed on.

"We thought he died the woods maybe minutes after arriving on this world, alone and scared. Knowing he died saving you sounds a little better, don't you think?" Claire asked, looking over at the bonde. He paused in the swatting at Bacchus, thinking over what she'd said.

"Not only that, but think about what's happened to the rest of our family. Mom killed herself, sister is a bat shit crazy assassin, other sister is bat shit crazy, and our brother- whatever the fuck happened to him..."

"Not to mention our nieces." She added, and the eldest brother turned to her, confused.

"We have nieces?"

"We

nieces. You really don't want to know the details of it."

"Who the hell had kids? Are you pregnant?"

"No. When Kelsey, mom, and Carl came to this world, Kelsey got hitched and had kids. If you want to know more about it, the house they lived in is haunted as shit, and you can learn about it in the public library."

"Kelsey had kids? Seriously?" Bacchus asked, now holding his brother's shoulders to steady himself, the waves causing the boat to move and wobble.

"It's depressing, dude. You really don't want to know about it."

"That's not the house we almost exorcised, was it?" Laxus asked, and she nodded. "Why didn't you say anything back then?"

"I didn't see the point of it." She shrugged, going back to watching the horizon. An awkward silence fell over the trio, a mix of curiosity and foreboding washing over the brothers, while an awkward mental debate of whether she should have brought it up at all happened in her head. "So what was it like growing up as the Guild Master's grandson?"

"It had it's perks. Overall, not that great." Laxus answered, and grimaced when his brother started touching his face again. "Do you have to keep doing that?"

"So when are you having kids, sis?" Bacchus asked, turning back to his sister. "As much as I hate your boyfriend, you two seem pretty serious."

"If we ever have kids, we're going to adopt." She answered. It was automatic at that point, and she was getting tired of having to repeat herself. Nearly everyone at the guilt had asked her at that point.

"We're literally the last of our kind, and you're going to adopt? Seriously? Load 'em up and pop 'em out, girl! Get workin'!"

"Do you realize how disgusting you sound right now?" Laxus asked, looking up at the brunette

touching his face.

"Did you ever find out if the gypsy woman was right?" She asked, smiling and unfazed by the crude comments. The gypsy woman had predicted that he had already fathered a child in Hargeon, and even though they hadn't brought up the topic since then, she'd been curious if she was right.

"She was a stupid old hag."

"What gypsy woman?" Laxus asked.

"On a job we did, this gypsy lady somehow knew that we were from another world, predicted that it would be our last job together for a while, and that Bacchus had a kid somewhere and would have three more in the future."

"She also said you're sterile, which is bull. I grew up with you, I know that you had periods. You were queen bitch once a month without fail."

"Until I came to this world, and that parasite fucked up my eggs. My uterus is a barren wasteland." She told them, and of course, another awkward silence followed.

"Who wants a drink?" Bacchus asked after a while, and both Laxus and Claire raised their hands.

7.

"How the hell are we out of food on our second day?" Claire asked the brunette, and kicked the empty food bag off the table.

"I thought you said you bought enough food for the week?" Laxus asked, looking equally peeved at the man. It was scorching hot outside, they were running low on water, and the only supplies they weren't low on was booze. "I gave you more than enough money for groceries."

"We did have enough for a week. I didn't realize you were both pigs." He defended, taking a seat nearby. Claire's stomach growled loudly. "Are you sure you're not eating for two?"

He held up his hands to block against the empty container thrown at him.

"Why did you trust him with something that was actually important? Don't you know anything about alcoholics?" Claire asked the dragonslayer, and he turned his glare to her.

"I resent the accusation of being an alcoholic. I'm an alcohol enthusiast." Bacchus told her, and reached for the bottle next to him on the floor. It was noon, and that was his second bottle of wine. He'd been up for less than an hour.

"You actually did S-Ranked jobs with him? How are you even alive right now?" Laxus asked, turning back to Claire.

"Hey! I'm an awesome S-Rank job partner!"

"One of your first jobs with our

who had been on this world for less than half a year and barely knew any magic, was disposing of reanimated human corpses."

"Well when you phrase it that way it sounds bad, but you don't know the ways of our people! We killed virtual zombies on a daily basis- for fun!"

"Watching someone else do it on a screen and

doing it are completely different things."

"Okay, okay, new idea. Let's just eat some lunch, calm down a little-"

"What lunch? We're out of food." Claire interrupted. The tipsy man looked at the table, remembering the reason why they were arguing.

"Right, okay, new plan. We find a pirate ship, steal all of their booze, and make out with the hot pirate ladies. You're still bi, right Claire?"

"We both have boyfriends, and we have enough booze to last a month. What we need is food."

"Both of you have boyfriends? What?" He asked, turning to Laxus, who glared.

"We're not getting anywhere talking to him." The blond stated, sighing as he turned back to his sister. "Last I checked on the map, we were heading towards Tenrou Island. Since Bacchus stayed up late steering, maybe we're within distance of it. There's enough wild game on the island to sustain us for our trip back home."

"Woah, hold on, you're gay? Since when? Do we need to talk about that?"

"No." Both Laxus and Claire said in unison.

"I'll try to figure out where we are, you, uh… make sure he doesn't fall off the boat... or... something." As she spoke, the color in Laxus's face disappeared, and she watched as the man ran for the railing of the boat, puking out the contents of his stomach. "Forget to take your motion sickness pills?"

8.

Food was easy enough to get when they arrived on the island. Unfortunately they couldn't reach it until nightfall, and it was another half hour to find and prepare the food. Technically non-Fairy Tail members weren't supposed to be on the island, but when they anchored on shore, it was impossible to keep the eldest sibling on the boat. Laxus was beginning to learn why Claire both hated and enjoyed the strange man's company: when he wasn't being a drunk mess, he was a brilliant and hilarious pain in the ass that always seemed to get his way.

After devouring a giant… some kind of weird monster none of them had a name for, other than 'giant motherfucker' as dubbed by Bacchus, Laxus and Claire found themselves sitting by an open fire, alone. Directly following his consumption of an entire leg of the creature they had cooked, Bacchus drank an entire bottle of vodka and disappeared into the woods wearing his birthday suit.

"Should we go after him?" The dragonslayer asked, not wanting to move from his spot. Between him and Claire, they'd eaten practically the entire thing, and bones littered the space around them.

"Nah, he'll be fine." She told him, reclining in the chair she had brought from the boat. In the distance they heard their brother hollering in excitement over something. "You think Makarov will be mad when he finds out we came here?"

"No, because we're not going to tell him. This is sacred grounds."

"Do you think Mavis will be mad? Doesn't she live here or something?"

He glanced over at her, and then grunted, going back to the large fire they had made. Well, Claire had made. Laxus had a great amount of respect for the First, but given their circumstances, there hadn't been any other option. "She'll understand. Speaking of whom…"

Claire could sense a soul nearby, but when she looked in its direction, couldn't see it.

"Hey Mavis, how's it going?"

"You can see her?" Claire asked, and the man gave her a weird look.

"Of course I can. Anyone with our Fairy Tail emblem should be able to see her." He told her, and she stared at him for a moment, before reaching over and touching her upper arm. Not entirely sure what she was doing, he patiently watched as she removed her jacket, and raised his eyebrows when he saw the black handprint on her arm where her guild symbol should have been.

"Guess I need Mira to re-stamp me. I didn't think it had damaged the Fairy Tail mark so bad."

"Where the hell did you get that?" He asked, now realizing that she had a similar residue on her hand and leg. Now that he thought about it, there had been a strange black mark on Gajeel's hand, too.

"Some guy attacked me the other day, and used weird explosive magic. I'm surprised Gajeel didn't tell you about it." She said, and looked back at the mark. It looked considerably better than the other day, and the burn cream she'd snuck from Bickslow was working wonders on it.

"Why didn't

tell me about it? You were supposed to tell us, your team, if anyone from a dark guild attacked you again."

"I've been a little busy, if you haven't noticed. And we're sorry for causing such a ruckus on the island, Mavis." She said, redirecting her attention back to the spirit. "Our brother, Bacchus, didn't pack enough food for our trip, so we needed to stop here for supplies."

"She's a little more concerned about you being in trouble than us being on the island." Laxus told her, and Claire rolled her eyes. "Claire's magic has gotten the attention of a few dark guilds, and recently our team fell into a trap designed to steal her magic. She almost died, and Makarov is thinking of banning our team from jobs for a while until the rumors settle down."

"I didn't almost die. I've been in worse situations." She told him, and sunk further in her chair.

"Apparently her magic can burn souls."

"Can we go back to talking about our brother running around naked and peeing in the woods? How is she not mad about that?" She asked, looking over at the taller man.

"... she says that she's taking care of it." He said, and both siblings heard Bacchus suddenly scream in the distance. "She says that you should listen to me and be honest with your friends."

"Did she actually say that or are you just trying to make me do what you want?" She asked, and he rolled his eyes.

"Sister or not, you are a member of our guild, which makes you family. Stop being stubborn and let us help you."

"I've had to face my mortality every day since I arrived on this world. Sorry for not being scared by a few pathetic wannabe ghoul guild wizards. They're nothing compared to our sister; which, by the way, she was trying to join the ghoul guild last I checked."

"Being the target of dark wizards is serious. You shouldn't take it so lightly."

"Who said I am? And who the hell are you to lecture me about what I should and shouldn't do? A year ago I watched you be born; I held you in my arms when you were two minutes old. And you lied to my face about being my brother for two months while working side by side with me, after I got stabbed twice and almost died trying to find out your identity. Do I even need to get into the love triangle bullshit you've gotten yourself into?" She yelled at him, and for the billionth time on their trip, an awkward silence followed.

Laxus looked over to where Bacchus had been sitting earlier, eyeing the bottle of tequila he had left behind.

9.

Claire woke up to the wonderful smell of smoke. She loved the smell, or at least, she would under normal circumstances.

Curious as to where it was coming from, she sat up, wincing from the movement. She and Laxus had passed out on the ground near the campfire sometime in the night, and it hadn't been entirely comfortable. Realizing that the smoke wasn't coming from the campfire, which was completely out, she moved to stand.

There was a giant pillar of smoke rising on the side of the island.

In the direction of their ship.

Bacchus was nowhere in sight, and she kicked Laxus's side, causing the blond to groan and curse at her. "I think the boat is on fire." She said simply, and ran off down the path. It took a few seconds for that to register in the lightning mage's head, and when it finally did, he jumped to his feet and ran after her.

"What the hell did you do!?" He yelled after her.

"I didn't do shit! I was sleeping!" She yelled as she ran down the windy path, narrowly avoiding the giant roots sticking up from the ground. When they both managed to make it to the beach, they watched in horror as their way home continued burning to the ocean floor. Half of it was submerged, as if it had been broken in half, while the other half was pointing to the sky and burning like a bright bonfire.

"WOOOO!" Bacchus cheered on the beach, and both siblings turned to look at him in horror. He was surrounded by bottles of alcohol, both full and empty, with a bunch of turtles strapped together by rope in front of him. They all helplessly tried to escape, but whenever one of them started moving, was dragged down by the others or by Bacchus putting his foot on them. "I am Captain Jack Sparrow, marooned on an island, and will make it home on a raft of sea turtles!"

Claire face palmed, while Laxus just stared in awe.

"

tell me that you brought a communications lacrima." She groaned.

"On the ship…" He muttered, looking back at the sinking vessel. "Unless it miraculously didn't get damaged, the only other lacrima on the island is near Mavis's grave."

"That's good."

"The only other lacrima it can call is the one at the Guild Hall."

"... not good."

10.

"So, when is Makarov going to pick us up?" Claire asked as the man emerged from the room.

"He said that he would send out a ship today… but knowing the old man, it'll probably be more like a few days. Sadistic old bastard…"

"You told him our situation with Bacchus?"

"That he lost his nut? Yeah."

"What did he say?"

"What do you think? He thought it was hilarious." He told her, and she grunted, putting her hands on her hips and looking at their surroundings. For being stranded on an island, they definitely could have done worse, but it didn't change the fact that they were stuck on an island.

They were stranded on an island, together, and both of them were imagining their Guild Master laughing hysterically at their predicament. It wasn't a stretch for them to imagine their entire guild laughing at it, and they both frowned in unison.

"And you wonder why I didn't tell you guys I was related to you?" Laxus asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"It's not my fault we're here, and believe it or not, Bacchus has done worse things in the past."

"How is that even possible? He used our grocery money on booze, stranded us on an island, and is currently rampaging through our guild's sacred grounds naked and screaming about pirates."

"On one of the first jobs we did together, he got wasted, slept with the daughter of some village leader, and passed out. While he was passed out the natives tied us up and dangled us over a cliff for their religious deity to eat us alive, and the only reason we survived, is apparently the monster hates alcohol. Bacchus had so much alcohol in his system that it ate us, and then immediately spit us back up."

"Did he know that the monster didn't like alcohol?"

"Knowing him… I have no idea." She frowned, looking in the general direction of their brother's last known location.

"... how are you even alive right now?" He asked, not for the first time. It was a phrase he had actually picked up from her, but it was so accurate for situations like this, he had started using it. The more he learned about her jobs with Bacchus the more he legitimately wondered how she had survived them, and somehow, the more oddities were explained about her.

"Dumb luck, probably."

They heard a flying raptor screech above them, and when they looked up, saw their brother riding it while screaming he was the 'king of the world'.

11.

Their second day on the island was uneventful, compared to the previous ones. Bacchus passed out (finally) just outside of their shelter, not even two feet from the door, and neither of his siblings bothered to drag him the rest of the way.

Claire sun bathed by the waterfall while Laxus swam in the water. Neither ventured too far from the other, but they didn't talk much, either. Food and shelter had been established the day before, so they really had nothing to do but hang out and wait for rescue. At top speed their ride would get there in two days. More likely, it would be closer to a week.

None of them were good cooks, so when their meals tasted particularly bad (which, so far had been all of them), they'd pass around some kind of alcohol to make it taste better. Claire was pretty sure they were all alcoholics by that point.

"Can I ask you something?" Laxus asked, causing the woman to raise her head from her folded arms to look over at him. She'd been clad in board shorts and a bikini top while fire danced along her skin, happily soaking up the rays of sun. They'd been doing their own thing for close to an hour now without so much as a word.

"Sure, but it doesn't mean I have to answer it." She replied, to which the man swam over to the edge of the water, laying his forearms on the soft grass.

"The stupid quiz thing… one of the questions was something about scars on your legs. Is that why you always wear shorts?"

Of all the things for him to ask about, she hadn't really expected that. As of late whenever he asked personal questions, it was about Bacchus or their family. Nothing actually… personal. "Yeah."

"You show off your other scars from yours fights with Kelsey, but not the ones on your legs."

"The ones on my legs don't have a cool and hip story, and they just look ugly. The ones on my torso at least look sexy."

"Does it have to do with you being in an insane asylum when you were little?" He asked, and she paused before answering. She didn't think he would actually remember that, nor that anyone would make the connection. Maybe he was a little smarter than she gave him credit for.

"They happened after that, but they are related…. When I was a bit older I liked to burn myself with open flames, but I knew that if I got caught they'd send me back, so I did them on my thighs where no one would see them. Bacchus is the only other person that knows about them, because he caught me once. I had to bribe him with candy to keep him from blabbing to our parents."

"Was that because of the parasite thing?" Again, she didn't think he'd make that connection. She wondered if he was actually that attentive and intelligent, or if Bacchus and him had been talking about her.

"Probably. No way to know for sure." She replied, a little unnerved by his stare. His complete and utmost attention was on her right then, and she was reminded of why she'd felt so intimidated when they first met. Suddenly she felt self-conscious, and had to fight back the urge to fix her hair or pick at her clothing. "So you're in love with Gajeel, huh?"

He sighed, looking away, and rested the side of his jaw in the palm of his hand. He looked strangely vulnerable at that moment, which was extremely unusual and uncharacteristic of him. "I don't know. Maybe."

"I think you two make a cute couple, if that makes you feel any better."

"It doesn't." He grumbled, knowing that the woman was grinning at him without having to look at her. The cool water was a nice contrast to the sun bearing above them, and he was glad to be in the shade. Claire's fire was enough to keep him from getting too cold, and at the moment, he had a perfect mix.

"Do you not want to like him? Is it the gay thing?"

"Yes and no. I don't know. Maybe."

"I haven't really figured out how gay people are treated in this world. On our home world, we were in the middle of a revolution of sorts, where gay rights was becoming popular and they weren't being persecuted as much, but homophobia still existed, and it was worse in some parts of the world."

"It's more or less the same here, but it sounds like it's less extreme. There are some homophobic people, and a lot of people are awkward on the topic, but for the most part they don't care. There's the religious fanatics that condemn it, of course, but on average it's not a big deal. Still… I'd always hoped that I would fall for a girl. Preferably Mirajane."

"You two would make some cute babies."

"From the sound of it, we'd be better off not spreading our genes." He commented, hearing their brother wake up from his nap and start yelling something again, and then abruptly stop.

"It does seem like insanity is genetic in our family. Raising a kid in Fairy Tail wouldn't help." She mused, and Laxus chuckled.

"True."

"So why don't you want to like him?" She asked, watching his previous smile falter as he went back into deep thought. Before she started dating Bickslow, she had never really enjoyed talking about relationships or crushes with people. Considering how much he bugged Evergreen about her relationship, and the way he teased other people about it, she figured that it was a habit he'd picked up from him. In this case it seemed like her brother actually wanted to talk about it, but was simply awkward on the subject. Since she was the only person outside of their relationship that knew about them, she doubted he had confided in anyone else about it.

"I have an image to uphold. Dating the guy that destroyed one of our guild halls doesn't send a strong message."

"Coming from the guy that tried to overthrow his grandfather and forcefully take over the guild."

He looked at her, and he tried to be mad at her for bringing that up, but it was a valid point. If he was going to explain why he and Gajeel shouldn't be dating, he couldn't be hypocritical. Well, he shouldn't be, anyway. "He's younger than me."

"That's a pretty good reason. How old is he?"

"... I don't know, actually. I just assumed he was 20." He commented, trying to recall if the iron mage had ever told him his age. When the Battle of Fairy Tail happened, he was unable to pass through the enchantment that claimed he was over 80, but that clearly wasn't true. "Dating fellow guild members ends badly."

"Biska and Alzack got married and have a kid. They seem pretty happy."

"I still don't like it. Dating is one thing, but love is out of the question."

"If you're worried about labels, just forget about it. That quiz was designed to mess with our heads, and purposely phrased things to set us on edge; like the question about Bickslow cheating on me, for example. Rape would have been a more accurate word but it chose the words that would get a better rise out of us."

"... good point." He muttered, looking at a nearby tree.

"What do you like about him?"

"Gajeel?" He asked, and she nodded.

"Duh."

He rolled his eyes. "I dunno. A lot of things, I guess. He smells nice. He brings me food. He asks about my day, he doesn't care about my power, he calls me out on things when I'm in the wrong… he's okay in bed. Inexperienced, but passionate. I've never been with someone I can lose myself in. I don't have to worry about hurting him, which is a major plus."

"Are you happy with him?"

Laxus thought about the question for a moment, recalling his emotional state since he started dating the young dragonslayer. Aside from Gajeel, he hadn't really talked about his relationship with anyone, so it was strange to be saying these things out loud. "Yeah."

"Then stop with the 'maybe' and 'I don't know' crap. We don't choose who we fall for, so just go for it."

"If you could, would you love someone other than Bickslow?"

"Are you kidding? No way, he's awesome. He's cute, funny, kind, sweet, great in bed, understanding, amazing, thoughtful. I can't even imagine having a better relationship with anyone else."

"This conversation feels so gay. I'm going to run laps or something." He muttered, and pushed himself out of the water.

"The gayness was on your side of the conversation, for the record. I'm in love with a straight dude~"

"You've already told me about your past relationships. You're gayer than I am."

"Says the guy fucking another guy in his spare time." She said with a smirk, unknowingly much more accurate than she'd intended it to be. Fucking Gajeel really was how he spent what little free time he had, but it's not like he wanted his little sister to know that.

"... shut up."

11.

Meanwhile back at Fairy Tail HQ….

"Laxus was supposed to call us every two days. I gave him a schedule of activities to partake in on his journey, and even gave copies to Claire and Bacchus in case he lost his." Fried explained, pulling out his own copy of the schedule he had made. Bickslow reached over and grabbed the laminated page, holding back his smile.

"... you laminated it?"

"They're on a boat where it could get wet."

"Why is this copy laminated?" Evergreen asked, sitting next to the seith mage. Behind him, his babies echoed the word 'laminated' over and over again, entertained by the word.

"I wanted it to be a round number of copies, so I had a few extra ones made." He informed them, pulling yet another laminated schedule out of his bag. "Right here- 'check in with Thunder Legion'." He tapped the part of the time table on Bickslow's copy that said that.

"'Parasailing'?" Ever asked.

"'Bingo'? 'S'mores night'? How are they supposed to cook s'mores on a boat? Isn't that a camping thing?" Bickslow questioned.

"Why do you have a specific time dedicated to 'family bonding'? Isn't that what the entire trip is for?"

"Scuba diving? Did they even bring the right gear?"

"Laxus isn't certified. Doesn't Claire hate swimming?"

"It was just a general schedule." Fried snapped, grabbing the plastic parchment from them and collecting it with the other two copies in his hands. "They don't have to follow it precisely. I just made it as a rough outline of things they could do."

"They're all probably getting wasted and lost track of time. Stop stressing so much." Bickslow told him with a grin. "Have you changed your mind about the bar thing? We could go right now."

"'Bar thing'?" Evergreen asked.

"Fried was thinking about going to a gay bar, so I was going to be his wingman."

"A gay bar? Can I come?" She asked, looking between the pair with a smile.

"I never said I wanted to go. You suggested it and I said I

do it." Fried told them.

"Why don't you want to go?"

"He's a virgin." Bickslow whispered, just loud enough so that the word mage would hear, but no one else (aside from Ever, of course). They were on the main floor, relatively secluded from the rest of the rowdy guild, so there was little chance of anyone overhearing.

"So am I. What does that have to do with anything?"

"You and Elfman still haven't-? ow!" Once again glad for his excessive padding, which Claire teased him for regularly, he snickered at the brunette before going back to munching on his fries.

"I think it would be a fun experience to go to a gay bar. They're not really different from straight bars, or regular bars, other than there's a higher population of homosexuals."

"Have you ever been to one?" Bickslow asked her, and she shook her head.

"No, but I"ve heard enough stories from Claire to get a good idea."

"How about we think on it for a while?" Fried asked, getting their attention again. He coughed, trying to make the pink tint on his cheeks less noticeable. "I mean, there's no rush. And besides, I was hoping to date girls before moving on to guys."

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Ever asked, leaning forward a bit and lowering her voice. "I mean, if you

get attached to a girl, and you're gay, it would only end in hurt feelings on all sides."

"Just because that enchantment said I wasn't bisexual, doesn't mean it's true."

"But you know that you like guys, so why gamble by dating a girl? … unless there's a girl you're already interested in?" Bickslow asked, popping another fry in his mouth.

"No, not really."

"Okay, what if we all played a game. Who we'd bone in Fairy Tail." He suggested, and both mages gave him a weird look, terrified at whatever he was proposing. "Before you give me that terrified look, hear me out. It's a hypothetical. If you could sleep with anyone in the guild, no strings attached whatsoever, who would you sleep with? Or, if you prefer, who would you go on a date with?"

"That's a terrible game." Ever told him, but nonetheless looked around.

"It's actually a pretty common one." Mirajane spoke, causing them to all look up in surprise. She replaced some of their empty drinks, and brought a fresh batch of fries. "Sorry for eavesdropping."

"Not at all. How common is this game?" Bickslow asked, grinning up at her.

"It's probably Kana's favorite, and I hear people talking about it almost every night. It's harmless, and a fun way to pass the time."

"It seems disrespectful." Ever commented.

"You'd be surprised at how many people have said your name, Evergreen." Mira said with a grin, giggling at the brunette before walking away. Once the take-over mage was out of earshot, the trio exchanged a curious glance to each other.

"Well, I guess if other people have been playing it…"

"Who would you pick, Bickslow?" Fried asked.

"Claire. Duh."

"That's cheating." Ever accused.

"She's part of the guild, how is that cheating? And I know you two well enough that whatever other answer I say, you're going to tattle and get me in the doghouse." He explained, looking at the fairy mage pointedly. It wouldn't be the first time she had taken his words and twisted them to get him in trouble, and the same with Claire. She'd been progressively getting good at it, too.

She rolled her eyes, going back to looking around the guild. For the most part, all of the major players were in town, so it made it easier to choose. "Gray, definitely."

Both of her comrades looked over in the direction she was looking, and nodded approvingly. The ice mage in question was walking around naked, as per usual, showing off his well defined body. "If I was gay, I'd tap that."

"He's not unattractive…" Fried commented, and both of his friends smiled at him. "Lucy is pretty cute. And she's smart."

"Bouncy, bouncy~" Bickslow's babies spoke near him, recalling their match together on Tenrou Island.

"Gajeel isn't unattractive, either."

"Gajeel?" Bickslow asked in surprise, and looked over to the far corner of the room. The iron mage was drinking with his Exceed, talking animatedly about something. "Really?"

"He's cute. Not the greatest fashion sense, but cute." Evergreen commented.

"I'm surprised neither of you brought up Mirajane."

"She's a given. No one's too gay or straight for Mira." Ever told him, and he nodded in agreement.

"She is rather attractive. Not to mention intelligent, kind, thoughtful…." Fried rambled. They played the game for a little while longer, but got bored when it turned from who they were interested in, to how attractive or unattractive every person in the guild was. Towards the end of the night, their guild master walked over to them just as they were about to leave, looking contemplative.

"Yes, Guild Master?" Fried asked.

"I think… there was something important I was supposed to tell you…" He muttered, lightly tapping his chin and looking thoughtfully at the ceiling. After a few seconds he shrugged, and grinned. "Oh well. If I can't remember, it must have not been important."

12.

On their third day, Claire and Laxus were eating their not entirely pleasant meal in silence. Most of their meals consisted of some form of meat and the berries they found in the forest, coupled with booze.

Their brother, who came and went as he pleased in his insane stupor, abruptly joined them by the fire. He grabbed one of the cooked fish sticks, a stick they had sharpened to hold a rather long fish they had caught earlier that evening, and took a seat on the dirt ground.

Laxus threw a pair of pants at his brother, doing his best to avoid actually looking at him. The older man laughed, set the fish down, and moved to put the loose garment on. Luckily Makarov visited the island yearly for the S-Class trials and kept a storage room filled with supplies always stocked. It had extra clothes, first aid supplies, and a variety of other random objects. The only thing it didn't have was food. Given that Bacchus had sunk the ship and most of their belongings were unsalvageable, Claire and Laxus ended up wearing matching gray sweatpants with the Fairy Tail emblem in black, and matching black tank tops with a gay Fairy Tail emblem.

"So who's the guy you're dating? Is it serious?" Bacchus asked, returning to his original seat and biting hungrily into the fish. He was surprisingly clean considering his earlier adventures, so the other pair could only assume he'd cleaned up in one of the many watering holes around the island. His hair was loosely pulled back instead of the usual tight bun.

"Might be." Laxus shrugged.

"Who is it? Do I know him?"

"They're secret dating." Claire spoke.

"'Secret dating'? Why? Is your guild homophobic or something?"

"There's a rule against not dating guild members." Laxus told him.

"An unofficial, not really rule rule." Claire said.

"No shit, if you're openly dating that soul guy." Bacchus said, and she rolled her eyes. "Believe it or not, I'm pretty good about the secret thing. You can tell me."

The blond looked up at him, raising an eyebrow, and recalling the past few days on the island. He never thought he'd meet someone more aggravating than Natsu, and more than once, he wondered if his brother's insanity was contagious.

"If you don't, he's going to bug the hell out of us until you do. Our brother can be evil when he wants to be." Claire told him.

"Is he good at keeping secrets?"

"Not really."

"When have I ever blabbed any of your secrets?" Bacchus asked exasperatedly.

"All of them, when I didn't bribe you to keep quiet." She said, and the brunette grinned, going back to his food.

"So the only way out of this is to tell him and then bribe him?" Laxus summarized, and the checker woman nodded between bites of her food. "You're blackmailing me?" He asked, looking back to his brother, who was now chugging down a bottle of vodka.

"It's one of the very few characteristics he's kept since childhood."

"What if I just beat him up?" Laxus asked, and she shrugged.

"Probably won't do any good. As soon as he's healed he'll blab it to everyone."

13.

On the fourth day, Laxus called the Guild Master again, although Claire was with him this time.

"Oh, Laxus! How's your trip going?"

"When is that boat getting here, old man?" He growled, and his sister hit him over the head.

"Don't insult our only way home." She whispered.

"Boat?" Makarov asked, and both siblings turned back to him, a mix of shock and anger bubbling to the surface. The air became exceptionally warm and full of static in the course of two seconds, and luckily a cool breeze from the open window kept it from igniting.

"The boat you were supposed to send us four days ago, and should have arrived yesterday." The blond said through gritted teeth.

"Ooooh… that's what I forgot about."

"Can you put Bickslow or Fried on the line? Or Evergreen? Or anyone that doesn't have the attention span of a goldfish?" Claire asked, and the blonde looked up at her.

"What happened to not insulting our ride home?"

"What happened to shutting your face?"

"I see you two are getting along." Makarov said with a sadistic grin, and both mages glared at him.

"Shut up." They both growled, and then their eyes went wide when the lacrima stopped working. Their Guild Master's face disappeared from the orb, and it turned back to its usual white color. When Laxus reached out to tap it, it cracked in half.

"What did you do?" She squeaked as the man fumbled with the lacrima pieces that crumbled in his hands.

"Judging by how much magic is in the air, I'd say that we overloaded it with magic." He explained, and fell back in his chair, glaring at the stupid tiny pieces of their last working communications lacrima. Claire stood next to him, her eyes wide, and only now realizing what he meant. Electricity moved around the room in random bursts, attracted to the metal, and the air was much hotter than usual. She liked the temperature, but in this circumstance, it was bad.

"Do you think he's actually going to send help?"

"Eventually. The Thunder Legion will realize we've been gone too long in a couple of days and send for help." He told her, and as she left the small room, he stayed for an extra few minutes.

"What the hell?" Her voice brought him out of his thoughts, and he begrudgingly moved from his spot to join her outside. She was standing by a tree holding a piece of parchment, and a small critter he didn't get the chance to fully see ran off in the bushes.

"You okay?" He asked. Over the past few days of being trapped on the island he'd learned a lot about his family, and even though most of it was ridiculous or terrible, he'd become strangely protective of his little sister. Bickering had become second nature to him now, a habit he'd been able to avoid in his years at Fairy Tail, but somehow between the awkward silences and cursing each other out, he always ran to her aid at any sign of trouble.

She looked up from the paper and held it out to him, stepping towards him. Recognizing the parchment from the storage room on the island, he took the paper and tried to read the messy handwriting.

"How did he know where the storage unit was?" Laxus asked.

"This feels like a bad Wizard of Oz parody." Claire said, and looked up in the sky to see a heard of flying monkey begin circling them. Thankfully they didn't fly directly above them, as wet objects fell from them and landed in the nearby foliage. "A terrible parody." She corrected.

"Did you tell him where it was?"

"It's

. He probably overheard us talking when he was pretending to be drunk, or stumbled across it, or had one of his animal friends find it. Since apparently he has the power to tame animals."

"He pretends to be drunk?" Laxus asked, looking up at the flying monkeys circling them.

"Well yeah. He's only been actually drunk maybe half the time since we got here, the rest of the time only buzzed."

"So he's only been pretending to be drunk? Why?"

"That's how he gets information from people, and he claims that that's how he finds out what people are really like. People lower their guards when they think they're talking to a drunk person."

"... so he's only been acting bat shit crazy? Doesn't acting crazy make him just as crazy?"

She shrugged, watching as the monkeys changed their circling motion and started flying to the south. Whatever they were doing was extremely choreographed, as some of them stayed behind in two lines, and when the one ahead of them was far enough ahead they followed after them. They were signaling a path for them to follow. "Who knows?"

"So if we stray from the path that the flying monkeys have laid out for us, we're going to get shit on?" He clarified, frowning as he watched the disgusting bits fall from the sky.

"Let's get going before one of them misses." She said, and started walking down the path laid out for them. Utterly confused and dumbfounded by the situation, Laxus followed suit.

After about twenty minutes of walking to the other side of the island, a section that neither had explored much, the monkeys finally dispersed. The siblings stopped on the edge of a clearing, dumbstruck by what they found.

"Welcome to my castle." Bacchus said with a smirk.

'Castle' wasn't much of an exaggeration. In the course of 4 days he'd managed to build a massive structure, a very unconventional building. Half open tree houses and rooms were built into the surrounding trees, vines and bridges led to each of the rooms, beautiful foliage and flowers decorated the expansive wooden structures, water flowed through hollowed out tubes and formed several ornate fountains around the space. Animals, or creatures, or monsters, or whatever they were littered around the area in harmony and played with each other.

And in the middle of it all, would could have housed an entire village, was Bacchus. Reclined in a chair with a back so extravagant that it reached 20 feet in the air, was decorated beautifully with flowers and wooden carvings, that looked like it took years to make. Squirrels and birds were flying and climbing it happily.

Near the top, Mavis sat cheerfully with a hollowed out coconut in her hands, sipping happily at whatever liquid was inside.

"There's a hot tub in the back, if you guys want to try it out. It's probably not as warm as you'd like it, but Claire should be able to heat it up with her magic."

"How… did you…?" Laxus mumbled, utterly confused. He'd been convinced that Bacchus was a drunken idiot, not entirely unlike Natsu, and yet he'd… he'd….

"It's better not to think about the 'how' or 'why'." Claire told him, and patted him on the back before walking forward to their brother. "So what kind of food do you have in your castle?"

"Uh…" His smirk fell. "Tequila?"

14.

The Guild Master approached the Thunder Legion for the third time that week, drunk and smiling. They were polite for the first two times, but by the third, Bickslow snapped.

"Next time you remember, just fucking write it down so you don't forget it. Unless it has anything to do with Laxus and Claire, stop coming over here."

"Oh yeah!" The man said, pretending to finally remember whatever it was he was supposed to remember. Bickslow and the others had been waiting at the dock for most of the day for their leader and friend to arrive, so they weren't in a joking mood. 5 hours of sitting at a nearby restaurant with Fried rambling and crying about Laxus being dead at the bottom of the ocean. "They're stranded on Tenrou Island. I need you guys to go pick them up."

"What!?" Evergreen screeched. "How long have they been there!?" She yelled, grabbing the old man's shirt collar and hoisting him closer to her pissed off face.

"Um… a few days."

"Probably since he started walking over here and telling us he had something to tell us." Bickslow commented.

"Can we take the guild ship?" Fried asked.

"That's for S-Class trials and emergencies only." Makarov said.

"This is an emergency! Laxus is trapped on a deserted island with no way home! We have to leave immediately!" Fried announced, standing up and running to the guild master's office.

"Hey! You are not using the guild ship!"

15.

Day five on the island, the three Groh siblings and Mavis hung out at the 'castle'. Claire relaxed in a hammock while the guys reclined in the hot tub, which was getting water fed to it by a medicinal hot springs on another part of the island. The First Guild Master made herself visible to all of them, and seemed remarkably happy at their presence.

"So you've been helping him build this?" Laxus asked the First.

"I pointed him in the right direction, but he did most of the work… I think."

"You're pretty cool for a dead chick." Bacchus told the spirit, grinning at her. She giggled.

Sometime mid afternoon, Laxus and Claire had fallen asleep on the hammocks by the perpetually burning bonfire. Mavis had been kind enough to tell Claire about a rare mystical tree that grew on the island, and gave her permission to cut off one of its smaller branches and use it as a fire. Somehow the branch could be set on fire forever, without being reduced to ashes, but continue giving off heat. For Claire it was a never ending food source.

Once Laxus had consumed enough alcohol to accept that his brother had built this island mansion, or at least not care anymore how he had come by it, he'd started lightening up considerably. Their brother started acting a little more sane, as in he acted slightly sober and talked to them like adults, which put the blonde at ease.

Until he woke up to the unfortunately all too common sound of his older brother screaming, accompanied by the sounds of something extremely large pounding its feet into the ground. He would have slept it off and ignored it, because goddamnit he had another hangover and his brother screaming wasn't anything new, but the sounds were getting closer.

"What the hell are you…" He opened his eyes, and although at first blurry, he quickly realized what was happening. A giant, what looked like a T-Rex on steroids, was chomping at Bacchus's feet while chasing after him.

And of course, the idiot was running to them.

Laxus quickly rolled out of his hammock, hitting the ground roughly before scrambling to his feet and grabbing Claire, and then used his lightning teleportation magic in the nick of time. Just a few seconds later and they would have been monster food.

The 'castle' was destroyed before his very eyes, as he watched from a higher location on the island half a mile away. Dust and smoke rose into the air, along with bark and pieces of the previously occupied structure, as the monster tore it to pieces. Just as he wondered if his brother had made it out, he saw the idiot being flung into the air and punching the monster in the face, continuing or starting a fight with it.

Thankfully he hadn't moved their belongings to their new hide out in the time they had spent there, so they still had supplies at their base camp.

His heart was still racing a mile a minute as the battle continued, and the woman in his arms shifted against him, getting his attention. He looked down, feeling oddly reminiscent of the last time on Tenrou Island when he'd saved her from being eaten by Acnologia.

"What's going on…?" She asked tiredly, and rubbed her eyes.

"Bacchus just destroyed his castle. I barely got us out in time." He explained, and moved to set her down on her feet, gently. She swayed slightly, and held his shoulder to stay upright as she looked in the direction of the chaos.

"I wonder if he knows that the Tenrou Tree will keep us from dying…" She said, referring to the healing abilities of the tree.

"Since your Fairy Tail mark got burned off, it wouldn't have helped you." He reminded her, and she nodded, continuing to watch the scene before them. After a while they both sat down, tired and not fully awake, mildly entertained by the sight of Bacchus pitifully fighting off the dinosaur. Why the S-Ranked mage didn't simply take out the creature in one hit, they had no idea.

"So much for hanging out at Bacchus's castle for the rest of our stay. That was a pretty nice hot tub."

"Easy come, easy go."

That night, the pair found themselves back at the waterfall for a night swim, which Claire had turned into a hot springs with her fire magic. They were both soaking in the warm water under the beautiful twinkling stars, when their brother finally appeared. He was decked out in mud, leaves, and miraculously pounds of glitter. His hair was also pulled into little tiny braids- a very strange, overly decorative version of corn rows.

"You realize that you almost killed us today, right?" Laxus asked, eyes narrowed as the brunette jumped into the water and splashed them. When he emerged, the glitter and mud washed down the light current, leaving him slightly cleaner than before.

"I figured you could handle it. Did I scare my little brother?" He asked with a smirk.

"Yeah. Claire could have died."

"Pfft, she's more resilient than that. She's been through worse."

"Like when she got harpooned in the chest on your last job?"

"For example, yes. Like I said, resilient. Do you know the definition of that word?"

"Do you know the definition of moronic?"

Claire watched them go back and forth arguing for a while, and finally went back to star gazing. It felt weird to have them argue about her, but she tried to reason that it wasn't actually about her- it was about Bacchus's actions in general, and being trapped on this island with him.

Surprisingly, instead of the conversation ending in an annoyed or pissed off Laxus, it ended with Bacchus getting fried by his lightning magic and passing out. The blond grabbed his arm and threw him out of the watering hole so he wouldn't drown, and then went back to his previous star gazing with the checker woman.

16.

"Ya know, you should probably let him stay conscious long enough to actually eat something." Claire commented the next day, shortly after the man electrocuted his brother for the tenth time. It was well past noon at that point, and neither of them had any idea when he last meal was, since he came and went so frequently with and without random pieces of food from god knows where. After last night's conversation Laxus's last string of patience snapped, and he hadn't let the martial artist be conscious for more than a few seconds at a time. If it had been anyone other than his brother, he probably would have snapped sooner.

"He's resilient. He'll manage." He said simply, and the fire mage chuckled, reclining in her seat. It was one of the few things they'd gotten from the ship before it had sunk, and it was one of her favorite spots on the island. The trio were sitting at their main camp, which was on the third (or fourth?) level of the island, and overlooked the rest. It was a great place to simply sit and stare out at the horizon, or other sections of the island, especially at sunset.

"You know that he means well, right?"

"Bacchus?"

"Yeah." She said, and chuckling again when the man kicked his unconscious brother, who groaned and rolled away from him.

"How do you figure?"

"He may be a self-righteous prick, but he still cares about us, and he is family. I can't even pretend to understand his reasoning behind half the things he does, and considering what he's been through, it's not entirely surprising that he's so messed up. I'm just glad he didn't turn out like Carl or Kelsey."

"So you're fine with him being bat shit crazy, so long as he's not bat shit crazy and killing people?"

"Is that really so strange?" She asked, and after thinking about it, the man shrugged.

"You know that you're lucky he didn't get you killed on those jobs with him, right?"

"You've taken me on S-Ranked jobs before."

"After you had some level training, and I was confident that it was an easy mission you wouldn't get hurt on. There's a reason why non-S-Ranked wizards aren't allowed to do those jobs without extenuating circumstances."

"I gained valuable experience on those jobs with him, and they got me out of debt."

"That's what loans are for. Did he even give you

self-defense training before your first job with him?"

"Not really."

"If he had been a good brother, he would have taken a few weeks off from work to teach you how to fight, taught you the basics of this world, and made sure you were settled by helping you pay off loans and teach you how to cook basic things for yourself. Bicks told me you can't cook for shit."

"Neither can you. And that's our parents fault for not teaching me how to cook."

"Weren't you living on cereal and sandwiches until Bicks taught you how to make other things with basic magic appliances?"

"Well, not entirely cereal and sandwiches…" She muttered, further slouching in her seat and staring out at the water. It was remarkably peaceful and quiet the past few hours, probably because Bacchus wasn't running around and screaming all over the island. "So you're actually mad at Bacchus for the jobs thing? You didn't seem too upset when you first found out. You actually seemed kinda glad that I had the experience under my belt when I first joined the Thunder Legion."

"That's before I found out you were my little sister."

"Technically I'm your big sister; I watched your birth. It was disgusting." She told him, grinning when he rolled his eyes.

"How old are you?"

"23."

"Really? I thought you were 22?" He asked.

"I had a birthday in February. How old are you?"

"23."

"Is there a magical device that can figure out how old we are? It was March when I was transported to this world, and then it was October, and I have no idea exactly how old I am anymore. Same for you."

"So I could technically be 24?"

"Or 22. Somewhere in that range."

"Fried can set up an enchantment to find our exact age. We can ask him when we get back."

"Cool."

"Why does my head hurt so much…?" Bacchus asked, beginning to stir.

Zap.

17.

"You're alive!" Fried cried, running over to the taller man and hugging him. Evergreen followed suit, while Bickslow walked over to Claire.

"It's about time." She said with a smile, and pulled him into a hug. Their babies echoed 'we missed Claire!' in unison several times and cuddled up to her. "I missed you guys, too."

"What happened to him?" Evergreen asked, pointing to the unconscious man that Laxus was holding. Bacchus was slung over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes, and while he'd been conscious long enough to have a meal the previous day, had otherwise stayed unconcscious for the rest of their stay.

"It's a long story."

"Sorry we were late. Makarov didn't tell us you were here until a couple of days ago, and we got here as fast as we could." Bickslow explained, holding hands with his girlfriend. "What happened to your arm?" He asked, noticing the charred skin on her upper arm.

"That happened before we left on this stupid trip." Laxus answered for her, and she whistled conspicuously, looking up at the sky. She would have wandered back to the ship to avoid further questioning, had her boyfriend not been holding her in place by her hand.

"Where do you want to go on our next family trip?" Bacchus asked, apparently awake now, and grinning at his younger brother.

"You're paying for that ship you destroyed."


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's Note:** Thank you all for the wonderful reviews, follows, and faves! I can't believe that this story has gotten over 100 followers!

Random comment about the story: I can't remember if I've explained this in the past, but the idea in this story regarding lore is that some of the creatures from the "real world" actually came from this world. That writers/storytellers were actually somehow telepathically linked to this other world, and so stories told in the "real world" (like Fairy Tail) were actually real, just in a parallel world. That's why there are so many references to real world fiction, like Jason from Friday the 13th.

Anywho, enjoy the story! Have a good day! :)

 **Walking Cliché 25**

 _Brother and Sister?_

"Do we have to do this here?" Claire asked, trying her best to ignore the curious stares in their direction. A crowd had started forming around the group, and bets were being made by the fellow Fairy Tail mages.

"I can't believe you two are brother and sister. That is so adorable!" Mirajane squealed, not for the first time. When they both gave her identical deadpan looks, she squealed again.

"So does that mean that Claire is your granddaughter?" Macao asked the Guild Master, who shook his head.

"No. Laxus was adopted when he first came to this world." He told him, sitting on the sidelines with the other wizards. "I'll bet you $20 that Claire is the older sibling."

"Laxus is obviously the older one. I'll take that."

"Count me in." Wakaba said with a smirk.

"Claire was 22 years older before they came to this world. There's just as good of a chance that she's the older sibling." Lisanna told them, and the older men gave her a confused look.

The runes were almost finished, and Fried had been working on them for the past twenty minutes. In that time Bickslow and Evergreen had made it their job to inform every single person in the Guild Hall of what was transpiring, along with starting the bets.

"Do you want to make a bet?" Laxus asked her.

"I did… before I knew we'd have a crowd." She muttered, looking around at the excited faces making bets and commenting on the age and appearance of them. Laxus was physically much larger than her, but in terms of age, there was no defining difference between the pair. They both looked like they were in their early twenties.

"I'll bet you're the younger sibling." Gajeel teased the dragonslayer nearby.

"How much you want to bet?"

"$50?"

"You're on."

"Are you two ready?" Fried asked, looking back at the two siblings.

"Has everyone made their bets?" Bickslow asked loudly, and his babies echoed the question around the room. People nodded and yelled in excitement.

"Just get it over with!" Kana yelled.

"What did you bet?" Claire asked her boyfriend, who snickered.

"Sorry babe, I'm betting that you're the younger one."

Laxus didn't bother waiting for her and entered the square enchantment, watching as numbers appeared on the invisible wall.

 _LAXUS:_

 _YEARS: 23_

 _MONTHS: 1_

 _DAYS: 4_

 _HOURS: 5_

 _MINUTES: 23_

 _SECONDS: 23, 24, 25, 26….._

 _MILISECONDS: 56, 57, 58…._

"Accurate." Claire commented, surprised at all the numbers changing and flashing on the screen.

"Your turn." Bickslow told her, and gave a gentle nudge. Chewing on the inside of her cheek she walked inside the enchantment, turning to stand next to her brother.

 _CLAIRE:_

 _YEARS: 23_

 _MONTHS: 1_

 _DAYS: 4_

 _HOURS: 5_

 _MINUTES: 24_

 _SECONDS: 23, 24, 25, 26….._

 _MILISECONDS: 56, 57, 58…._

The room became silent for a moment, surprised by the results. Everyone did a double take, looking back and forth between the numbers side by side, checking for any differences between them.

"You sure this is working right, Fried?" Claire asked the green-haired mage, who nodded.

"Did anyone bet on them being twins?" Bickslow asked.

"We're not twins. We just… happen to be the exact same age." The checker woman corrected, still going back and forth between the numbers. Seconds and milliseconds were constantly changing, which made it difficult.

"I can create a different enchantment that would only let the older sibling leave, if you're dead set on finding out which is older; however, it seems that you two are nearly identical." Fried informed them.

As she looked up at the numbers, her encounter with the feline man came to mind. " _It also required dragon magic to cast, and also unlike the other books, summoned two demons."_

 _There's no way we're demons. And even if I considered it to be true for even a second, Carol would make more sense as the second demon, since we appeared at the same time and had dragon magic._

 _So how the fuck were her and Laxus the exact same fucking age?_

"Do it." Laxus told the green-haired mage, and pulled Claire out of the enchantment for him to work and alter it. It only took a few tweaks, and after another minute of standing around, the pair re-entered the space.

"Now, both of you try to leave, and the older sibling will be able to leave while the other is stuck." Fried explained. Wanting to get it over with, Laxus took a step forward, only to hit the wall. Cheers rang out from the crowd, along with some disappointed 'aaw's.

Claire took a step forward as well, though, only to meet the same fate.

"Fix it." Laxus glared at the mage, who put up his hands helplessly.

"It's not the enchantment, it's you. Neither of you are older, so it won't let either of you pass."

"How the hell can we be the _exact_ same age?" Laxus asked, glaring at the poor man. "Even twins are a few seconds apart."

"How does a dragon summon an entire family to an alternate universe?" Claire countered, feeling a headache come on.

"You two are twins. That is so cute!" Mirajane squealed amongst the confused betters.

"Does this mean that no one won the bet?" Elfman asked, scratching his head.

"I guess so." Bickslow shrugged.

" _Does_ that mean we're twins?" Claire asked, looking up at the man next to her.

"We weren't born at the same time." He argued.

"But we came from the same womb, we're the exact same age, same exact parents… Wait… I wonder how old Bacchus is?" She suddenly asked.

"Let's find out!" The joyous voice yelled, emerging from his hiding place in the crowd.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Laxus growled.

"Would you like me to change the enchantment back to what it used to be?" Fried asked, and Claire nodded, pulling Laxus out of the enchantment after he nulled it.

"I heard you guys were going to find out your true age, so I thought I'd stay an extra day." Bacchus told his younger brother, grinning widely at him.

"I bet Bacchus is the older sibling!" Kana yelled.

"Duh." Bickslow told her, sticking his tongue out. His babies repeated him and swarmed the brunette, and she drunkenly swatted them away.

While the brothers bickered, Claire watched Fried fix the enchantment. As soon as he gave the okay she pulled Bacchus with her inside, not entirely surprised by their findings.

 _BACCHUS:_

 _YEARS: 30_

 _MONTHS: 1_

 _DAYS: 4_

 _HOURS: 5_

 _MINUTES: 28_

 _SECONDS: 23, 24, 25, 26….._

 _MILISECONDS: 56, 57, 58…._

 _CLAIRE:_

 _YEARS: 23_

 _MONTHS: 1_

 _DAYS: 4_

 _HOURS: 5_

 _MINUTES: 28_

 _SECONDS: 23, 24, 25, 26….._

 _MILISECONDS: 56, 57, 58…._

"So before Tenrou Island, we were all the exact same age." Claire commented thoughtfully.

"What the hell!? I'm 30?! I thought I was 28!" The drunkard yelled, staring up at the numbers with wide eyes.

"So you've been on this planet for 18 years, not 16." She commented, and when the man tried to cry on her shoulder, a bolt of lightning sent him flying to the ground. "I wonder if there's a connection between our other siblings ages, too."

"You have an August birthday now." Evergreen commented. After the announcement that no one had won the bet, interest in the conversation had dwindled, and very few wizards remained with the group.

"What the hell is with all the lightning!?" Bacchus yelled, jumping to his feet. He barely dodged another bolt of lightning aimed for him. "Dude, what happened to being bros!? You're my bro!"

Zap.

1.

Bickslow stared across the table at her in complete silence for at least 5 minutes, not saying a word or taking a bite of his food. They were eating dinner: pasta night.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" She finally asked, setting her fork down.

"You're Laxus's twin sister."

"Apparently."

"Twins."

"Depends on your definition, but yeah."

" _Twins._ "

"How does that change anything?"

"You're the twin sister of the guy I've been working with for 5 years."

"Yep."

"… _twins._ I've been boning my boss's twin sister for almost a year."

"My boyfriend is such a romantic."

"… _twins._ "

When she realized that that's all he was going to say over and over again, she went back to eating, deciding to ignore him.

2.

The Thunder Legion was temporarily banned from doing jobs until attacks by dark wizards slowed down. Makarov requested that they stay near the Guild Hall in that time frame, but it wasn't a requirement.

Despite her insistence to train alone, Laxus was even more insistent that she not, and that he should go with her. Bickslow would have tried to join them, but with the stern look his leader was giving the checker woman, he really didn't want to be there if they fought. Which, they likely would, and even though Claire was immune to Laxus's attacks, Bickslow wasn't. Nor was he flame-resistant.

So, after a week of being trapped on an island together and afterwards finding out they were kind of but not really twins, they met up at a café.

"You're actually going to buy something? Didn't you eat before you came here?" The blond asked incredulously.

"No. And I'm not a morning person, so I need extra coffee in the morning." She explained, and stepped forward in the semi-long line to the warm caffeinated beverages. "You're the one that wanted to join _me_ for training. If you don't want to be here, leave."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily. We can have breakfast if you want." He told her, and she shrugged tiredly. Both of them noticed the onlookers around them, who recognized the lightning dragonslayer easily and had instant hearts in their eyes, but the siblings ignored them. Ever since the Grand Magic Games Laxus had the occasional admirer, and sometimes they formed large groups which could be terrifying, but they left him alone for the most part. "Did you think breakfast would make me ditch you?"

Another step closer to the front. "I didn't really think about it."

"I'm your brother. I'm not going to let you train alone, especially after what happened last time."

"Okay."

Another step.

"E-excuse me," A young woman spoke, and when Laxus looked down, he saw that she was standing with a small group of girls. "A-are you really L-l-l-laxus Dreyar?"

"Yes." He said simply, and at his indifferent reaction, the girls swooned.

"Eastern Gonzao tea." Claire told the barista when they finally reached the front. "And two breakfast sandwiches."

"Oh my, are you… you are. How did I not see it before?" The brunette, a woman that Claire had been getting breakfast from for the past few weeks, gushed. "Claire Groh and Laxus Dreyar? You're both Fairy Tail wizards and part of the Thunder Legion, right?"

"I'll have an Earl Grey." Laxus said simply, and like the others, she smiled and swooned.

"S-Class wizard, Laxus Dreyar, is here. At my café. Where I work."

"You live in the same town as him. Why are you that surprised?" Claire snapped.

"And you two had to wait in line? Next time you come here, you can come straight to the front."

"Can you just get us our food and drinks?"

"Of course, of course! On the house!" She said with a goofy grin, and the checker woman rolled her eyes, hoping that she wouldn't screw up their order. The siblings made their way over to the other side of the café, and after the woman's excited outburst, the entire room now was aware of who they were. Some of them were too tired to care, but enough of them were awake enough gawk and stare.

"Sorry." Laxus said after a while.

"It's okay." She muttered, honestly just wanting her coffee.

"So, uh…" He spoke, and cleared his throat, getting her attention. "I, uh… how long did you want to stay here?"

"Before they found out you were a celebrity, I wanted to chill here for a while. Training is usually when I get my alone time, so I like to hang out here and reminisce a bit. Makes me feel grounded."

"What's so special about this place? Can't we meditate or something at the training place?"

"Before I came to this world… _we_ , came to this world," She corrected herself. It was going to take a while to get used to. "I used to work in a coffee shop. Hanging out here reminds me of home."

"Here you are!" The barista chirped happily, bringing them their order. Usually you had to pick up your order from the counter. "I wasn't sure if you guys wanted it to-go or for here, so I put them in to-go containers, but if you want them in the other cups, just let me know."

"This is fine. Thank you." Claire told her.

"Is there anything else I can get for you? Do you want anything to eat?" She asked, turning back to the blonde, who glared at her.

"No." He said simply, and with her swooning, neither sibling were sure how she made it back behind the counter without falling over.

"Do people always act that way around you?" Claire asked her brother.

"Sometimes." He shrugged, and took a sip of his drink. "So this place reminds you of our home world?"

"Yeah. Our entire family was big on coffee, so I woke up every morning to the smell of it. Bacchus got pretty nostalgic when let him have some of my stash." She explained, and at the mention of their older brother, Laxus grimaced. "How long are you going to be mad at him?"

"Until he stops being insane."

Deciding to not push the issue, she took a sip of her drink, and started eating her sandwiches. "So how've you been coping?" She asked between bites. The lightning mage looked up, raising an eyebrow at her in question, and waited for her to finish chewing to clarify. "With family stuff. It must be weird to find out about your blood relatives, especially when you didn't want to know in the first place."

"It is weird, but not as bad as I expected. I didn't grow up with you guys, so I guess it's not as weird to learn about our family as it was for you. I'm more curious than anything."

"You and Bacchus hung out a lot before the trip. What did he tell you about us?"

"A lot of BS." He said, and she chuckled, biting into her breakfast with a smile. "Or, at least most of it was. I'm pretty sure our family wasn't royalty and the 'kings and queens of Spain'. Whatever that means."

"He does like to exaggerate." She commented.

"He almost got you killed tons of times. I don't know how you put up with him."

"I got used to it. He's not too different from the wizards at Fairy Tail, in that sense."

"But he's your brother. He's supposed to protect you, not put you in mortal danger because he's bored."

"Wow, you've been a brother for 2 months and you're already an expert." She said sarcastically, and he rolled his eyes. "If you're going to be mad at Bacchus for putting both of us in danger, that's fine, but don't hate him just because of my relationship with him. I've known him for a lot longer than you have and I care about him."

"I may not know how to be a perfect brother, or whatever the hell that is, but I've been around the Strauss siblings long enough to know that Bacchus isn't a good one."

"So that's why you're taking on the 'overprotective brother' act. You've been taking advice from Elfman."

"Did none of your brothers on your home world do that?" He asked, recalling their family. Before they came to this world she had two brothers, minus him.

"Not really. Our world wasn't nearly as violent as this one, so we didn't need to be protective of each other. Bacchus tried to beat up one of my exes once, but that's the closest. We fought with each other more than other people."

"What about… Carl, was it?"

"Total bookworm. He hated me ever since I burned a few of his books… never forgave me for that. Him and Kelsey are so mad at me for burning their stuff as a kid, that when they found me on this world, they tried to kill me. Now that I think about it, it's probably a good thing you didn't know me on our home world."

"Considering their experiences on this world, I doubt their attacking you was actually related to that." He said, watching her quickly go from annoyed to sad. In her tired state she shrugged, going back to her coffee and breakfast. Returning to his own drink, he leaned back in his chair, letting her eat in peace. The onlookers had mostly gone back to whatever they were doing before they got there, when they realized that they weren't going to be putting on a show or doing anything interesting.

Now that he had a chance to look around the place, he understood why she liked it so much. The décor was simple and modest, consisting of a few planted trees and the occasional small painting on the lavender walls. It was the size of a small restaurant but it only served breakfast items, and the tables were spaced out so that each guest had plenty of room. Soft blues music drifted out of the speakers, and he could see how it would be a peaceful place when they didn't have so many onlookers watching them.

"This is a nice place." He commented.

She nodded. "Yeah."

Once she finished her coffee and meal, she stood up, stretching her arms over her head.

"Ready?"

He quickly finished off the last of his drink, and they both headed out.

3.

"Thank you!" Bickslow yelled to the blonde, meanwhile his girlfriend rolled her eyes. Her boyfriend and newly discovered brother had a new thing in common: hating Bacchus for taking her on S-Class missions. "Finally, someone gets it!"

"You guys are overreacting." She told them.

"I have to agree with Claire. I mean, he _is_ her older brother. I'm sure he that he had her best interests at heart." Evergreen spoke up. "And she got great experience out of it."

"Think about all the S-Ranked missions we've done together, Ever, and how we did them as a team after _weeks_ of training together." Bickslow spoke, trying to explain himself. "Remember all those times that we almost died, barely escaping solely because we had each other and that training to get us out of it? Now think about Claire and her alcoholic brother doing those same missions, Claire having no training whatsoever, and Bacchus passing out every other day from over drinking."

"It wasn't every other day." Claire corrected, and both Laxus and Bickslow gave her a look. "… More like once a week." _Although every other day would be slightly on the more accurate side…_.

"Was he sober for more than an hour on any of those jobs?" Laxus asked.

"I don't even know when he's drunk half the time. He acts drunk when he's sober sometimes."

"I'll take that as a 'no'."

"You told me that you had to do most of the work on those jobs because he was too drunk to do them himself." Bickslow recalled.

"Maybe I exaggerated so that I'd seem stronger than I am. It's not like he stayed home drunk and sent me out to do the work- he stayed by my side and kept me safe." _Some of the time…._

"Maybe you're under-exaggerating it now because you know that your big brother was in the wrong." He said, letting his tongue hang out at her. Usually she thought that was cute, but at that moment, she understood why so many people had the urge to tear it out of his face.

"It's not like he was blind drunk on those missions all the time. Crazy as it sounds, it does help him fight and makes him crazy strong, and he does have a system. He is S-Ranked for a good reason."

"Somehow I doubt that being a responsible adult is that reason." Laxus commented. " _And_ he was stripped of that rank because of those jobs with you."

"You just don't want to admit that your brother is a fuck up because you see him as that sad little boy from your world." Bickslow told her.

"Of course I do. He's my little brother no matter how old he is, and I'll always be there for him. You can joke about it, but he was ripped from our world when he was 12 years old and stranded on this alien planet without friends or family, and raised in an orphanage, alone and confused. Instead of bitching about him having an alcohol problem, maybe we should be helping him." She said, and at the end, looked pointedly at her brother.

"Everyone has a messed up past. It's not an excuse for putting you in unnecessary danger."

"Did you forget that your grandfather approved of those jobs?"

"So, I actually talked to him about that," He said, and set down his drink. "After the Blood Guild thing, he started looking into those jobs and talking with Goldmine. Apparently Bacchus had been leaving out a lot of key details about those jobs and straight up lying about some of them. Did you know about that?"

She paused, her face heating up as she tried to recall her interactions with the Guild Master regarding those missions. She had straight up told the Guild Master that she almost died on those jobs, but he simply smiled and shrugged them off, as if she'd been telling a joke. At the time she had figured that close calls like that were common, and considering how rowdy Team Natsu was, most S-Ranked mages were just as exuberant. Bacchus had been the first person she worked with aside from Bickslow, so she didn't have anyone to compare him to. "I know he fibbed about my experience using magic, and left out key details regarding it so that I could do those jobs with him."

"That was just the icing on the cake. When he gave reports to Makarov about the jobs, he lied about where the jobs were and what they were about, but kept the details close enough to the truth so that if he talked to Goldmine about it, it wouldn't sound suspicious."

"That explains why he seemed so nonchalant when I talked to him about it." Bickslow commented.

"But Makarov knew that they were S-Class jobs. As you guys keep reminding me, S-Class means that they're dangerous and potentially life threatening." Claire pointed out.

"Different guilds have different standards for what they determine is S-Class." Fried told her. "Depending on how Bacchus spun the story, he could have made S-Ranked missions at his guild seem to have higher standards than ours. In other words, our Guild Master probably thought they weren't actual S-Class missions, and that you weren't in any serious danger."

"Still think we're overreacting?" Laxus asked.

"Yes."

"We're not saying that he's a bad person. We're just…" Bickslow spoke, trying to find a nicer word for 'terrible human being'.

"We don't think you should be alone with him… and should never do jobs with him again. Ever." Laxus spoke up, and the seith mage nodded in agreement.

"Hey Ever, feel like going to the baths?" Claire asked, tired of trying to argue with them. She'd spent so much time in the past year searching for her family, that now that she'd found them, their hating each other gave her a headache.

4.

"I still can't believe that you're Laxus's twin." Evergreen commented in the baths, and Claire groaned.

"Not you, too. Bickslow keeps staring at me when we're home, muttering the word 'twin' over and over again. Not to mention-" Just as she was going to comment on Mirajane's constant giggling, the familiar sound met her ears. The pair looked up to see the Strauss sisters wading closer to them in the water, taking seats near them.

"Sorry about Mira." Lisanna apologized, having seen the annoyed look on Claire's face every time her sister giggled. "We've known Laxus since we were kids, so it's strange to say the least to find out he has a sister."

"It's okay." She muttered, taking a look around the room. It was surprisingly empty that day, and the four women were the only ones in there.

"How did your family boat trip go?" Mirajane asked, smiling at her.

"Eh." She shrugged. "Laxus hates Bacchus now."

"That's an understatement." Evergreen added.

"What happened?" Lisanna asked.

"Bacchus acted like himself, and Laxus didn't know how to deal with him."

"Bacchus destroyed their ship, stranded them on an island, spent all their grocery money on alcohol, nearly got them eaten by a monster, and when they got back, Laxus learned more about the jobs Bacchus had been taking Claire on earlier this year, which apparently he'd been lying to the Guild Master about in extensive detail." Evergreen elaborated, and both sisters listened intently. "He almost got her killed on pretty much every job."

"Like I said. Bacchus acted like himself, and Laxus didn't know how to deal with him." Claire spoke..

"Laxus said that he's like all of Team Natsu put into one person, plus more alcohol."

"I think that might be an exaggeration. No one is _that_ destructive." Lisanna laughed, looking to Claire, who seemed to be thinking it over.

"No, that's actually pretty accurate. He's just as powerful as Erza, if not more when he's had enough alcohol." Claire said, and both Strauss sisters stared at her with wide, terrified eyes.

"How are you alive right now?" Evergreen asked.

Claire was beginning to regret teaching that phrase to them.

"He acts more insane than he really is, and he's my brother. Like you said earlier, he does have my best interests at heart."

"I only said that because Bickslow and Laxus were ganging up on you about it. I'm totally on their side."

"What's it like having Laxus as a brother?" Mirajane asked, interrupting them.

"I dunno. Kind of cool, I guess."

"Don't lie, you totally love the attention." Ever teased with a knowing smile.

"It is nice to have brothers look after you." Lisanna commented. "Even if it can get a little annoying sometimes."

"Apparently Laxus has been getting tips from Elfman on how to be a good brother." Claire spoke, and the sisters chuckled with a wide smile.

"That sounds like him." Mira said.

"You're right Ever, I do kind of like the attention. It's nice to have family again."

5.

September 20th, X791

After a week of no activity with dark wizards not attacking Claire, nor any word from the Ghoul Guild, Makarov was considering letting the group do jobs again. In Magnolia, at least.

And when the infamous Jura Neekis came to the Guild Hall requesting Claire's help for a boring, three day job, she'd been allowed to go. They would be convening at the Lamia Scale headquarters, where his guild would be keeping her safe. After Jura explained the job details to Laxus and her team, even Fried thought it would be boring, and no one wanted to go with her. Extensive paperwork and filing of known worlds wasn't as fun as it sounded, although the main reason she'd been chosen was to talk about her home world, it would be very boring details, like the environment, technology, cultures, etc.

Even though she loved her brother, and sometimes enjoyed the over protectiveness of her team, it had gotten old after the first few days. She was looking forward to a little time away from them.

Last time she had spent time with Jura was at the Grand Magic Games when he'd consolidated her on the roof, and she'd always admired him, if not for that then his status as one of the Ten Wizard Saints.

6.

September 22nd, X791

"She's not there."

Makarov looked up from his paperwork, full and untouched mug next to the pile, and raised his eyebrows at the man. It was half past noon and the Guild Hall was alive with joyous laughter and drinking, and in front of him, was one of his strongest mages: Gajeel Redfox.

"Excuse me?" The old man asked.

"You asked me to check up on Claire at Lamia Scale. She's not there." He elaborated, and at this news, the guild master furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Jura has been on a job on the other side of the country for the past month. Whoever came to the Guild Hall the other day wasn't him."

Makarov looked behind the young man to the second floor, where the Thunder Legion usually sat, and sighed in relief. They weren't there. "Are you certain?"

"The only other explanation is that it was him the other day, but he took her somewhere other than Lamia Scale HQ. Without telling his guild. And not bothering to tell his Guild Master that an imposter was doing his job in Bosco. When I brought up the job she was supposed to be doing with him, they said they'd never heard of it." Gajeel further explained, keeping his voice low and taking a seat in front of the Guild Master. "Laxus is going to flip his shit when he finds out."

"Let's keep this between us until tomorrow, when she was originally scheduled to come back. Until then, we're going to try and find her covertly. With any luck she's fine and just snuck off somewhere."

"Is that really such a good idea?"

"You've seen how Laxus acts when it comes to his sister. I don't want to tell him until we have more information."

"What if the Ghoul Guild has her?"

"They have no reason to take her. Let's not jump to any conclusions until we know more."

"Where do we start looking?" Gajeel asked.

"Let's go to Quatro Cerberus first, and see if Bacchus has seen her. After the stunts he's pulled in the past, I wouldn't be surprised if he was behind it."

7.

September 23rd, X791

7:32 PM

Makarov had been watching the door anxiously all day.

After their trip to Bacchus's Guild Hall and speaking to Goldmine, he was pretty sure that Bacchus had something to do with Claire's disappearance. The martial artist had just accepted a dangerous job across the border only a day before 'Jura' had requested Claire's help on a job, and considering the man's habit of lying to do jobs with her, it wouldn't surprise him in the slightest if he'd done it again. Goldmine surmised that, considering the drunk's personality, he could have done it just to piss off Laxus.

Ultimately when it came to Bacchus, no one really knew why he did half the things he did. It was one of his charms, and more often than not, some of his miraculous situations would be perceived as absolute genius.

So the Fairy Tail Guild Master sent Gajeel to go find and bring Claire back, hoping that she was with him and not held captive by a dark guild. At that point, her being with Bacchus was only a slightly better situation.

Since Gajeel had left the previous day, the fastest he could back (assuming he found her exceptionally fast) was tomorrow.

But she was scheduled to return today.

"You seem awfully nervous, gramps." Laxus said, walking over to the old man and taking a seat. "Anything I should know about?"

"Nope. Just tired." He said with what he hoped was a convincing grin. "Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, I got a message from Lamia Scale. It might take longer than they thought to complete the job, so Claire might not be back until tomorrow."

"That's not like Jura to be late."

"This is Claire we're talking about. For all we know, she accidentally set fire to half the papers they're supposed to be organizing."

"They are working with flammable materials…" Laxus agreed, and shrugged. "Whatever, old man." The blonde said, and waved him off, walking back over to the bar.

"Brat." He said, loud enough for him to hear and going back to his own drink. _If anything happens to her…._

1.

September 20th, X791

"Dude, why do you keep doing this?" She asked her brother in the train car. They had just gotten on the train for Margaret Town, home of Lamia Scale Guild Hall, when who she thought was Jura Neekis, 'poof'ed into Bacchus Groh. Since they had their own compartment to themselves, she was the only one to see this transformation.

A lazy smirk crossed his features, and he leaned back in his seat, a full bottle on the empty space next to him. "Do what? Spend quality time with my sister?"

"You can do that without impersonating a wizard celebrity. Since when do you know take over magic, by the way?"

"Since none-of-your-business." He replied, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm heading back to Magnolia at the next stop. Once they find out what you did, they're going to be worried."

"You haven't even heard what I have planned for us. Why leave so soon?"

"Do you have any idea how mad Laxus is going to be at you for this? He already thinks you're the devil incarnate trying to murder me. If I go back now, he _might_ not blow a gasket."

"What's that guy's deal? He was nice enough before the boat trip, and for some reason he hates my guts now."

"He's just not used to your sparkling personality."

"Clearly."

"You have been extra… _you_ , since you met Laxus. Why are you being so out there? With me you at least toned it down a little when we first met."

"After being with Fairy Tail his entire life, I didn't think I had to."

"And why'd you lie so much about the jobs with me? Apparently you lied about some major things."

"What's with the interrogation? I'm your brother and I care about you. I don't need to explain myself."

"I'm your sister I care about you. That gives me the right to interrogate you when I see fit, younger brother." She said, and stuck her tongue out him. He did the same, and looked out the window, realizing that they were slowing down. "Looks like my stop is coming up."

"You sure that you don't want to stay? It'll be fun." He said with a hopeful grin.

"Sorry bro, I need to get back to Fairy Tail. I love you, though." She said, and not a second later, was knocked out cold.

Bacchus moved forward to gently move her so that she was laying down on her side of the compartment, her legs bent so that she could fit on the bench. Since her fire magic was most effective in close proximity, and he'd learned from experience that she was not afraid to use her magic on him, he had to take her out fast. A simple Vulcan Neck Pinch (on this world it was called something else) had her unconscious.

If Claire had looked closer at their train tickets, she would have realized that they had multiple tickets, not just one to Margaret Town.

After she was settled and he was confident that she wouldn't fall out of her seat, he moved back to his side, sitting sideways so that he could stretch his legs and look out the window at the scenery. He took a swig from his bottle of whiskey, enjoying the burning liquid that filled his belly, and went over his plan again in his mind.

 _Step 1: Get Claire._

 _Step 2: Get Claire on train, and if she tries to leave, knock her out. Then give her enough drugs to keep her out for the rest of the ride._

 _Step 3: Get to destination without anyone asking questions about his unconscious sister._

He leaned over and poured a small amount of his drink on her.

 _Step 4: Wake her up, tell her the details of the job, and complete the job._

 _Step 5: Have a drink with sister, joke about how stupid Laxus is, and convince her to leave Fairy Tail. Nah, she likes Fairy Tail. Scratch that._

 _Actual Step 5: Have a drink with sister, joke about how stupid Laxus is, and make plans for their next family adventure. Maybe a beach trip?_

 _Step 6: Get her back to the Guild, on time, and avoid getting killed by baby brother._

 _Why the hell is that brat so protective of her? Every time I touch or go near Claire, he attacks me. I mean, I had planned for them to get along after the trip was over, but I didn't think he'd hate me so much after it._

 _He is new to the whole brother thing. Once he gets to know her, see how strong she actually is, maybe he'll loosen up._

His gaze lingered on her for a moment, seeing that incredibly rare calm look on her face. Claire had a habit of stressing about things too much, and when he saw her sleep, the change always amazed him. 18 years waiting on this world, and his older/younger sister was finally here, and only a few months had passed for her. Only a few months, and she looked almost exactly the same. She still saw him as the 12 year old boy back on their home world, despite all of the very adult things she knew (and unfortunately saw) he did, and he loved that. In some ways he still felt like that lost kid in the woods, but now he wasn't alone.

If he was going to be lost, he wanted to be lost with someone else.

They had a bond that no one, not even Laxus, could understand. It was a connection he thought that he had with his mother until she died, and one that could only be had with someone from their world. No matter how hard he had tried to make friends when he came to this world, to make true connections, he never could. This world always felt off, like he never truly belonged, and even though it was amazing and wonderful, he missed home.

He missed his family. He missed his mother being happy, playing with his baby brother and seeing him smile for the first time, and showing off his boy scout crap to his older siblings when they visited at Christmas. He missed playing video games with his friends on the couch and ignoring the mountain of homework waiting for him in his bedroom.

Taking another drink from the bottle, the sweet nectar dulled the heartache a little.

Claire knew exactly how hard it was to be in this world. When he talked to her about his transition, she didn't laugh or joke about the mistakes he made as he stumbled in this new life of his. She nodded and listened, occasionally agreeing or adding that she had the same problem, and even reminded him of some of the hardships he'd forgotten about.

And she was proud of him.

Just like when he'd show off what he'd learned in boy scouts, or school, or whatever the hell he was interested in when Christmas rolled around, she looked at him like she was proud. Even though he drank too much, said stupid things, and didn't know what the hell he was doing half the time- she was proud of him.

Thirty years old, and he got the approval of his older/younger sister. She wasn't crazy, or brain damaged, or suicidal- she was normal (relatively speaking).

And she was proud of him.

Bacchus Groh.

He took another drink, watching the trees roll by.

2.

The abrupt sound of someone banging on the door woke him up.

"Inspection. Open this door."

Another bang.

He groggily looked over at his sister, who was still sound asleep, and then back to the door. "Jus' a minute," Bacchus called out, and coughed, clearing his throat. According to his watch it was 1 AM, and they weren't supposed to arrive for another 2 hours. "Wha's the 'spection 'bout?"

"The Bosco Militia checks every train that crosses the border. By law you are required to let us search this compartment."

In his sleepy, slightly drunk state, Bacchus thought about it for a moment. "Since when?"

Another bang on the door. "Either open this door or we'll force our way in. We don't have all day."

"A'right, a'right, keep your pants on…" He muttered, pushing himself to his feet. Turning the light on and not bothering to put a shirt on, he opened the door, raising his eyebrows at the armed men. One of them shoved past him, and upon seeing his sleeping sister, nudged her. "She had a little too much to drink. She'll be out for a while."

"Names and passports." He said simply, and Bacchus rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, moving back into the room to his bag.

"Bacchus Groh, and this is my sister, Claire Groh."

3.

September 21st, X791

"Hey, wake up." He said, shaking her roughly. At that point he had been a little surprised that she was still knocked out, considering how loud the past hour of the trip had been.

Their job was simple: extract Martin Hooley from the battlefield of a civil war happening in Bosco. Get in, grab him, and get out. Easy enough.

He'd given Claire a sedative to keep her out for the train ride, and enough to keep her knocked out for most of the journey there. They were currently on the edge of the active battlefield, guns going off in the distance, and he needed her awake for this. She was supposed to be awake from this.

He slapped her across the face, telling her to wake up- nothing. No reaction whatsoever.

He checked her pulse, finding that it was slow and steady, and then her eyes and breathing. In all the times he'd used the sedative on people, it had never kept them out for this long before.

"Shit." He muttered, and ducked down when he saw a flashlight go near them. _Well I can't take you into a battlefield unconscious. I'm not that irresponsible._ After looking at her for a few seconds, and then looking around the secluded area, he nervously chewed the inside of his cheek.

When he'd been carrying her on his back, they had managed to hide in an old, half torn down shack. It was far enough from the patrolling guards that they wouldn't search it, but close enough that he might be able to run into the fray in order to get the man he was sent to find, come back, and get back into town without problem.

Should be easy enough.

Assuming she didn't wake up before he came back.

He checked her pulse again, and considered how long she'd been knocked out. It had been close to 30 hours at that point, her pulse was so low that he was afraid to give her more of the tranquilizer until she woke up at least once. He'd expected to give her at least 2 doses to get her there, realistically more like 4 or 5.

Yet 1 dose was all it took.

 _I'll leave a note! Brilliant, Bacchus!_ He beamed, and pulled out a piece of paper and pen from his pocket.

' _Claire,_

 _BRB, don't go anywhere, next to war zone. Seriously. Don't go anywhere._

 _Your BFF,_

 _Bacchus'_

And then he put the note in her pocket.

Once he checked that the area was clear, he exited the decrepit space in search of 'Daniel Whitkins'.

20 minutes later, once the Quatro Cerberus mage had left the vicinity, the dark mages made their way over to the half torn down shack. How lucky were they that Claire Groh's own brother would get her away from the Fairy Tail Guild (namely Laxus), leaving her easy for the taking?

Colossus, the leading mage wrapped in head to toe with bandages, entered the shadowy space first. He was on guard, in case the girl would attack, but was surprised to find her already unconscious.

4.

Charles Ding sighed contentedly, looking around the room once again.

Everything was in place.

Everything was perfect.

His severed body parts, placed in alphabetical order on his top most shelf, were exactly where they were supposed to be. Below that, his jars of small animals ranging in dead to moderately alive were exactly where they were supposed to be, sorted by the name of their species. Below that, was his collection of insects, ranging in size and complexity and taking up much more space than the other collections.

His shelves covered the entirety of the wall, reaching exactly 50 feet.

His medical equipment was clean, sterile, and organized in the room. Perfectly.

Perfection was his specialty.

It was his life.

The specimen in front of him would help him attain even more perfection. Indirectly, that is. His employer wanted the secret to her magic, and since he was in need of funds, conceded with the request. Humans were hardly his favorite subjects, but you know. Gotta do what you gotta do.

"Remember, Seravenous. If she attacks me and somehow gets the restraints off, chop her head off. Don't hesitate." He reminded the man behind him, who sat bored and slouched in his uncomfortable chair. It was metal, and he hated it, but he got paid good money to be his bodyguard.

Holding up the axe, he nodded. "Yes sir, Ding sir."

"This woman is supposed to specialize in fire magic, so I also want you to be ready with the fire extinguisher."

"Yes sir, Ding sir." He said, nodding to the red cylindrical object on the floor next to him.

"Miss, wake up! Wake up!" The tiny voices from the jars yelled, watching helplessly as the doctor snapped his gloves on. He double checked that they were exactly the same length on both sides, because sometimes one plastic glove was longer than the other and he hated that, but today they were exactly the same.

They were perfect.

"I can tell that this is going to be a good procedure." He said with a grin, ignoring the small voices across the room. Reaching for the small tubular device, he applied it to the woman's exposed arm. It was a non-invasive machine designed to suck out a small amount of magic from the specimen and analyze it. "What a pity." Charles said with a small frown, and held up the small device closer to his face, watching the small flame burn the plastic material in fascination.

"Need the extinguisher, sir?"

"It's only a small flame. No need. You may look at it if you like, though. It rather a peculiar flame." He said, turning so that the large and bulky man could look at it.

"Just looks like a regular fire."

"Perhaps to the untrained eye." The man scoffed. "The way it's moving is remarkably. It's hardly noticeable, but it's like it has a mind of its own. A personality, almost."

"Fascinating, sir."

"Quite." He agreed, and as he studied it, almost entranced by it, it moved. Charles only got out half a scream before the flame jumped onto him and started burning his face, the sound which finally woke Claire up.

"Run!" A tiny voice yelled, and in her tired and groggy state, set her body and fire and rolled over. As she hit the floor, the metal end of the man's axe landed where her neck used to be. Acting on instinct she rolled under the table, kicked the large man's knees as hard as she could, and rolled back out. "Run, get out of here!"

Looking to the source of the sound, she realized that there were little people talking to her.

Little people with wings.

In jars.

Talking to her.

"Get out while you can! More guards are coming!"

"What about you?" She croaked, surprised at how terrible her voice sounded. Everything felt fuzzy, the sounds were confusing, air smelled way too sterile-

"Watch out!"

She easily ducked and dodged the fist aimed for her head, and vaguely recognized her attacker as not being the one that she had kicked in their knees. Purposely she threw them at the strange jars on the wall, causing the shelves to fall and crash to the ground.

Another person tried to latch magical vines to her limbs, but she easily burned them. In the back of her mind she realized that she was just in her bra and underwear, but upon that realization, also realized she had more important things to worry about.

"Run! Let's go!" The tiny little people encouraged her, and being too tired and utterly confused to argue, followed the little flying people while shooting her fire magic at her enemies.

She was uncoordinated and crashed into more than one wall, but after a series of dodging, burning, stairs, walking, more burning, she ended up outside. Just like inside it was hectic, but just as easy to get passed.

Running as fast as she could, little flying people at her sides, her heart thudded against her chest painfully. Adrenaline was still pumping, her magic flying, and in the early morning light, didn't see the cliff until it was too late.

"Shiiiiit!" She cursed loudly, and although the little fairies tried to help her, were unable to.

5.

September 23rd, X791

9:30 AM

Gajeel was starting to understand why his boyfriend hated Bacchus so much.

"That ass hole? Yeah, I saw him. He was with some passed out chick he claimed was his sister." The guard told him, recalling the past few days. His memory had gotten remarkably better with a twenty.

"Claire Groh?"

"I think so. The compartment reeked of alcohol, and he was half-naked. I'm not one to judge, but, uh…" He wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

"Did you by chance see her hair?"

"Yeah, it's pretty unique. Black and white with a weird smiley face."

"When did you see them?"

"Uh… couple days ago, late at night. 2 AM or something."

"Was anyone else with them?"

"Nah, just those two."

"Thanks dude. You've been a real help." Gajeel said, and gave him an extra five before walking away from the station and back to the train. He really hadn't expected to get that lucky so quickly- literally the first person he talked to happened to have seen them, which was good, because the train was going to leave again soon. Some part of him had hoped that someone had seen Bacchus but not Claire, because hell, now he had to go into a war zone to freaking find them.

6.

September 23rd, X791

9:30 AM

Bacchus stood there for at least five minutes.

Eyes wide.

Frozen in place.

 _Can that idiot not read?_

"Aaauugh…" The man he was hired to retrieve groaned as he hit the ground, rolling onto his side and holding his stomach. Finding the man hadn't been quite as easy as Bacchus had initially planned, and along the way he had been unconscious for a fairly long period of time for mysterious reasons, so he wasn't sure how long he'd been gone for.

But as almost always, it worked out. He got the man he was paid to find.

But his sister was gone.

So that hadn't worked out.

He turned in place, looking around the now lit area for any sign of his sister, and after a while of slowly spinning, came up with a new plan.

Use the drugs he had bought for Claire on new guy, go find her, come back, pick him up, go home drinking in merry. _I amaze myself with my own brilliance._

7.

September 23rd, X791

5:45 PM

Gajeel couldn't believe his luck that day. After what Laxus had told him about the -debatable- psychotic martial artist, he half expected to be tracking them across the country on horse back. Or something more creative.

Instead, when he'd arrived on the edge of the battlefield, he walked up to one of the guards and explained his situation. He was a Fairy Tail mage looking for a girl, average height, weird hair, and might be traveling with her brother. To his amazement the guy said he knew who he was talking about, that they had found an unconscious girl matching that description smack dab in the middle of a fire fight.

They couldn't find any identifying markers on her, and since she was a half-naked girl obviously wounded and in need of help, they took her back to their base. If she'd been a guy they likely would have killed her on the spot.

Since they were so low on medical supplies, food, and water, they couldn't really give any to her, but they did have a blanket and a bed for her in a cell. When Gajeel got there he found her sleeping soundly on a bed, facing away from the entrance, and a faded blue fleece blanket on her. "How long has she been been sleeping?"

"She was unconscious when we found her yesterday afternoon, and to my knowledge hasn't woken up. There's a dark guild base somewhere in the area that will sometimes dump bodies around here, so some of us have been guessing that that's where the markings came from."

"Markings?"

"There's weird marks on her body. I haven't seen them personally, but someone said that they look like cutting marks." He explained, and a knot formed in Gajeel's stomach. Walking forward, he gently nudged her shoulder, glad when she made a sound. Pulling the blanket back a little, to try and see what 'marks' the man had been talking about, he pen marks dotted along her skin, along with the now fading black hand print where her guild mark used to be. "Is she yours?"

"Yep. Thanks for the help." The iron mage said, and pulled the blanket back over her arm. Gently, he reached a hand under her side and thighs, and slowly rolled her into his arms.

She made a whining sound and shifted against him, resting the side of her face against his chest as he stood up, holding all of her weight. Since she was at least partially awake, that was a good sign. Laxus once mentioned that one of the reasons he was protective of Claire was because he had held her unconscious, and that it gave him a weird feeling of responsibility for her that he couldn't explain. Gajeel didn't really understand it at the time, but now he did.

"You should get out of here before nightfall. It gets pretty hectic." The guard told him, and he nodded, making his way back out the door. "Good luck."

8.

Sometime that night, Claire finally woke up, her head pounding. Shifting in her spot, she winced at the following pain, especially when her leg thudded loudly to the floor. Apparently she didn't have much leg room, whatever she was laying on.

"Are you awake?" A gruff voice asked, and she made a whining sound, clutching the blanket around her. He chuckled.

"I feel like I was hit by a truck." She croaked, her voice cracking and sounding terrible. As she thought that, she recalled feeling it earlier, and tried to recall when that had happened. "Are the fairies okay?"

"Fairies?" He asked, and she nodded. "I didn't see any fairies, but from what I heard, you hit your head pretty bad. We'll have Wendy look at you when we get back."

Her blanket smelled like gun powder, and upon realizing it, she pushed it from her face. Blue, blood shot eyes opened and peered around the room, and landed on an unlikely figure. Despite the pain she kept he eyes open, blinking rapidly against the dryness. "Gajeel?"

"Makarov sent me to get you." The iron mage explained, and held up a waterbottle. "Thirsty?"

Nodding, the fire woman slowly sat up, shaking as she did so. After taking the waterbottle she quickly brought it to her lips, drinking it as quickly as she could. It felt like she hadn't had water in days, and as it passed her chapped lips, her eyes closed. As a fire mage she usually hated water and took it for granted, but now, it was the best thing in the world.

"When was the last time you ate?" As if on cue, her stomach growled loudly.

Her belly felt full of water, which was a little uncomfortable, but she didn't mind it right then. Once she had drank the entire container she gasped for breath, beginning to feel the sleepiness egg away from her. She sat up straight, stretching her sore muscles, and then handed it back to him. "What the hell happened?" Upon feeling a draft, she looked down, realizing that she was in her black bra and underwear. There was so much dirt and grime on her that it almost looked like she was fully clothed. "What happened to my clothes?"

"Bacchus was hired to retrieve someone captured in a civil war happening in Bosco, and apparently, brought you along. When I got there, someone said that they found you half-naked in the middle of a fire fight, unconscious."

"Seriously?" She asked, and happily took the sandwich he offered her, immediately digging into it like the waterbottle.

"They also mentioned that there's a dark guild nearby, and that those markings by be from them." He added, and she looking down at herself, seeing dotted lines along parts of her slightly less dirty skin.

"I do remember being strapped down at some point, and a voice telling me to run. It was pretty easy to escape, if I remember right…. and then I fell off a cliff… I think?"

"Do you know which guild it was?"

"No idea. Could have sworn that I freed some fairies that were trapped in some jars, but I lost them after I fell."

"Did they have tails?" He asked, and after a moment of silence, broke out in a grin. "We should be back in Magnolia in another 8 hours, by the way."

"Do you know where Bacchus is?"

"Nope. My job was to find you."

"What if he's hurt?"

"He's going to be dead if Laxus gets his hands on him. Hell, if I see him I"m going to kick his ass into the New Year."

"That's not funny. He could be hurt somewhere."

"He dumped you, half naked and unconscious, in the middle of a war zone."

"Well when you say it like that, it sounds bad."

"Phrase in any other way that doesn't 'sound bad'."

"We don't know the full story. Maybe… he had… a good reason?" She suggested, adding a cheesy grin. Finishing off the sandwich, she set the wrapper to the side and then wrapped the blanket back around her. "Do you have clothes for me to wear?"

"I'm gay, remember?"

"You expect me to walk around Magnolia in my underwear and raggedy blanket?" She asked, and he shrugged. When he didn't move, she became set on staring at him for another minute before he moved to dig into his bag.

"I grabbed some clothes from the train station before we headed out. You owe me $50."

"Kay." She said simply, reaching for the sweatpants and baggy shirt. "Too bad there aren't showers on the train." Standing up, Gajeel looked away as she pulled on the clothes, feigning some level of modesty. Once clad in the new clothes, which had that new clothing feel, she plopped back down on her seat with her legs crossed beneath her. The iron mage yawned into his hand. "Huh. Wonder why Bacchus drugged me."

"What?" He asked, and she held up her forearm, pointing to a part of her skin. In faded blue marker were the letters 'BG'.

"He has this weird thing about signing people when he drugs them with tranquilizer."

"... is that insanity genetic?" He asked, and she looked up at him, now ignoring the mark and clasping her hands together in front of her.

"I don't think so. Until we came to this world there was no crazy gene or anything like that. Unless something in this world unlocked a hidden 'crazy gene', it's purely psychological circumstance. I'm guessing you're asking because of Laxus?" Claire asked with a knowing smile, watching as a cute little blush tinted his cheeks. Still feeling gross, she tried to distract herself with conversation. "How are you two doing?"

"We're fine. So long as he doesn't go crazy on me." He muttered the last part, and sighed.

"Out of all of us, he has the best chance of turning out okay, if that makes you feel any better." She told him, and he looked up, slightly confused by her choice of words.

"What about you?"

"Initially I thought that out of all of us, Bacchus would be best off, because he was at the best age and he had survival training. The more I think about it though, Laxus has the best chance, because he has no memory of being on our home world. He's strong, capable of taking care of and defending himself, has a good support system, and he doesn't have the memory of our home world to bring him down. So he has the best chance of turning out okay."

"He also had the benefit of being the Guild Master's grandson." Gajeel added, and she nodded. "Does that mean that you think you won't be okay?"

She shrugged. "I try not to worry about it too much. Worst case scenario I turn out like Kelsey, slightly better and more likely case I turn into Bacchus, or best scenario, I'm a pyro seith mage."

"Aren't you already the last one?"

"Right now I'm just a pryo. I won't have another wandering soul to work with for another couple weeks. So what's your family like?"

"Not nearly as interesting as yours." He chuckled. "My dad was a dragon."

"Are you kidding? That's super interesting. Tell me about him."

9.

September 24th, X791

11:30 AM

"Is it just me, or does the Guild Master seem to be more anxious than normal?" Fried asked the group, and they all turned to look at the main level of the Guild Hall. Laxus had been eyeing the old man as well, since hell, it got boring just sitting around all day, and had also noticed the man's odd behavior.

"He keeps looking at the door, like he's waiting for something." Laxus added.

"Did he say what time Claire would be back?" Bickslow asked, and he shook his head.

"You'd think that Jura would be a bit more specific, time wise." Evergreen spoke, and they nodded.

"He could have told Makarov a time, but he 'forgot' to tell us." Bickslow spoke.

"Wouldn't be the first time." His babies added, and he nodded in agreement.

"There she is. About time." Laxus announced, and the group turned to the front of the Guild Hall, smiling at the friendly face. The dragonslayer's smile fell when he realized that Gajeel was with her, and how terrible his sister looked.

As she made her way to the Guild Master with Gajeel, the Thunder Legion ran to meet her, giving her hugs and talking about how much they missed her, even though she'd only been gone for 4 days. The iron mage stepped to the side, avoiding the questioning look of his boyfriend, and turned to the Guild Master.

When Laxus got his turn to give her a hug, which he rarely did in public, he smelled her hair. "Why the hell do you smell like gun powder and whiskey?"

"New shampoo?" She joked with a guilty smile, and as he put her at arms length, his hands on her shoulders, she made a small whining sound and looking away. When he gave her _that_ look, the one he'd used on her at Tenrou Island and somehow got her to spill her guts about the leg scars thing, she knew that lying wasn't an option.

"'Shampoo'?" He repeated.

"Claire, why do you look guilty? And you smell terrible, no offense." Bickslow added. He didn't need extra dragon senses to smell that.

"Bacchus posed as Jura and took her into a war zone." Gajeel said, knowing that the girl wasn't going to spit it out any time soon.

"... Bacchus did _what?_ " The blonde seethed, shocking everyone around him with his lightning magic.

10.

Claire couldn't sleep that night.

Namely because she was laying on the floor with only a thin mat under her. The prison cell was more comfortable.

She sat up, sighing for the millionth time, and looked around the dark room. When she moved, her boyfriend re-wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and nuzzled his face into her side. Nearby the rest of her team slept in their respective sleeping bags either on the couch or floor, snoring softly.

It was cute that her team was so worried about her, so much that they didn't want her alone that night (even though she would have been fine with Bickslow and their babies) and piled into Laxus's living room. While they had been able to fall asleep easily, her sleep schedule had gotten so messed up on the previous days that she felt wide awake. The near non-existent cushioning beneath her didn't help.

Slowly, as to not wake Bickslow, she removed his arms and quietly padded to the kitchen. Since her return she had been able to take a shower, get clean clothes, and eat plenty of food, so physically she felt pretty good. Wendy had used her healing magic on her too, which helped.

Today was the first time that she had been in her brother's house. The reason they were all staying there was because he had the biggest living room of the group, and they were dead set on having a slumber party. Fried tried to call it a 'teamwork building activity' to make it seem less weird.

This was probably the nicest house she had been in since her arrival to this world. Extremely clean, tidy, and well furnished. The house was next to the river, relatively close to the Guild Hall, but far enough away on the outskirts of town to not be bothered by city noise.

Her gaze landed on some of the magical items in the room, and she recalled her conversation with the lightning mage the previous week. Bickslow had told him about her embarrassing stories trying to learn 'basic' kitchen appliances, and when the lightning mage had told her he knew that, he had been insulting Bacchus more than her at the time, but it still made her feel self-conscious about it. It was something she always felt uncomfortable about, since her parents had banned her from the kitchen growing up, and something she could never truly get over. When she moved out her roommates taught her some basics, but when she came to this world, she was back to square one.

At least she knew how to make tea, and as she'd discovered earlier that evening, Laxus had plenty of it.

Careful as to not wake the others, she quietly moved around the room to make it. Unlike her world, boiling water took a matter of seconds, which was handy. After pouring herself a cup of chamomile tea, she sat down at the adjoining dining room table, lost in her thoughts.

" _He dumped you, half naked and unconscious, in the middle of a war zone."_

" _Well when you say it like that, it sounds bad."_

" _Phrase in any other way that doesn't 'sound bad'."_

And she couldn't. Ever since that conversation, she ran countless scenarios in her head as to why what had happened happened, and she couldn't think of a single one with Bacchus in good light. In all the crazy, messed up situations she'd been in with him, he had never drugged her with tranquilizer so that she couldn't defend herself.

" _He dumped you, half naked and unconscious, in the middle of a war zone."_

From what little she remembered and what Gajeel told her, all that she could piece together for sure was that Bacchus drugged her, she somehow ended up in a dark guild lab with fairies she may or may not have hallucinated, she either fell off a cliff or otherwise hit her head, and ended up in enemy crossfire. Whether Bacchus was alive or dead was unknown, and she worried about him. For all she knew, he was killed defending her from dark wizards that had followed them from Magnolia.

Even if that was the case, it didn't explain why he drugged her. She distinctly remembered him doing the stupid 'Vulcan Neck Pinch' on the train, so she knew they weren't ambushed.

Setting aside that she knew he would never hand her over to a dark guild, all evidence was pointing towards it. That he kidnapped, drugged, and then handed her over to a dark guild, which she escaped from.

Just thinking about it made her sick.

Laxus's footsteps were unique to their group. He was much heavier and bulkier than the others, which made him stand out. Upon his arrival she didn't bother looking at him as he navigated the kitchen, and after a few minutes, found him sitting next to her at the table with his own cup of tea. Same kind.

"Are you in here to keep an eye on me, or because you couldn't sleep?" Claire whispered.

"Both." He whispered back. They could both hear the soft breathing of their teammates in the next room, sleeping soundly and unaware of their disappearance. "How do you feel?"

"Emotionally I feel like crap. Physically, not so much." She replied, suddenly feeling weird about talking to him. Before their trip on the island she was mad at him, but in his anger at Bacchus, she had forgotten about her anger at Laxus. Briefly she wondered if Bacchus had actually planned that, but tossed the idea aside, since it wouldn't make sense for him to purposely make Laxus hate him, especially without a plan to regain his favor. Remembering her previous anger for the blonde, she suddenly recalled their spats before they found out they were related. They'd always had a weird friendship- one day they would be cursing each other out, the next, joking about their team or completely silent for hours at a time.

"Sorry." He whispered after awhile, and she looked over at him. It was rare that she saw the man in pajamas, and even though she had seen his hair tussled to the side several times on the island, she still enjoyed the sight. The famous Laxus Dreyar with bed head.

"For what?"

"Overreacting today."

"I think the guild deserves an apology, not me." She pointed out, and he grunted.

"I didn't shock them _that_ bad."

She smiled, taking another sip of her tea. Laxus fidgeted with his mug, occasionally stirring it with his spoon, and pressing the small bag inside of it to the side of the wall, over and over again.

"I originally wasn't going to say 'I told you so'…" He said softly, looking up at her with playful glint in his eye. "But I totally did."

"Congrats." She said sarcastically, and he went back to looking at his tea, smiling softly.

"Back when we first met… when I told you that I was adopted, you said something that stuck with me." Still looking down at his tea, he continued stirring it as his sister looked at him curiously. "You said that I should look for my family because even though some of them are jerks, I could have some family that aren't jerks."

"Sounds like something I would say."

"Bacchus may be a jerk, but you're not."

"Thanks. I don't think you're a jerk either. Together we are the amazing non-jerk twin duo."

"So are we officially telling people that we're twins?"

"Easier than telling people that we're actually from a different universe, but we were summoned by a dragon and even though we were born 22 years apart, we're actually the same exact age down to the millisecond. 'Twins' just sounds better."

"Do you just wait for excuses to say that?"

"No, but it is fun to say. Have you tried it?"


	26. Chapter 26

**Walking Cliché 26**

 _Week of Hell_

"Stop it."

"You stop it."

"You're the one poking me." She told him, narrowing her eyes at the seith mage. Without fail, he poked her cheek again, looking bored as he did so.

"No I'm not."

"Is that fun?"

"… not as much as I had hoped it would be." He admitted when he failed to get a rise out of her. As much as she wanted to be annoyed at her boyfriend, she couldn't really blame him. She was so bored that she almost wanted him to continue so that they would fight, just so that they could do _something_.

The Thunder Legion, as they spent most of their time nowadays, was in the Guild Hall on the top floor. All of them were used to visiting the Guild Hall on occasion and drinking, but after four days straight of doing so, they were bored of it. Food was limited in options, Mira (understandably given the crowd) could only refill their drinks so fast, and as Claire predicted, the drunken shenanigans of their guild got boring. Watching their friends get drunk and act stupid was only good entertainment for so long. Last time they were grounded at the guild, which was the previous summer, they at least had some quiet time and privacy; and, in Claire's case, drugs and a doctors note to get drunk 24/7.

Laxus had pretty much become Claire's personal trainer. Each morning to early afternoon they trained, 5 times a week, and he'd stopped going easy on her. When they used to train together he would go by her pace of doing things, and when he got bored or wanted to push himself, he'd go do his own thing for a while and come back later. Now that wasn't the case- they did things his way, which was intense and pushed her passed her limits. She'd already passed out twice.

So now, even if she wanted to do something fun to get away from the boredom, she was too exhausted to do so. Not that she could- they were bound to the Guild Hall and Laxus's house until further notice. After the stunt that Bacchus pulled, the Thunder Legion wanted to keep her close, and Makarov wanted her close to the guild: she was never alone. Which, considering that practically every time she had been attacked was when she'd been isolated from the group, she couldn't really argue their reasoning.

It wasn't fun for the Thunder Legion, either.

Fried had tried to train with them one day and broke his leg in several places, so he had magic bandages covering his leg and restricting how much he could walk. At the Guild Hall in their usual space he would try to read, glaring up at the occasional outburst from the drunken friends downstairs, but he didn't get very far in his book. The only reason he didn't retire to the library was because Laxus was there.

Evergreen managed to keep herself entertained, whether it was doing her nails, reading a magazine, or arguing with Elfman.

And then there was Bickslow, who could only amuse himself by poking his girlfriend and seeing how long it took for her to scrunch up her nose in annoyance (a little tell he'd noticed when they first started dating) or for her fire magic to act up. The latter would sometimes happen when she wasn't doing anything at all, so the nose part was a bigger indication of her emotional state than anything. Ever since Sky had left he missed the little random updates on her thoughts or emotions, not just because he was nosy, but because it got her to cheer up, and him by proxy. Her being happy made him happy, and vice versa.

"The festival is coming up." Evergreen spoke as she read a magazine, and blew a bubble with her piece of bubblegum.

Most of the group grunted at that, and Claire looked up, confused. "What festival?"

"Were you here for it last year?" Fried asked.

"Yeah she was. You remember the Harvest Festival, and the whole 'Battle of Fairy Tail' thing?" Bickslow asked, and she nodded. "That festival."

"Oh. Are you guys going to be in it this year?" She asked, the group exchanged some glances, looking to each other to see what they thought.

"I think that would be a great idea." Mirajane said, coming out of nowhere and replacing some of their empty drinks. "There's still a month before it happens, and there's plenty to do for it."

"Wouldn't it be pretty… weird, for us to do that? I mean… we did some pretty bad things at the last one, and most people haven't forgiven us." Bickslow explained awkwardly, and the white-haired mage thought about it for a moment.

"It could be a good way to show that you've changed, and that you're actually part of the guild rather than against it."

"We're not doing that." Laxus said decisively, and his team visibly relaxed a bit.

"What if we planned something else, non-festival related, for the guild?" Evergreen suggested. "I mean since we're stuck here, we might as well help out somehow."

"Volunteering?" Mirajane asked, and both Bickslow and Laxus groaned at the idea. "There are plenty of guild activities that need help. Why don't you check out the volunteer board downstairs, or if you have an idea for something you want to coordinate yourselves, you can suggest it to the Guild Master and I, and we can post it on the board."

"We'll think about it. Thanks Mira." Bickslow said, and the woman nodded with a kind smile, and went back down the stairs to the other customers. The second floor was surprisingly busy that morning, as both Erza and Guildarts were present that day, along with a few other miscellaneous wizards that had decided to brave that floor.

"So you guys are going to be volunteering, huh?" The S-Ranked mage, Guildarts, asked as he pulled up a chair to their group.

"It _would_ be a good way to make friends." Evergreen spoke.

"And a good excuse for you to work with Elfman." Bickslow teased, letting his tongue hang out. She rolled her eyes.

"You're so immature."

"What are you guys going to volunteer for?" Guildarts asked, looking to Laxus in particular.

"We could do another training day." Fried suggested, and Claire groaned.

"What if it was in place of our usual training?" Laxus asked her, and she paused, intrigued by the idea. The suggestion could either mean that it would be a more terrifying work day, or an easier one. Or pure evil, as she had learned he could make their training.

"What if we did a dance?" Evergreen suggested.

"I vote for training." Claire immediately spoke up.

"Has anyone even kept up with their lessons?" She asked the room, and they all gave her an awkward 'uuuh…'.

"What kind of training day?" Guildarts asked, and bit into an apple, entertained by the group. Between their outfits and the fact they all acted like children, they were rather amusing.

"A while ago we did an impromptu training day, where we invited everyone at the guild to participate. We had sections for martial arts training, yoga, strength training, aerobic, and others. If we put our minds to it, we could make it much more organized and efficient." Fried explained, and the older man nodded in approval.

"Some of the wizards at this guild could definitely benefit from that kind of organization and training." He said, and just as he did so, Team Natsu managed to destroy yet another table on the first floor and cause a ripple of chaos and destruction through the building. A prime example of why the smarter mages made themselves comfortable on the second floor.

"Depending on how long we're banned from jobs, we could make it a weekly thing." Fried added, and the group sulked slightly. Not at the idea of doing the training thing, but of being banned from jobs long enough to be _able_ to do it weekly.

"How'd you guys get banned from jobs?" Guildarts asked.

"A bunch of dark wizards have been attacking Claire, and after Bacchus recently kidnapped her by posing as Jura Neekis, Makarov wants to keep her close to the guild. We're all banned from doing jobs until the attacks settle down." Fried explained, and as the older man looked at Claire, she awkwardly looked back.

"I have heard rumors about your soul burning magic, but I didn't realize anyone was taking them seriously. People have actually been attacking you?"

"A few weeks ago, we were ambushed on a fake job designed to steal her magic." Laxus told him, and the man's eyebrows raised.

"Was anyone hurt?"

"Just the people that tried to steal my magic." Claire answered.

"So you guys have kind of turned into Claire's body guards, huh?" He asked with a grin, and she glared, wishing that he hadn't brought that up.

"Yep." Bickslow said with a grin, and wrapped his arms around her in a hug, pinning down her arms and pulling her close. "Nothing is going to happen to her on our watch."

"Keeping her safe!" His babies said in unison around them, and Claire tried to pull herself out of his arms, pulling her at a weird angle.

1.

What had initially started as a 'Thunder Legion Training Day' quickly morphed into 'S-Class Wizard Training Day'. Once Erza had gotten involved in the planning, all of the S-Ranked mages deemed it appropriate to 'whip the guild into shape', by making it a mandatory training day for the guild. Upon the trio making this decision, they also got the Guild Master involved, and he was more than thrilled at his strongest mages deciding to get involved with the guild. No doubt he was already planning his own sadistic punishments for those that either failed to attend these days or 'didn't try hard enough'.

"Your head is weird." Poppo, or now 'Riley', informed her for the millionth time that day.

The Thunder Legion, or at least the Thunder Legion minus Laxus, were on the main floor of the building sitting at a table to the side of the hall. Mirajane was singing on stage, although she had been doing so long enough that it had turned into background sound, while the other S-Ranked mages were talking on the second floor about the upcoming training sessions. Their conversations had more or less morphed into how lazy some of their guild members had gotten, then to just complaining about them in general, and occasionally they'd stray back to the topic at hand.

For a while Claire had been eavesdropping on them and relaying the information to her team, but after the mages had strayed off topic enough times, she eventually stopped.

"I'm going to the library. If they choose to include us in their planning, you know where to find me." Fried finally announced, snapping his book shut and moving to stand. The group nodded, surprised that he had waited that long to do so, and watched him limp away to the library.

"It was our idea to do the training day, and they totally hijacked it." Evergreen complained.

"Knowing them, they're probably planning the most evil, twisted, and sadistic 'training day' they can imagine." Bickslow sulked.

"Sadistc and evil." His babies repeated behind him, minus Riley. Since they'd officially transferred Poppo to Riley earlier that day, Claire and Riley had been slowly adjusting to being new partners. Since Riley had been working with Bickslow for a couple of years now, it was a weird transition, but he seemed to enjoy it. Unlike his previous seith mage Claire didn't reign him in as often, so he could actually speak his mind without censorship of the other souls.

"I can't imagine anything worse than Laxus's training." Claire spoke, recalling the past few days of working with him. Frowning, she shook her head and took a sip from her water.

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are? You've gotten one-on-one training with two S-Ranked mages. People would kill for that." Bickslow told her, not for the first time.

"I never said I wasn't grateful for it. You have the option to work with us too, ya know. Hypocrite."

"No way in hell." He snorted, and she rolled her eyes. "Especially after what happened to Fried; I'm perfectly fine with training with Ever and my babies."

"Hey guys," Gray spoke as he approached the group. They all looked up, surprised by the arrival of the half-naked ice mage. "Do you know what the S-Ranked mages are doing up there?" He asked, nodding to the second floor. When the powerful wizards had decided to start planning, they had kicked out all of the other mages, and it was all too obvious to the rest of the guild that they were scheming.

"They're conspiring a day of pure hell." Bickslow told him.

"They think the guild has been slacking off too much, so they're planning a mandatory training day." Claire elaborated, and watched as the ice mage's eyes slowly widened in terror.

"Who the hell was stupid enough to give them _that_ idea?"

Bickslow and Claire turned to Evergreen, who froze, her hands temporarily stopping their filing motion. "Don't look at me. I wanted to plan a dance. It was Fried's idea to make it a training day."

"You're the one that insisted we volunteer with something to get involved with the guild." Bickslow argued.

"Yeah, to make friends, not make them hate us. And if we're going to play the 'blame game', it was Claire's fault for getting us banned from doing jobs, which led to us being bored and wanting to volunteer." Ever defended, and then both wizards turned to Claire.

"Mira is the one that suggested we volunteer in the first place. And you're the one that brought up the festival, which is how the volunteering thing came up in the first place." Claire argued.

"So it's the Thunder Legion's fault." Gray clarified, and the trio looked back up at him, unable to think of anyone else to redirect the blame to.

2.

The next day, Laxus canceled their training in order to spend the day planning with Erza, Guildarts, Mirajane, and Makarov on the second floor. Instead of worrying about it, the rest of the Thunder Legion did their own training. Well, kind of.

"I don't get it." Riley said, yet again.

"What do you not get? All I'm asking you to do is stay still while supporting my weight. I've seen you do it with Bickslow, and Sky did it with me all the time, so I know it's not impossible." She explained for the fifth time that morning.

He hovered in front of her, and if he could, she guessed that he would be doing one of Natsu's infamous oblivious stares. "… I still don't get it."

Again, she physically grabbed the soul, moved him so that he was a foot higher than she was, and held him in place. "Stay perfectly still."

"Okay."

"When I pull on you, don't move."

"Okay."

She pulled. He moved. "… you just moved."

"Yeah."

"You weren't supposed to."

"Okay." He said innocently, and she groaned in frustration. They had been working together for an hour and had gotten absolutely nowhere.

When she trained with Sky for the first time, she had him fly around in his vessel for a good half hour while she watched him, getting a feel for how he moved and his own personal style. After she felt like she had a basic grasp, she had him carry her for short distances, and moved from there.

But Riley didn't do that. He was so used to Bickslow and the other souls, namely Pappa, telling him what to do that he really didn't know how to function without them. When she tried to have him flying around, he did a circle around the room, and came back to her.

Bickslow and the others watched in the background, doing their own thing but also interested in what she was doing. Fried read, since his leg was still injured, and the other two had been doing a mix of yoga and acrobatics.

Acknowledging that she was getting too frustrated to keeping working with him, and knowing that her own emotions would start making him equally frustrated, she decided to call it a day. Tiredly, she made her way over to her yoga mat and lay down, clearing her mind.

"Laxus said that you need to train today, even though he can't do it with you." Fried said nearby, and she looked over at him.

"When did he say that? He just told me that training was canceled."

"I stopped by the Guild Hall before coming here. He said to keep an eye on you, and make sure you train in one capacity or another."

"Meditating is a form of training."

"Yeah!" Riley cheered from nearby, and hovered near the fire woman. "Meditating!"

"Why'd you stop?" Bickslow asked as he walked over, Evergreen close behind.

"Just because I'm taking a break doesn't mean that you guys need to." She told them, annoyed that the entire group was deciding to make a big deal about it. This was supposed to be her day off from training, and now that she was treating it that way, she was basically being told that it wasn't.

"Does it have to do with Riley?" He asked.

"Laxus canceled training. How I train on my own is my business." She said, glaring at Fried.

"He has decided to take you under his wing, and has requested that we keep you under a tight schedule. I see nothing wrong with it."

"Not telling me about it is what's wrong."

"I'm sorry if that troubled you. Since you had planned to train anyway, I didn't see any reason to bring it up. He wasn't specific in what kind of training you did, just that you be productive." Fried explained, and she sighed, looking up at the ceiling of the room. Mornings were not her thing.

"What's your deal with Riley? Why'd you stop?" Bickslow questioned, taking a seat on his mat next to hers.

"I'm getting frustrated, so I decided it was a good time to take a break. I was around Sky for months before working with him, so I figure that I just need to spend more time with Riley before learning to fight with him."

"He's the best at following orders in my group. I would have thought you'd be working on routines by now." He said, scratching his head. Unlike the last soul she worked with, Riley had been working with Bickslow for years, and he hand picked him to work with her. It made sense that he'd want to be involved: it was his baby, after all.

"So far he hasn't been able to do almost anything I've asked him to." She told him, and the seith mage looked over at the small soul, who simply stared back in silence. "You've been working with him for a long time. It makes sense that it would take him a while to adjust to me."

"Why haven't you been listening to mom?"

The soul moved slightly, his 'face' looking away.

"Riley." No response. "Poppo." He slowly inched away.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. There's no rush. We'll try it again in a few days."

"You're too lenient on them."

"I can't be as strict as you without hurting them, and considering how dangerous my magic is, I have to avoid it as much as possible."

"You don't-"

"You two are totally parents." Evergreen interrupted, and they both turned to glare at her.

3.

"How long have they been up there?" Bickslow asked the half-naked mage. Both Team Natsu and the Thunder Legion had decided to sit together that evening, namely for the sole purpose of staring at their elite friends on the second floor. They weren't the only ones worried about the meeting taking place- most of the mages, at least the ones that had been there long enough to know that this was bad, had been openly staring at them and loudly guessing at what they were doing.

They had put a silencing charm around them so that those with heightened senses couldn't hear them, adding to the mystery.

"All morning." He answered.

Gajeel slammed down their mugs on the table, glaring at the Thunder Legion. Since Mira had joined in the planning, he had to pick up the slack. "I heard this was your fault."

"Nuh-uh." Bickslow retorted, letting his tongue hang out. The iron mage glared for a moment, and upon hearing someone yelling to get his attention in the background, turned with a grunt and left.

"Have they ever worked together like this?" Lucy asked, and the group shook their heads.

"Not as long as I've been here." Gray answered. "The only thing they work together on _sometimes_ is the S-Class trials. Otherwise they keep to themselves."

"I say bring it on!" Natsu announced, and slammed his foot down on the table and pointing at the group. "I'll take all of them on right now, bring it!"

"Have any of them not beaten you before, Natsu?" Happy asked, and the pink-haired mage paused, but then shook his head.

"This time it'll be different! I'm tons stronger than I was last time I fought Erza!"

"What about this morning when Guildarts punched your lights out?" Happy asked.

"He caught me off guard, this time I'm ready!"

"Natsu…"

"You got a death wish or something?" Gray asked.

"Shut up! I could beat 'em!"

"You can't even beat Laxus's little sister."

"Twin sister. We're the same age." Claire glared.

"I could beat her if I wanted to!" Natsu yelled, now looking down at the fire mage. "I'll fight you right now!"

"Would you stop yelling? You're giving me a headache."

"Fight me!" Before Claire could do anything, a bolt of lightning struck the young mage, and he fell to the floor twitching and unconscious. When they all looked over to the second floor, Laxus was turning back to his group, as if nothing had happened.

"Not a good idea threaten Laxus's sister." Bickslow snickered, peering over at the twitching mage. Surrounding mages slowly shook their heads while chuckling to themselves.

"I've beaten Natsu in a fight before." Claire spoke, looking over at Gray, who just smirked.

"I know. You've also killed a dragon, which not even your brother could do."

She cheered up a bit. "Hell yeah I did."

"What do you think they're planning up there?" Wendy asked, getting the conversation back on track. Looking back up at the powerful mages, ideas of what they were planning (mostly unrealistic) spun through their heads, and many of them shuddered.

"With Erza, you know it'll be something bad." Happy spoke. "Rock climbing a mountain of glass would be her style."

"She wouldn't be that bad…" Lucy muttered. "Would she?"

"With Laxus involved, I'm sure that it'll be a beneficial and productive experience for everyone involved." Fried said with stars in his eyes.

"Isn't that exactly what you said right before he shattered your femur?" Claire asked, looking over at him. "Will you even be able to do the training with that leg?"

"I'm sure I'll be healed by then." He replied, tears in his eyes. "You get injured all the time, yet you're back to training in no time."

"What's a femur again?" Lucy asked awkwardly.

"It's the big leg bone connecting your hips and knees." Claire explained. "Fried tried to join Laxus and I in training the other day, and Fried got his femur shattered along with two other broken bones. He was going easy on him, too."

Lucy looked back up to the mysterious group, her eyes wide and imagining the large, powerful Laxus literally breaking her in half. She groaned, a common sound in the Guild Hall that day, a terrified frown tugging her lips downward. When Laxus briefly looked in the direction of their table, she made a small 'eep!' sound and looked back down and her clasped hands on the table.

"Has anyone worked with Guildarts before? Any theories about him?" Carla asked, looking around at the large group. They all shook their heads.

"My guess is that he would emphasize more on magic than combat. Same with Mira." Gray spoke up, and they all nodded in agreement.

"That sounds about right."

"Man, I can't stand it anymore! This is so unmanly!" Elfman yelled nearby, standing up from his chair and causing it to fall over.

"What does that even mean?" Evergreen asked.

"The suspense is killing me!" Just as he yelled that, the group watched as the Guild Master walked up the steps to the second floor, carrying a tray of drinks and snacks with him. Step by step, they all watched, and when he finally made it to the occupied table at the top, he sat down to join them. A unified gasp erupted from the group, along with someone's scream.

"No way! They're working with the Guild Master now?!"

Back on the second floor, the group took a break from their planning to talk about the guild downstairs. "It was a good idea to come here early. Check out the terrified expressions on their faces." Guildarts snorted giddily, discretely glancing in the direction of the first floor every so often.

"Wait, we should all do a unified look in their direction." Mira suggested, and they all smirked.

"That will blow their minds." Laxus chuckled. As Mira did the countdown, the all simultaneously put on their poker faces, and then looked down at the mages below them. The entire Guild Hall fell into complete silence, gapping up at the 5 mages, and then they went back to looking at each other. Silence was replaced by screams and panic, and a fight broke out by the bar.

The S-Class mages snickered and tried to hold back their laughter, having way too much fun at their guild's expense.

Claire watched as her colleagues went ape shit at the look her brother and colleagues at given them. She honestly couldn't tell if they were genuinely terrified or just being silly, and the new mages that had no idea what was going on just joined in the chaos, adding to it.

"Ever, baths?" She asked, looking over to the brunette, only to realize that she had disappeared. In fact her entire team had left, and since she could see Bickslow's souls hovering above the crowd, guessed that they had joined the fight breaking out. Sighing, she grabbed her poorly made drink (at some point Laxus had taught Gajeel his version of a mojito: straight tequila with a few mint leaves) and stealthily escaped her section of the fight to get to the sidelines.

When she was safely to the side of the Guild Hall, she looked back up at the instigators of the fight, while they were looking down at it with wide grins. Even Mira looked amused, and the utter delight on the Guild Master's face creeped her out a bit.

"You guys are having way too much fun with this." She said, and as expected, Laxus looked in her direction, smirking.

4.

"They are so unmanly! This is torture!" Elfman yelled, standing up yet again and causing his chair to fall. The woman nearby hit him with her fan.

"Stop saying that!"

"Are you guys genuinely scared, or just having fun?" Claire asked, looking over at the other mages. Most of them looked tired, having dark bags under their eyes, and their gazes frequently flickered to the second floor. It was day three of their planning, and it appeared that no one was getting sleeping ever since it started.

"How are you not terrified?!" Lucy screamed.

"No joke. Have you seen those creepy smiles?" Gray asked, adding a shudder for emphasis.

"What's the point in stressing about it? Stress causes damage to the body, so all you're doing is making yourselves less prepared for it."

"You're totally right! We need to be working out!" Elfman yelled, pumping his arms in the air. "We need to get fit for this, or else we'll be toast!"

"Training for training?" Riley asked, and Claire smiled up at him. She liked when he said something for himself, rather than repeating what she or Bickslow said.

"You guys aren't training already?" Bickslow asked them, and all of Team Natsu and a few others froze, staring back at him awkwardly.

"Well, I mean… we train, of course, but not… regularly…" Lucy said awkwardly.

"What are you talking about, Luce? We train all the time!" Natsu said loudly, and pat her on the back.

"Jobs and training aren't the same thing, Natsu." Happy informed him.

"How often do you guys train?" Gray asked curiously.

"Recently I've been training with Laxus 5 days a week, plus the training with the rest of the Thunder Legion." Claire said.

"Daily, pretty much." Bickslow summarized.

"Seriously?" Lucy asked, blinking at them.

"We're not the strongest team in Fairy Tail for nothing." Bickslow stated, letting his tongue hang out and waggle at them.

"I thought we were the strongest?" Wendy asked.

"No way you guys are stronger than us!" Natsu yelled, and like the other day, jumped up on the table pointing at them. "Bring it! We could kick your butts any day!"

"A fight between Team Natsu and the Thunder Legion?" Kana asked nearby, overhearing the conversation.

"If their teams fought it would destroy the town." Wakaba said.

"They have a point, Natsu." Happy told him, but as usual, the idea of destroying anything didn't deter the fire mage's enthusiasm.

"How about I just fight Claire to decide which team is-" Natsu didn't get to finish his sentence, as yet another bolt of lightning hit the fire mage, sending him falling to the ground knocked out.

"Geez, is he going to do that every time someone challenges you to a fight?" Kana asked from her seat, and took another swig from her bottle.

"Probably." Claire shrugged. It wasn't long before another fight broke in the Guild Hall from rising tensions, and once again, the fire mage made her way over to the sidelines with her drink in hand. As she watched the group fighting for the fourth time that day, which was only slightly more often than a usual day at Fairy Tail, she casually took note of the different fighting styles each person used. Laxus had suggested that she do that: to get practice at determining the strength of her opponent for real battles, so that it would be easier for her to determine what style of fighting she should use, if any.

Realizing that _she_ was being watched, she looked up at the group of S-Class mages, seeing that her brother was looking at her. He waved his hand over, gesturing for her to join them.

Looking around first to see if he was referring to anyone else, and finding no one else, she made her way over to the stairs. Makarov was leaving just as she was going up, so he gave a brief nod and smile as their paths crossed, and she did the same. Once she crossed the barrier, she could hear the voice Guildarts finishing his sentence.

"Sup?" Claire asked, trying to sound casual. It felt like she had been invited to the VIP lounge, despite having been up to the floor countless times before, and she felt oddly nervous. The silence barrier toned down the sound from outside, which made it feel extra secluded from the rest of the guild.

"You looked bored." Laxus commented, and she smiled.

"A little."

"Take a seat and join us. We could use some fresh ideas." Guildarts said, scooting over and patting the seat between him and Laxus. Having nothing else better to do, and honestly a little curious about what they had been planning, she walked over to the chair and sat down. On the table were several pieces of paper with various colors of ink on them, some of them looking very neat and tidy while the others were doodles of penis and random cartoons.

"You guys have actually been productive?" Claire asked, looking over at one page in particular. It had a list of names, all of whom she recognized, and next to it was a scale for each of their attributes, just like in the _Sorcerer Weekly_ magazine she'd been featured in. 'Defense', 'Speed', 'Attack', but unlike the magazine, they had several extra characteristics scored. 'Magic strength', 'discipline', 'team skills', 'social skills'….

"What did you think we were doing?" Erza asked curiously, and took a sip of her warm tea.

"I half-expected you guys to be sitting around and laughing about the people downstairs. They think it's the end of the world."

"We've been doing that, too." Guildarts snickered.

"So what have you guys been planning? General training stuff, or something more sinister?"

"A mix of both." He shrugged. "We've actually been getting a lot of ideas from the other wizards in the guild. Laxus has been relaying some conversations he's been eavesdropping on."

"So you guys _are_ evil." She grinned, continuing to look at some of the papers. "A fighting tournament? Really?"

"Yep. We've been throwing around a lot of ideas, and that's one of the ones that stuck. We're thinking of making the prize of the tournament be S-Ranked." Erza said, getting Claire's attention.

"That's a pretty major prize."

"Also incentive for people to participate."

"So are you guys planning a training day or a tournament?"

"Both." Mira said with a smile. "Actually, we're thinking of having a week of training, where people are only required to attend one day, along with participate in the tournament."

"That's a lot of planning." Claire commented, and she nodded.

"Once we get the general stuff figured out, we're going to hand out assignments to people to help. We're hoping that this will get some positive publicity for guild, too."

5.

"Fuuuuuck, my head hurts!" Bickslow cried out, and fell onto his back with his hands on his face.

"Planning a training week for the _entire_ guild…" Evergreen muttered, rubbing her temples tiredly. The Thunder Legion, not entirely surprising, had been tasked with organizing the training. Unfortunately, they'd been tasked with organizing _all_ of it. On the plus side they didn't have to enforce it or do almost any of the physical prepping of it, but the organizing of it was a nightmare. Papers and books were littered around them on the floor of Laxus's living room, and they were sitting in various stages of distress, open notebooks in front of each of them.

"… we've only been at this for 20 minutes." Fried told them with a deadpan expression, despite his own emotions of feeling overwhelmed. When Laxus had initially proposed the idea to them, they had been a little hesitant but went along with it, not wanting to disappoint their leader and the other S-Rank mages. Laxus was currently still at the Guild Hall, spending time with the other S-Ranked mages, presumably there to only scare the mages on the main floor since most of the planning had been complete. Well, their portion of the planning, at least.

"How about we restart with the basics, and go through this section by section, so that we don't get overloaded?" Claire suggested.

"Organizing your organizing?" Riley asked, and Bickslow groaned.

"He's fucking right."

"Snack break?" Evergreen suggested, and at this idea, Bickslow instantly sat up with a grin and jumped to his feet.

"Cookie break!" He said gleefully, and the pair bounded to the kitchen, leaving the other two mages looking annoyed at the door they exited through.

"Sections?" Fried asked, turning back to Claire, and she nodded.

"Like, how about we get a super basic outline for each day, and then once we have that figured out, we'll get more nitpicky with the details. Laxus said that each needs to be similar so that people can attend one day and get a good, overall training session, right?"

"But we have the problem of different types of magic. He gave us a list of 50 different magics that we need to address."

"Easy. For the time being, we'll dedicate a time for 'magic training', and get into the details later. Some of those overlap, and some of them don't at all, so later we can figure out specifics later."

6.

"Fuuuuuck, my head hurts!" Bickslow cried out, and fell onto his back with his hands on his face.

"… that's what happens when you eat an entire carton of ice cream in two minutes flat." Claire told him, feeling rather unsympathetic to his situation. Fried and Claire were the only ones getting anything done, while their friends goofed off in the living room or made snacks in the kitchen.

"How much education do you have, Claire? If you don't mind me asking?" Fried asked, causing her to look over at him surprise. It was a pretty out of the blue question.

"Graduated high school, and I was technically in my third year of attending a university, but I was going part-time."

"You went to college?" Bickslow asked from her side, still on the floor.

"Yeah, it was pretty common on my world. What's your education like?"

"I flunked out of high school and came to Fairy Tail." He told her, and she stared at him for a moment, surprised by the answer. Now that she thought about it, it made sense since he left home at such a young age, but she'd just assumed that he had a high school education. Until now she hadn't thought about education on this world.

"What was your major?" Evergreen asked, and took another bite of her chocolate ice cream.

"Undecided, but I was thinking of majoring in computer science and minor in psychology."

"What's 'computer science'?" Fried asked.

"It's, uh… well, technology is a lot more advanced on my world. A computer was a piece of bad ass technology that nearly everyone used, and computer science specialized in using it. It's a degree that could transfer into a ton of different jobs."

"Have you thought about attending a school on this world?" Fried asked, and she thought about it for a second.

"Not really. I don't really see the point, since I went to school on my world so that I could get a good paying job. Being a wizard at Fairy Tail pays well enough that I don't really need to, and I doubt that it would help me in the long run, other than I'd learn a bunch of things. What about you two?" She asked, turning back to Evergreen and Fried, who hadn't answered the question.

"I graduated high school and got a general associated degree at the University of Magnolia. I might go back in a few years to get a bachelors degree." Fried told her.

"I, uh… graduated high school. Barely." Evergreen said awkwardly, shoving another large bite of ice cream in her mouth, and then squeezing her eyes shut at the cold temperature.

"Most of the mages at Fairy Tail never completed high school, and some have even less education. Graduating high school is actually quite the accomplishment on this world." Fried told Claire.

7.

"Aw yeah! That's a manly workout!" Elfman announced, looking at the schedule posted on the wall. He was currently looking at the 'challenging' routine section, and the mages around him looked at him like he was crazy.

"'Intense rock climbing with Gajeel', 'sword fighting technique with Erza', 'general magic strengthening with Guildarts', 'combat fighting with Laxus'… who the hell is going to be crazy enough to do _that_?" Max, the resident sand mage user, asked the woman next to him, who nodded. Neither of them had been interested in taking that route, but they were perusing what was offered in each section, and Elfman's enthusiastic cheer had gotten their attention.

A 'rough draft' of the training schedule had been posted after the Thunder Legion (Fried and Claire) worked on it for 2 days straight. Fairy Tail wizards were encouraged to look at the schedules posted on the wall, write up any suggestions or requests, and put them in the suggestion box. Mira had already emptied it out 5 times that morning and was contemplating getting a bigger container.

In order to not get swamped with all of them at once, the Thunder Legion had been sorting through the notes as people wrote them. They had a garbage bag that Mira would empty the notes in whenever she emptied the box, and the group had been slowly sorting the notes based on the route and kind of suggestion it was. Given the short deadline they had, they planned to be pulling an all nighter again.

"How many people do you think will actually do the challenge route?" Claire asked her team, and they shrugged.

"The teachers, probably Team Natsu… Elfman, apparently." Bickslow commented, having overheard the man just moments earlier. "Not many people seem interested in it."

"They're not suicidal." Evergreen scoffed. "I'm not crazy enough to go rock climbing with Gajeel."

"Knowing Erza, someone's going to get stabbed at that sword lesson." Bickslow added.

"It would be a good route for anyone gunning for the S-Class rank." Claire commented. "Although, the requirements to get that rank through the tournament is ridiculous."

"Duh. They don't expect anyone to actually get it; it's to rope in idiots and newbies to actually participate and try." Bickslow told her, absently sorting the papers as he did so.

"S-Class, here I come!" Natsu yelled in the background.

"Case and point."

"I'm looking forward to mixing the 'average' and 'challenging' route." Claire said while smiling at the excited fire mage. He always seemed to have the best timing with that kind of thing.

"Mixing them? Are you allowed to do that?" Bickslow asked.

"Why not? We are in charge of it, and we haven't created a rule against it. We're already planning to give the specific events specific times, so I'm thinking of jumping around a little."

"If I wasn't teaching so much, I would do that." Evergreen commented. "Except, maybe for the 'average' and 'easy' route."

"If I knew that the S-Ranked wizards weren't planning to make the 'challenging' route so brutal, I'd join you." Bickslow told his girlfriend with a grin. "What about you, Fried?"

"I'll likely attend the swordfighting and magic lesson with Guildarts. My leg is still healing, so I'm going to try and avoid the active ones."

"Should we create a sign-up process?" Evergreen asked. "That way the instructors know approximately how many people will be there?"

8.

Three days later, the final schedule was posted, and people had started signing their names next to the events they planned to attend. Surprisingly, nearly everyone stayed with their level, not bothering to stray into the other categories. The training week system had become complicated enough that it required three separate boards, since each route had 7 days, and each day had a slightly different list of classes, and then a description of each class and several empty lines for people to sign their names.

Natsu, Gray, Elfman, and Gajeel were the only ones signed up for all of the challenge route. A few others did what Claire had, which was sign up for a mix of challenge and average. The majority of the guild signed up for average, and the rest signed up for easy.

As the Thunder Legion watched people sign up for the training days, they couldn't help but feel relieved that it was finally done, and a little proud. They got a lot of compliments, and people seemed overall happy with it. Since the S-Ranked wizards still monopolized the upper floor (and were apparently still planning?) they were stuck on the main floor, overlooking the signing up process. Popularity of the board had been fluctuating over the past couple hours.

"I didn't know that you were such a man, Claire!" Elfman told her from the sign up board, standing in front of the challenge route.

"What do you mean?" She asked, confused on multiple levels.

"You signed up for all of the challenge route, for every day. Even I'm not that crazy." Gajeel told her, smirking. "Did Laxus talk you into it?"

Claire blinked in confusion, staring at them, and then ran over to the board. When she got there, sure enough, her name was on the challenge list for every single class for every day. Looking over to the average board, she found that the days she'd initially signed up for had been crossed out. "What the hell? Someone signed my name." She told them, and looked closer at her name written on the challenge board. It was obviously in someone else's handwriting and even in a different color pen.

A hand gripped her shoulder roughly, and she jumped in surprise. "I didn't think anyone was going to be brave enough to attend all of my classes. You will not be disappointed!" The unmistakable voice of Erza Scarlet told her, and all the color flushed from Claire's face. _What the hell does that mean?_

"I hope you don't mind," Weight pushed down now on both shoulders, as her brother lazily rested his elbow on the free one. "I realized that you signed up for the wrong classes, so I fixed it."

"If Claire is going to do all of the classes, so am I!" Elfman announced, and began quickly writing his name next to every class listing.

"I admire your determination, Elfman!" Erza told him, and he looked over at her, smiling sheepishly.

"It… it wasn't broken. How did you 'fix it'?" Claire asked, finally snapping out of her daze and looking at her brother.

"You weren't signed up for any of my classes." He said, mock hurt, but unable to completely hide that cocky smirk threatening to surface.

"So you signed me up for all of the most dangerous, life-threatening, and difficult classes?"

"Yeah. Like I said, I fixed it." He said, and flashed her a cocky grin before ruffling her hair and walking away. "And don't even think about changing it back." He waved.

Gajeel laughed loudly at her expense. "Sucks to be you." As he laughed, she looked back at the board, and then smiled.

"My schedule isn't the only one he 'fixed'." She told him. He stopped laughing long enough to look at the board, and his face fell.

1.

As mid October came around and passed, the S-Class mages were still tight-lipped about the upcoming tournament. The training week was scheduled to start two days after the Harvest Festival, so that everyone would have enough time to recover from their binge drinking and parties, and then the tournament would be three days after the last day of training.

Meanwhile, leading up to that training, Laxus had made Claire's 5 days a week training even more difficult, if that was even possible. They exercised longer, used more extreme terrain, and Claire had more bruises than she could count by the time the 'challenging' training even started. She was building up endurance, though, and with each passing day their exercises became a little easier.

After the tournament, she hoped that training would be less frequent and extreme, so that she could spend more time with Bickslow. Hopefully they'd be living back in their apartment again, too. She loved her team, but she also loved her bed.

 **Day 1 Challenge route:**

 _6:00-8:00 AM: Morning run; Laxus Dreyar_

 _8:00-10:00 AM: Rock Climbing; Gajeel Redfox_

 _10:30-12:00 PM: Sword Fighting; Erza Scarlet_

 _12:00-1:00 PM: Lunch_

 _1:00-3:00 PM: Magic groups_ (Fire magic; Claire)

 _3:00-7:00 PM: Magic strengthening techniques; Guildarts Clive_

When they had been scheduling the different events for the challenge route, they purposely made the first activity not too complicated or intimidating. Since there were a lot of new members in Fairy Tail that didn't really know what 'challenging' meant in their guild, they wanted to wash them out with something that wouldn't get them too hurt.

Claire looked around at the group that had shown up, stretching her legs as she did so. It was a larger group than she had expected, most of whom were people she vaguely recalled seeing at the guild once or twice before. Since participating in at least one of the training days was required, it was no surprise that some mages signed up without really knowing what they'd signed up for. She guessed that the only remainders of this group would be Gajeel, Elfman, Natsu, and Gray.

"What route are we taking?" She asked her brother curiously, walking over to him to finish her stretches.

"This _is_ the challenge route. I was thinking 'Death Ridge'." He told her, and she chuckled.

"You think that's wise, considering the group?" She asked, nodding to a small trio in particular. They were a bunch of teen boys, their limbs practically toothpicks, and were currently making crude jokes about some other girls in the back. Jet and Droy were in the group as well, and although Jet made sense, Claire silently wondered why in the world Droy was there.

"Any stragglers will fall behind way before we get to the dangerous part." He explained. "I'll make an announcement before we head out."

2.

 **Day 1 Average route:**

 _6:00-8:00 AM: Circuit; Erza Scarlet_

 _8:00-10:00 AM: Yoga; Evergreen_

 _10:30-12:00 PM: Basic self-defense; Laxus Dreyar_

 _12:00-1:00 PM: Lunch_

 _1:00-3:00 PM: Magic groups_

 _3:00-4:00 PM: Magic strengthening techniques; Mirajane Strauss_

 _4:00-6:00 PM: Staff fighting; Erza Scarlet_

Bickslow wished he had thought this through a little more when he signed up.

"Bickslow, stop slacking off!" Erza yelled at him after blowing her whistle. She was standing on the other side of the field overlooking their process, and of course, she had to pick on him of all people. Not the struggling people behind him that were slower than him, but the guy smack dab in the middle of everyone. Sure he wasn't going all out for this training circuit, but it's not like he was just sitting around doing nothing.

"Yeah, Bickslow." Nab said nearby, extremely out of breath. The man in question was an entire loop behind him, maybe even two, because Bickslow remembered passing him a couple of times by now. "Stop… slacking… off."

"Ass holes." He muttered under his breath, and after hearing the red head yell at him yet again, he picked up the pace and easily made it to the front of the line.

"That's the spirit! Everyone follow Bickslow's example and pick up the pace! I want to see your best today!" Erza yelled at them.

"Anyone not doing their best will be severely punished!" The Guild Master added, walking up next to her and eyeing the group of panting wizards.

After a rough morning with the requip mage, Bickslow was happy for the slower change in pace with his teammate, Evergreen. She purposely made the routine more of a 'power' yoga, to make the mages actually work and not be immature about the awkward poses, but Bickslow enjoyed it all the same.

And then it was Laxus's turn to teach.

"Bicks, come here."

The way he said it made Bickslow nervous, and while he normally would have jumped at his leader's call, this time he hesitated. "… why?" He asked. Instead of answering, the blonde simply stared at him, raising one of his eyebrows at him. Caving, the seith mage walked over to him.

"Bicks is going to be my example for this class." Laxus explained, and without warning, punched him in the face. "I'm going to teach you how to not get punched in the face."

3.

 **Day 1 Easy route:**

 _6:00-8:00 AM: Yoga; Everygreen_

 _8:00-10:00 AM: Basic self-defense; Mirajane Strauss_

 _10:30-12:00 PM: Run; Jet_

 _12:00-1:00 PM: Lunch_

 _1:00-3:00 PM: Magic groups_

 _3:00-4:00 PM: Magic strengthening techniques; Lucy_

 _4:00-6:00 PM: Quiz Links; Fried and Levy_

Once the scheduling had been complete, Evergreen had decided that she liked everything planned for the 'easy' route. Even though she wasn't required to attend for a full day since she was teaching, she was looking forward to relaxing with her guild members with easy going activities. It ended up being mostly women, younger mages, and the Exceeds that participated, which made it a relaxed atmosphere.

4.

On the second and fourth day, Bickslow led one 'class', and it was luckily (and expectedly) a very small group.

For the 'magic groups' portion of the scheduling, there was a very long list of different types of magic, and for whatever magic you used, you were supposed to meet up with fellow magic users of that kind. There were designated leaders for each group, but they were very loosely assigned. Simply speaking, there were so many different kinds of magic that it was impossible to lump any group of them together for a structured setting and keep it productive.

In Bickslow's case, there were only two other seith mages in the guild, so he figured out a way to lump in other people. His magic group was called: ' _Partner dependency magic: aimed towards seith, celestial, and any other magic that relies heavily on another soul, spirit, or other being.'_

Only two people showed up: Lucy and Claire.

"Yo." He said tiredly and waving to them. One of the few things that Bickslow had had a say in regarding the scheduling process was the location of his magic groups. He managed to get all of them on the main floor of the Guild Hall.

"Yo." Claire said tiredly back, and looked at Lucy, who took a seat next to her. "Where'd you go today? I saw you for the first activity, but then you bailed."

She practically cried, recalling that morning. "Natsu forced me to do that. My legs feel like jello." Lucy whined, and rested her forehead on the table. "If Erza wasn't teaching my next class, I'd go home."

"At least you're not being forced to do all of the challenge route." Bickslow snickered.

"It's not as bad as I thought it would be, actually." Claire told him.

"With Laxus being your personal trainer, I'm not surprised."

"So, do we have anything actually planned?" She asked the seith mage, who was still clad in a t-shirt and baggy shorts. Even though no one in the Thunder Legion had made any direct orders, all of them had been doing the training every day, and planned to for the next 5 days.

"I originally planned to do some trust activities with our spirits and souls. Erza mentioned that Lucy needed to work with her spirits."

Lucy groaned, her forehead still resting on the table.

"Guild Master coming." Bickslow coughed, and the blonde instantly sat up.

"So these trust exercises, what kind are they?"

5.

One of the many 'secret' meetings of the S-Class mages before the 'training week of hell' started:

"So we need to make the requirements to get S-Class to be so difficult that no one can attain it." Guildarts summarized, and they nodded. "But reasonable enough for the idiots and newbies to get interested in."

"We've already got the actual tournament planned," Erza spoke. "In terms of physical and magical endurance, those will be tested. We need something to test intelligence and passion."

"Intelligence test. Duh." Laxus told them, mentally hating himself for adding the 'duh' part. _I spend way too much time with my team… it's probably time to kick them out of my house._

"Excellent. We'll add it to the list of things that the Thunder Legion will coordinate." Mirajane giggled, and wrote down another item on their 5 page list of things the Thunder Legion needed to consider when planning the training days. Initially she'd felt bad for adding things to the list, because some of the things on it were just out there and whimsical thoughts, but ultimately she knew it needed to be done. Fried could handle it. She almost added random nonsensical things to the list, but thought that would be a little too cruel. "How about anyone that successfully completes one day's worth of the 'challenge' route?"

"To test passion? Doesn't that just test strength and endurance?" Guildarts asked.

"If anyone is serious about being an S-Ranked mage, then they're going to do the challenge route. Even if they're not physically strong, if they really want it, they're going to do it."

"Since we're purposely making the requirements difficult," Laxus spoke. "Should we make it more like 2 or 3 days?"

"Why not 5? Or 6?" Guildarts asked. "If we make those days as 'difficult' as we're planning, to really whip these kids into shape, no one is even going to sign up for that many. And since we're not going to tell them the requirements to get S-Rank until after the training week is over, it'll really blow their minds. Maybe then they'll get an idea about what it means to have our title."

"Should we wait until the tournament is over before telling them those requirements?" Mira asked. "I mean, if we wash out everyone before the tournament, most people will be so disappointed that they may not want to compete."

"On the other hand, if we waited that long they could accuse us of stacking the cards against them or making up the rules at the last minute just so that they wouldn't get the title."

"Isn't that what we're doing?" Laxus asked.

"Well, yeah, but the point is to make them _think_ that they have a chance."

"How about we drop little hints through the training week and tournament? We don't tell them the requirements, but when we announce them at the very end, no one can accuse us of blindsighting them." Mira suggested, and they all nodded.

"Good enough for me!" Guildarts said, and took another drink of his beer. They'd been sitting there planning for over an hour now, and they were nearing a time to break.

"So to test 'passion' and 'intelligence', how about 5 days of the challenge route and top 3 score for the intelligence test?"

"Sounds good."

"What if someone actually does meet all of the requirements?" Erza asked, and the room erupted into laughter, including her. Really, the majority of the strongest mages in their guild (aside from the S-Ranked, of course) would only pass one or two of the requirements at best. The two tests during training week would undoubtedly eliminate everyone, since Fried and Levy were known to be the smartest, but neither of them were physically fit enough to do the challenge route, that eliminated them. Since the intelligence test encompassed the entire guild, it was a wild card of who would get 3rd place.

Ultimately the intelligence test reduced the number of people even possible to get the title down to 3.

6.

"It's kind of weird that all of this is happening because we were bored." Claire commented, sitting upside down on the couch with her team. Her feet dangled on the back of the couch near Bickslow's head, and he sighed, sinking into the soft cushions.

Evergreen was laying down nearby, groaning every so often and twitching. They had just completed their last day of the 'Training Week of Hell', and although the first day had gone great for her, the Guild Master had decided to intervene on the easy classes for the rest of the week. Between trying to explain the fundamentals of her class to the Guild Master, and how yelling at the top of his lungs during a very difficult pose was painful and counterproductive, she was also forced to attend the average classes route between her classes because Makarov thought she was having it too easy.

Gajeel and Claire were the only ones to complete more than 2/3 of the challenge route, and Claire had completed all of them. The iron mage probably could have done it as well, but when the magic groups 'class' rolled around, he said 'fuck it' and went home. It surprised her a little, since there was a group for dragonslayers and she'd assumed that he'd go for that.

"How's your leg?" The checker woman asked, looking over to the green-haired mage on the adjacent love seat. He was sprawled sideways, exhausted, and grunted in response.

"Hurts." He muttered.

"What were the chances that Erza would break your leg a second time? Pretty crazy, huh?" She asked with a smile, but despite her efforts to make her statement humorous, it failed. His tired and angry blue eyes peered over at her, and she grinned sheepishly from her upside down spot. "I'm sorry. Can I get you a snack or anything? Ice, maybe?"

"I'm fine. Thank you." He muttered, looking disdainfully back down at his leg. Beneath the fabric of his pants were layers of magic bandages and a thin cast to keep it still, so he'd had to awkwardly walk to Laxus's house with it on. Recalling the experience earlier that day, he shuddered.

"I knew someone would get stabbed at one of Erza's classes." Bickslow snickered.

"I wasn't stabbed." Fried corrected.

"Erza got carried away and broke him." Claire explained, trying to hide her smile at the memory. It was terrible, really, but Erza's expression upon realizing what she had done was priceless. When Fried was showing some actual skill during the lesson, Erza automatically went into 'fight mode', and crippled him without thinking. "How's your nose?" She asked, turning back to her boyfriend. At that angle she couldn't see his face, but every day that week he'd returned from training covered in bruises and a bloody nose.

"Laxus sucks." He said simply, recalling how every single day, Laxus had used him as an 'example'. Which meant beating the shit out of him and then telling people to not be him.

Ultimately the wounds weren't that bad, at least compared to the damage he could have done if he was trying, but it still hurt. After the first day he'd gone back to wearing his usual guards and visor, but the dragonslayer could still throw a punch to hurt him. His visor was now dented and on the floor by his feet.

"If you think Laxus is bad, you should have seen his grandfather." Evergreen cried, feeling the pain in her stomach as she breathed.

"Maybe you guys should have tried the challenge route." Claire said, and they both scoffed.

"A few bruises or a broken leg? I'll take the bruises." Bickslow said, and Ever nodded on the floor.

"Or a stab wound… like Gray…" Fried commented.

"So someone did get stabbed. I win!"

"What did you win?" Claire asked.

"Being right about something." He grinned cheekily, and flinched at the forming bruises on his face.

7.

"Why can't we hang out somewhere else for the next couple of days?" Claire whined. The Thunder Legion was back to its usual spot on the second floor, drinking lightly on their first free day in weeks, and overlooking the chaos below. It was stressful just looking at. People were running around like crazy setting up for the upcoming tournament, doing interviews with _Sorcerer Weekly_ , and avoiding certain high strung individuals that bit the heads off of anyone that did something wrong.

"You heard the Makarov. We're supposed to stay close to the Guild Hall." Fried told her. "Natsu accidentally unmasked a dark mage in the guild yesterday, and he thinks they were here for you. It's best to stay close to friends for the time being."

"He's just being cautious." Bickslow told her. "Although it does suck to be stuck here. If we hadn't spent so much time working on the training week, and then actually doing it, I would feel bad about not helping them downstairs."

"They've got it under control." Laxus said simply, and took a drink from his glass of Whiskey.

"LAXUS DREYAR!" Their Guild Master boomed from downstairs, and for a brief moment, the entire building stilled. The blonde looked over at the red faced man, wondering what he wanted now, and quickly finished off his drink.

"Laxus got in trouble~" Claire teased, and her boyfriend grinned next to her. The lightning mage ignored her as he stood, and slowly made his way down the stairs to his grandfather, who looked absolutely livid. Not that it was the first time. Laxus was more than used to his grandfather overreacting to things he did, but as he followed the old man to his office in another section of the building, he tried to file through his head for anything recent that he would be mad about. Since he'd been taking on such a big role with the recent 'training week of hell' and tournament coming up, he would have thought the old man would be happy with him.

When they finally made it back to the Guild Master's office, Laxus closed the door behind them, and stood in front of his desk. Makarov took his seat, his face still red, and tried to take some calming breaths.

"Cheating, Laxus? Really?" He asked, looking up at the blond. Laxus simply stood there, arms crossed, and raised his signature eyebrow at the man. "You were supposed to make the rules impossible for anyone to get to S-Rank. Or in the extremely slim chance they did, it would mean that they were absolutely amazing and actually deserve that title."

"Get to the point, geizer. What are you rambling about?"

Makarov held up a small stack of stapled papers, and tossed them to the front edge of his desk. The lightning mage peered over at the first page, reading the first line. "It's the IQ test. So?"

"Look at who ranked highest."

"Fried and Levy. We expected that." He shrugged.

"Look at who the third person is." Makarov said, and as he did so, Laxus's eyes widened slightly. "Either you two conspired and cheated, or your sister is a lot smarter than we thought."

"We didn't cheat."

"She got 3rd place on the intelligence test, and she completed all of the challenge route. Her brother is one of the people that created the requirements for S-Rank, and she just happens to pass all of them with flying colors."

"It's not like she was the only person that signed up for all of the challenge courses. She was just the only one that completed them." He defended. "And hell, she is from another world. Maybe she had a better education on her planet or something."

"Do you realize how this looks?"

"Do you realize how easy it is to clear this up?" Laxus told him, getting annoyed by the accusatory glare from the Guild Master. He had thought that he had earned back at least some trust from his grandfather by now, technically related or not. For all he knew Claire did cheat the test, or someone else did, but he sure as hell didn't. "Just have her take the test again. Have someone else proctor it and then rescore her. Easy."

"And what about the training days?"

"I signed her up for them, but she completed them on her own. I didn't force her to do them or tell her why I did it, and honestly, just figured it would be good training for her. I'm surprised more people didn't take advantage of so many S-Ranked wizards teaching." He explained, and by the end, the red had started to clear from the older man's face. "If she doesn't get the same score, or at least close to it, you can ban her from the tournament. If she does keep the score, we can simply change the requirement for S-Class to the 'top 2 IQ scores' instead of 3."

Makarov sighed tiredly, wanting to argue, but unable to find a hole in his plan. Just a year ago the lightning mage had tried to overthrow his position and forcefully take his job, hurting his countless children along the way. He knew just how ruthless Laxus could be when he needed to be… but cheating an IQ test wasn't his style.

"She does have two brothers that are S-Ranked. It makes sense that she would score well." Laxus added after a while, waiting for the Guild Master to either dismiss or further chew him out. After a while, the Guild Master sighed again, rubbing his temples.

"We'll have her retake the test now, and Mira and Guildarts proctor it."

"I'll go get her."

"No, I will." The Guild Master stated, and jumped from his seat to the door.

8.

"She scored _higher_ this time?" Makarov asked in disbelief, looking down at the piece of paper.

"There was no way she could have cheated… that we could see, anyway. And I've tried every cheating method in the book." Guildarts stated, recalling his childhood with a grin. Although he had never really needed to cheat, or at least he never tried not cheating so he assumed he didn't need to, he'd busied himself with finding new and interesting ways to get the answers when he found himself being tested. More often than not he got caught, but it was fun nonetheless. "Did you know that your sister was so smart?"

"I didn't think she was stupid." Laxus shrugged, now recalling the times with his sister that didn't involve running or fighting. Quite frankly, they didn't talk that much, and more often than not they would go hours at a time not speaking to each other. It was one of the reasons he liked working with her.

But, now that he actually thought about it, he remembered Fried saying a few times that they liked to talk literature. Bickslow used to complain about her notebook writing, and how she was so secretive about it. And then there was the time that she apparently knew Fiore law better than a police officer at the beach….

"It's not like she's automatically S-Ranked now." Guildarts brought up.

"She would still have to get first place in the magical and non-magical combat sections." Mira added. "We can alter the line up so that she fights stronger opponents."

9.

"What did you do?" Bickslow asked Claire, who was chewing the inside of her cheek and staring at Riley. She'd only been back for a few minutes, and for unknown reasons, all of the S-Ranked mages had mysteriously been summoned to the Guild Master's office.

"Nothing…. I don't think. I hope not." She rambled, and looked to the seith mage. Her entire team was giving her a suspicious look. "They made me retake the intelligence test thing, but they had both Mira and Guildarts watch me the entire time, and the Guild Master was giving me a weird look."

"Did you cheat?"

"No." She answered.

"Really?" He asked, and the way he said it, she really didn't know how to respond.

"… did you?"

"Yeah."

"Bickslow!" Evergreen scolded, and hit his arm.

"You probably got an either really high or really low score the first time." Fried told Claire, who was trying to calm down. A half hour of two powerful mages staring her down while she tried to concentrate on a test unnerved her immensely, and she was still shaking from it. "Since you were educated on a different world, it really could be either way. You could have been taught in a way that we don't think here, so the test was obscured for you."

"So the test is either saying she's a genius or an idiot." Bickslow clarified, and the green-haired mage shrugged.

"I'm only guessing."

"What if she broke the test?" Bickslow snickered.

"What if it has to do with the S-Rank requirements?" Evergreen whispered, and the group looked at her, thinking about it. "I mean, they hinted heavily that whatever classes you took on the training week would influence your chances at getting the S-Rank, and it's not a far fetch that the IQ is part of it, too."

"The S-Rank thing is supposed to be bogus, though." Bickslow reasoned.

"What if it's not?" She asked with a grin, and the group thought about it, intrigued by the possibility.

" _Or_ ," Bickslow spoke after a moment. "They considered IQ when making the matches for the tournament, and since she scored so weirdly, needed her to retake it so that they could finish the tournament preparations."

"I have a headache." Claire groaned, and rested her head on her folded arms, wanting to take a nap.

10.

As the team ate their dinner that night, Laxus kept glancing over at his sister.

They were watching a movie on his large lacrima screen, a classic alien/monster movie that Bickslow insisted that Claire needed to see, and happily ate their take out. Evergreen had brought up the idea of going, you know, back home to sleep on their own beds, but somehow her suggestion was muted. Claire had wondered the same, but was so unnerved by the looks of the S-Ranked mages she remained quietly distracted for most of the evening.

The way Makarov had phrased something earlier that evening irked Laxus, and he couldn't shake it from his thoughts. " _Either you two conspired and cheated, or your sister is a lot smarter than we thought."_ After learning so much about his blood related family, the lightning mage had kind of thought he'd stop being surprised by things he learned about them. They were a plethora of bad luck and death, and after his experiences with Bacchus, figured that there was nothing that could surprise him.

And yet, he had been. It wasn't some dark secret or awkward revelation either, which Claire alone had the uncanny ability to create an awkward situation out of nearly any conversation topic about their family, but instead it was something positive. Whether she was more intelligent than Levy or just amazing at cheating, it showed a side of her that he didn't know existed.

She was smart. Really smart.

Like he'd told his grandfather, he knew that she wasn't stupid. She was clever and observant, but she joked with Bickslow and bickered with Evergreen so often that he somehow missed just how intelligent she was. Bacchus had been described as a hidden genius, pulling off ridiculous and impossible endeavors which he had witnessed, and yet he drank so often that it completely altered and inhibited that part of him. Laxus had never considered that Claire could be the same, minus the alcohol.

Her magic was extremely dangerous, not to mention powerful, and he'd been distracted by it. He'd been so focused on harnessing her power that he forgot about her other attributes, and just assumed that she was like him: wielding so much magic power that she didn't know what to do with it. Which was true, as his multiple burns from their training would attest to.

He wasn't sure why it bugged him, but it did. More than anything he felt embarrassed for not realizing it sooner and being accused of cheating for it, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that that's probably why he was fixating on it so much. Cheating wasn't his thing, and it pissed him off that people automatically accused him of it.

11.

They didn't announce the line-up until the day of the tournament, and everyone crowded in front of the board excitedly when it was finally up.

Fairy Tail had rented a stadium on the edge of town to host their event, and had been making a good profit with the turn out. Both mages and non-mages alike filled the stands to capacity, and there were media coverages everywhere. It was like the Grand Magic Games, but on a smaller scale, and only for Fairy Tail. Considering their success at that year's games, it made people even more excited to see the fairies fighting each other for the top spot.

There would be two fighting competitions taking place: Magic and Non-Magic. Anyone not wanting to participate in either were supposed to make a special request the previous days, otherwise were presumed fighting. Unlike the training week, this wasn't mandatory, but it was highly encouraged.

"Hey, they revealed two of the requirements for the title of S-Rank!" Someone announced, and many of the mages looked on excitedly.

"I wonder what they are?" Bickslow asked in Claire's ear. They were currently sitting on one of the few tables in the area, with the fire mage sitting between his legs and his arms around her waist. One of his babies had flown over the heads of the other scrambling mages, who were beginning throw punches, so that he could see the board without getting in the fray.

Since they had been staying at Laxus's house for the past month now, they'd had very little time alone, and had gotten progressively more handsy in public. Nothing extreme, but whenever they had the opportunity, they'd be touching in some capacity or another.

"'Although very few qualified for achieving S-Rank in today's tournament,'" Bickslow read, repeating what Pappa was telling him. "'Anyone who wins either the magic or non-magic competitions will have a spot in the next S-Rank trials. The person to score highest on the IQ test will also have this position.'"

"Fried." She said immediately, and he nodded.

"'To be considered for achieving S-Rank title through this tournament, the mages would have had to complete the following two requirements: be one of the three top scores on the IQ test, and complete at least 5 full days of the challenge route.'"

"So… no one." Claire said.

"Hold on…" He said, and then smiled. "'If the people that met these requirements, in this case one mage, want to attempt at achieving the title of S-Rank through this tournament, they must win first place of both competitions and fight an S-Ranked mage for both sections.'"

"Who's the one mage? Gajeel?" She asked, confused. If they counted up all of Gajeel's classes, it might make up 5 days. Natsu or Gray might have as well, but they goofed off and missed so many activities, she doubted it.

"You are, idiot. You got 3rd place on the IQ test."

"What? Seriously?"

"WHAT!? NO WAY!" Natsu yelled by the board, accidently punching someone that tried to get past him. Both the ice make wizard and fire dragonslayer were standing closest to the board and had been talking about it. "I thought I aced that test!"

"Did you really think you would get a good score, flame brain?" Gray asked.

"Congrats, Claire." Lucy said as she made her way over to the checker woman.

"It looks like Laxus's sister is the one to beat!" Someone announced in the crowd.

"I guess that explains why Laxus has been so weird…" Claire commented, still thinking over what they had told her. A few others congratulated her on completing the requirements for the S-Rank title, but the majority of them scoffed or made snide comments about her being Laxus's sister.

A screen turned on above the board, one that was large enough for everyone in the area to read, and it was the line-up for the fighting that evening. Another smaller copy was on the board below.

"I'm fighting _Nab_?" Bickslow groaned, and let his tongue hang out.

"What a weird system." Claire commented.

"There's only so much time in the day, so it looks like they had to cut corners." He explained. "Most of the day will be the weaker wizards fighting each other, and the winners will get to fight the known stronger mages, like you and Natsu."

"If you beat Nab, you'll end up fighting me." She told him, and he grunted.

"I'll _try_ to go easy on you, but no promises."

12.

Bickslow was the first person she fought, much to her dislike. It was the 'magic fighting' portion of the event.

Fried had set up an enchantment around the stadium to reduce the magic of the wizards, so that they wouldn't destroy the entire area in combat. When they switched back to non-magic fighting, the enchantment would cut off their magic completely so that they couldn't cast spells.

"Sorry babe, I lied earlier about going easy on you." Bickslow told her, and let his tongue hang out, showing off his Fairy Tail emblem. His babies floated menacingly behind him, and combined with his 'creepy' combat outfit, he looked pretty intimidating. To anyone else, that is. Claire had cuddled with all of them so much that they really couldn't look intimidating to her if they tried.

Her own soul floated behind her, quietly observing the two. Just like the Games, both Bickslow and Claire had to wait in the middle of the stadium, waiting for the announcer to finish before they could actually start. Makarov was trying to boost the epicness of the event to get more money, so they had to wait extra long to get started. Neither of them doubted that they purposely pit them against each other because they were dating- add on to that that Bickslow taught her seith magic, and it made the fight extra 'juicy'.

"You guys are gonna be on FIRE by the end of this!" Riley yelled at him in his high-pitched voice, rather enthusiastically and zany. He even added a little flip at the end. Both Bickslow and Claire were so surprised by his outburst that they couldn't help but smile, their previously serious and deadpans expressions lost.

"Did you tell him to do that?" Bickslow asked between laughs.

"No, that was all him." She smiled back.

"You guys are going to be fighting soon! Stop goofing off!" Evergreen yelled at them from the sidelines.

Bickslow coughed, trying to regain his previous serious disposition, and Claire did the same. As soon as they locked eyes, they lost it again.

"Begin! Start fighting!" Makarov ordered them, and both wizards looked over at him, still grinning. "Get fighting, you two!"

Claire felt her soul press against her hand, and trusting him, grabbed onto the strap attached to him. He carried her into the air just as Bickslow attacked her with his X-Formation, using the combined energy attack of all his babies. The dust flew into the air and rendered the area impossible to see through.

Of course, she knew Bickslow. He loved taking away the senses of his opponents, namely their sight, and exploiting the hell out of it.

But she didn't need her sight to see his babies.

Two of them flew at her in the dust cloud and she quickly hit them with her fire, using a technique she'd recently learned working with Fried. She burned off Bickslow's magic from his babies, effectively unbinding them from the dolls and causing them to fall uselessly to the ground.

With his visor protecting him, the dust wouldn't be a problem and he'd be able to see both her and Riley's souls in the cloud. Riley would be able to sense and find both him and his babies, should she be able to use him correctly to find them. For the first half minute of their fight, it was a game of hide and seek, both Claire and Bickslow moving quickly through the dust cloud to dodge and attack each other.

She was mostly reliant on Riley to guide her through the cloud, since Bickslow was using his remaining two active souls to mess with her heightened hearing.

But then, it was only a matter of time before Bickslow slipped up. He didn't have enough cover, and since she could unbind his souls on a whim, it made him nearly defenseless. When her magic finally locked onto him, she burned enough of his magic to knock him out.

Once the fight was over, some nearby paramedics took him on a stretcher to the infirmary, and Claire picked up the dolls that were on the ground.

When she made it back to the prep room and looked back up at the line up, her eyes widened. "What are you doing back here? You're up." Gray told her.

"But… I just fought. Am I scheduled to fight _everyone_ in the guild?" She groaned. "What a pain."

"Stop complaining and get your ass moving!" Kana yelled, and smacked her on the butt, much to her annoyance. Looking closer at the line up, Claire realized that she would be fighting Kana next.

13.

"Even if I do win… is the Guild Master going to give me the S-Rank title?" Claire asked her brother, approaching him in the stadium between her matches. He had been sitting on an aisle seat next to Fried, and they were surrounded by fellow Fairy Tail mages. Since he was next to the aisle it was easy enough for Claire to sneak in and sit down on the steps next to him. "I mean, last time I publicly fought for the guild, he didn't fulfill his end of the bargain." _Which was your fault…._

"I don't know. You might just get a big paycheck at the end." He shrugged.

"How big of a paycheck?"

"I don't know, but using your fire magic more often and drawing out the matches might make it bigger." He suggested, and she nodded in contemplation. "On the other hand, they're trying to keep the matches short up until the real ones, so you might want to save it for the fight with the S-Class wizards."

"Any hints?" She asked with a wide smile. Their interaction had gone unnoticed by the surrounding mages, surprisingly, as they were more preoccupied with the match between Natsu and Max.

"Go back and prepare for your next match. This one isn't going to last much longer." He told her, and when she begrudgingly snuck off again, he smirked. He currently had a bet going with Guildarts on how long she'd last.

14.

The non-magic fights were much shorter than the magical ones.

Claire sat in the backroom with her colleagues, sitting on the table from earlier, watching the fights taking place on the screen. There were now two screens above the board: one televised the fights outside, while the other kept a schedule of who was fighting and when. Levy was sitting next to her reading a book, waiting for her turn to fight.

Over the past couple of hours, the large room had started clearing out of people. Some of them were being treated in the infirmary, while the rest had joined their guild in the stands. Those who were left waited anxiously for their turn, doing stretches or any other means of preparation.

"Man, you must be exhausted." Someone said as they walked up to her, and she shrugged, looking over to them. It was a girl she'd seen around the guild ever since the Games, and even though she hadn't talked to her, had heard a few good things about her. She was a very colorful woman, wearing an assortment of extremely loud colors, and was a very bubbly addition to the Fairy Tail guild.

"Not really."

"How many people have you fought? Like 10?" She asked, and Claire nodded.

"Yeah. I've fought stronger before." She said, and took another drink from her waterbottle.

"She hasn't gotten to the real competition yet." Gajeel stated, smirking nearby. "Two more rounds and I'll be her opponent. I'm just itching for a fight."

"Magic or non magic?" She asked, and he paused, looking back up at the screen.

"… both."

"Back to back fighting with you? That sucks for whoever loses."

He gave her a cocky grin so accurate that he didn't even need to say it, but he still did. "Sucks for you."

"You have something on your arm." The rainbow woman said, and Claire looked at where she was pointing to. At the angle she couldn't see whatever it was. "I'll get it," She added and reached for it.

Claire cursed at the pain and instantly burned the woman's magic, and then sent her flying into the wall across the room. Whatever she did didn't stop, and Claire ground her teeth as what felt like tiny razorblades dug into her upper arm. "The hell!?" She gritted, and tried to reach over and pull it out, but flinched when it merely cut her.

Gajeel instantly moved closer and pulled the strange devices out, holding down the extra space above the incisions so that she wouldn't move. "Hold still."

"What happened? There's not supposed to be any fighting between matches." Mirajane spoke as she approached them.

"What the hell are those?" Claire asked, ignoring the woman and looking at the ground, where Gajeel had tossed the bloody pieces of metal. There were 5 in total, with a metal rod as its axis and small blades moving in circles around it. Even on the ground it continued moving, and with the blood, it resembled a kind of meat grinder. Each one was only a couple inches long, but they hurt like a motherfucker.

"An illegal form of iron magic, by the looks of it. It's designed to grind up flesh, and it's used by dark wizards a lot." He explained, and Mirajane quickly got a towel for the blood.

"Great." She grumbled, and the iron mage looked over to the other side of the room, where the dark mage had been thrown. She was gone. "I'll probably need stitches."

"Levy, can you keep putting pressure on the wound while I go get Porlyusica?" Mirajane asked the blue-haired woman, and she nodded, moving to the other side of the fire woman to do as she asked. Everyone involved managed to stay calm and level headed, and tried not to get too riled up or out of hand. Gajeel went searching the area that the rainbow woman had disappeared, and left the room, catching her scent and following her trail.

"How unmanly to attack someone when they're not fighting." Elfman stated, actively looking around the room. A small group had formed around the injured fire mage as a protective front, who on the outside, looked bored. The mages circling her were some of the strongest in the guild. Gray and Natsu had run to join Gajeel to try and hunt down the attacker, while the rest stayed to guard Claire.

"I'm alright, it doesn't look like the wound was too severe, just deep. Hopefully it didn't do any muscle damage." Claire said, pulling back the white and red towel on her arm to look at the wound. It was bleeding a lot, and as she flexed the muscle slightly, she could feel that it did more damage on the inside. Just like Kelsey's iron magic.

Porlyusica got there surprisingly fast, shoving the 'stupid humans' to the side as she made her way to Claire. "What the hell did you do now?" She asked the fire woman, shooting her a glare.

"Oh, you know. The usual." She replied, looking over her shoulder at the wound as she started working her magic. Porlyusica didn't use the same magic as Wendy, and instead used a variety of magic tools, but they always amazed Claire. Magic disinfectant, magic blood absorber….

"Why would anyone do this?" Lucy asked, trying to avoid looking at the blood.

"Are we in danger? Who even did it?" Someone asked, looking around the group.

"Could be worse. Will I be able to fight in…" Claire looked back at the board. "2 minutes, Porlyusica?"

"If you insist on fighting with one arm in a sling, then yes. There's significant muscle damage and…" Her voice drifted off, and she had a look on her face that Claire had learned to loathe with a burning passion.

"Anti-healing magic." She finished, and after a few more seconds of her poking around the flesh wound, she finally nodded in affirmation.

"'Anti-healing magic'?" Elfman asked.

"Is there any way to tell if this is the same anti-healing magic as before?" Claire asked, temporarily ignoring the large and bulky man.

"It appears to be the same, but I can't be sure until I run tests. You're definitely done fighting today."

 _So much for S-Class. How anti-climatic._

"Good luck on your fights today, guys. Looks like I'm off to the infirmary." Claire told the group, flashing a fake smile before hopping onto her feet. The healer next to her glared for moving so abruptly, but didn't say anything, instead putting a fresh towel on the wound.

"Sorry you won't be able to finish the tournament, Claire." Mirajane said sympathetically, along with several others.

15.

"What the hell?" Laxus demanded as he stormed into the infirmary, followed by the rest of the Thunder Legion. The pink-haired healer was in the middle of poking and prodding at her arm and cutting out some of the worst pieces, and when she had started taking _pieces_ out, Claire had stopped watching.

Gajeel was standing next to Porlyusica with his arms crossed and observing the process. Whatever he had learned after chasing down the attacker 'had to wait' until Laxus and the rest of her team got there, so they had been waiting for the inevitable storm that was Laxus to show up.

" _That_ is gross." Evergreen muttered, instantly regretting following so close behind the others. Of course they would barge into the infirmary without thinking to check if there was anything unseemly inside, and she instinctively covered her mouth and looked away upon seeing what she couldn't unsee.

"I didn't see you get injured in any of the fights."

"Dark wizard attacked her in the back. Since there's anti-healing magic in the wound, Porlyusica won't let her fight." Gajeel explained. Laxus looked to Claire, who wouldn't meet his gaze, and stared at the window on the other side of the room.

"After all that training you couldn't defend yourself against one dark wizard?" The lightning mage asked her, and an awkward silence filled the room.

"It's because of that training and fast thinking that she's not dead. If she hadn't stopped the process so quickly and I hadn't gotten the metal pieces out, she would have lost an arm. At least." Gajeel spoke in her defense.

"Can we not talk about losing limbs while she's dissecting my arm like a frog science project?" Claire asked.

"What kind of magic did they attack her with? Did you catch them?" Laxus asked quickly, staring at his boyfriend.

"Illegal iron magic combined with necromance magic. Melony, the girl that attacked her, had already been dead for at least a few hours. Someone implanted iron traps in her body designed to kill its target."

"So someone killed and booby trapped and innocent girl to get to me?" Claire asked.

"I'm not convinced she was innocent, but yeah. The Cloud Guild mark was on her forearm, so I think she was a spy in Fairy Tail. Makarov had me look into her a few days ago for suspicious activity."

"Why would someone kill a spy, and then use them to attack a Fairy Tail member?" Bickslow asked, and slowly inched around Laxus to take a seat next to Claire on the bed, reaching out to hold her hand.


	27. Chapter 27

**Author's Note:** Thank you everyone for the reviews, follows, and faves! :)

 **Walking Cliché 27**

 _Sex, sex, SEX! Sex?_

"What's going on?" Laxus asked as he approached his team, who were seated on the main floor of the Guild Hall. They were all watching a fight taking place with interest, which considering how often fights rang out, he didn't bother giving it a second glance.

After the Fairy Tail tournament, things started slightly going back to normal. The Thunder Legion started going back to their homes every night now, which made them a little less antsy around each other, but they were still 'encouraged' by the Guild Master to stay in the Guild Hall when they weren't home, or to at least, stay in large groups.

"Claire is drunk and picking fights with the entire guild, since she couldn't finish the tournament. She kicked Gajeel's ass." Bickslow said with a proud grin, and winced with his team at the particularly hard blow that Claire landed on some kid's jaw.

Finally looking to the fight taking place, Laxus was surprised to find that he was right. Claire was front and center in the middle of the Guild Hall, taking a stance similar to Natsu when he was drunk and challenging everyone to a fight, and at her feet was a crying 13 year old curled up in a ball. Some of his friends walked over and took him to the sidelines to take care of him.

On the ground around her were various fallen opponents, including Gajeel, Natsu, Gray, Elfman, and a few others.

"Anyone else?" She asked a grin and turning, looking around her. Her cheeks were slightly pink, and she swayed slightly from the alcohol, but it hadn't affected her fighting in the slightest. Even with her arm in a sling she was powerful; and the rest of the guild had come to realize that after watching her take down some of their strongest mages with a single hit.

"How much has she been drinking?" Laxus asked his team.

"A lot, but I'd guess she's halfway between buzzed and tipsy at this point. Doctors orders that she drink." Bickslow explained, looking around the room to see if anyone was going to foolishly take her challenge to fight. The challenges had been going down in number, so they'd expect the show to be over pretty soon.

When no one volunteered to fight after a few seconds, she shrugged. "Alright, thanks for the fight guys. You're awesome." She told everyone with a grin, and on her way back to her table, got quite a few high-fives and positive comments. After a shitty two days of surgery, laying around and drinking, and then more surgery, it felt great to boost her confidence by fighting at the Guild Hall. This time there was no pressure to win, and instead, she just got to have fun with her opponents and try different fighting styles she'd been thinking about.

"Done so soon?" Bickslow asked as she returned to her seat next to him and went for her drink.

"For now. That was fun." She said after gulping it down, and grinned at him.

"Is it such a good idea to be fighting with your arm like that?" Laxus asked, referring to the sling. He had taken a seat at the end of the table, jacket hung on the back of his chair, and faced the woman with a worried expression.

"Probably not, but the pain will be worth it. I only got a few bruises at most." She explained.

"You're such a boy." Evergreen told her.

"You're such a boy." Claire countered.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Doesn't it, though?"

"No. It doesn't."

1.

"Do you think I'm like a boy?" Claire asked, pouting up at her boyfriend. They had decided to go home early that evening to do laundry and chores- or that was their excuse, at least. They were sick of the Guild Hall and between the bickering, Claire picking fights with everyone, and Laxus constantly lecturing her about unnecessary fighting, they just wanted to be home. Alone.

"Hmmm…" Bickslow hummed as he closed the door to his apartment. "Let me think…" He spoke, walking towards her and backing her into a wall, his hands on her waist. "About that…" One of his hands trailed to her underwear and rubbed the space between her legs, causing her to giggle and squirm against him. "Nope, definitely girl."

She leaned up to capture his lips in hers, her non-injured hand reaching up and tangling in his hair.

He missed that.

His tongue slid out to lick her lips, and when her teeth opened for him, he slithered his way into the warm space. In time with his hand, he pumped his tongue in and out of her, eliciting a sensual moan that stirred something deep inside him. Her calloused fingers gripped his hair slightly, and then went back to gently massaging the part of his scalp, and the gentleness of it sent small shivers down his spine.

She was warm, like she always was when they did this. Her body heated up with her arousal, and he loved it. It got their clothes off quicker.

2.

Bickslow groaned.

"Come back to bed." He told her, crawling over to the other side of the bed she'd escaped to and wrapping his arms around her, using his weight to pull her back down. They'd had sex last night, several times, for what felt like the first time in forever, and he hadn't gotten his ample snuggle time with her. It was a thing he did, and it had never happened until Claire. After sex he liked to cuddle, but after lots of sex he needed cuddles and snuggles through morning. It was essential.

Or at least that was his excuse to effectively pin her back to the bed, wrapping one of his legs around hers to make her stay still.

"No training."

"Bathroom?"

"Nope." He replied, although he knew he would have to let her go for that. It was probably the only reason he would let her go.

Reluctantly he removed his leg, and loosened his grip around her waist so that she could wiggle out of them. As she made her way out of the bed, awkward with her arm in a sling, he got a nice view of her tight, black underwear framing her taught ass. But then she put pants on.

"What gives?" He asked tiredly, unabashedly still looking at her butt, trying to see the contours of it in the baggy apparel she'd put on. _So inconsiderate._

"Training."

"I said no training. You did plenty last night." He said, and normally would have smirked or added to his sexual remembrance of last night. But it was early. And morning. It was early morning. "Come back to bed."

"I'm just doing a basic workout in the living room." She said, but he looked back at her clothing.

"Then why are you wearing running clothes?"

"Because, uh… they work for all types of workout." She told him, and before she could get her shirt on, Bickslow had jumped out of bed grabbed the shirt out of her hands. He tossed it to the floor, his body only inches away and closing, and he looked down at her. Her cute, wide blue eyes stared up at him in an almost pout as he towered over her, having almost a foot on her. His hands moved on their own to the front of her pants, easily unbuttoning them and causing them to fall back to the floor.

"Did you think that you could get away with sneaking off like that?" He asked, his hands moving across her silky smooth skin and moving behind to her sweet, lovely ass. Training was definitely having some positive changes to her body, because even though she'd always had a very cute butt, it was never quite as round and voluptuous as it was now. Claire tilted her head slightly, amplifying the pout as his hands explored the expanse of her behind, massaging and caressing the soft flesh.

Normally, he was a sucker for her pouts. Thankfully she didn't use it very often, because goddamn, she could make him do pretty much anything with that adorable face of hers.

The bulge already forming in his pants made whatever she was going to use her pout for mute, as he got tired of staring at her and leaned down to capture her lips. One of his hands reached up to cup the side of her face while the other stayed put, giving a gentle squeeze and pulling her flush against him.

3.

Bickslow fell to the floor for the second time that day, body twitching as stray electricity danced along his limbs.

The Thunder Legion looked to their leader, wondering why he had such a short fuse that morning. It was pretty common for Laxus to get annoyed by Bickslow, because hell, who didn't he annoy with his terrible jokes?

But he was particularly short-tempered that morning, and Bickslow wasn't his only target. Natsu lay unconscious nearby as well, little smoke trails leading up from his body. Natsu's knocked out body near Claire was becoming all too usual nowadays, but this morning, he had barely said a word before the lightning magic struck him.

"You okay, bro?" Claire asked, and her teammates looked at her apprehensively. She was probably the only person that could ask the dragonslayer without fear of being hit by his lightning.

"Peachy." He grumbled, and narrowed his eyes at the fire dragonslayer on the floor, who was beginning to recover from the attack.

"Uh-huh." She said disbelievingly, and he shot her a glare.

"What if we all relax in the baths today?" Evergreen suggested with a strained smile. Agitatedly, Laxus abruptly stood from his seat, avoiding the looks of his teammates as he walked over to Bickslow and picked him up by the back of the shirt.

"Let's go." He said simply, and the group blinked in confusion for a moment before following after him. Claire was a little unnerved and worried by the way her boyfriend was being dragged on the ground, but given her brother's 'I'll kill you if you say anything to me look' that morning, she didn't say anything. So long as he didn't actually hurt him, she figured that Bickslow would be okay.

Once Claire and Evergreen entered the locker room, they exchanged a look. "Have you ever seen him like that?" Claire asked, and she shook her head.

"Not like _that_." She replied, and they made their way over to their lockers. Ever since they'd been grounded to Fairy Tail HQ, they had frequented the baths so often that people expected them. On the rare days that they weren't there, people would go up to them and ask where they were. The same had been happening to the guys.

"I wonder what his deal is." Claire pondered as they changed out of their clothes and wrapped a towel around themselves.

"I doubt that he'll tell us, whatever it is. He's a typical man in that sense." Evergreen said with a roll of her eyes, and the pair made their way over to the showers, and then to the actual bath portion of the room. The only person present at that hour was Levy, who was alone on the other side of the room. She seemed lost in thought, the water reaching just below her nose as she stared at the water.

"Hey Levy." Claire had said, accidentally startling the woman out of her thoughts. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." She added, and slipped off her towel as she sunk into the water. She didn't know how she lived without these communal baths on her world.

"I-it's okay…" Levy stuttered, and sunk back into the water.

"I can't believe he attacked Bickslow. He almost never does that, nonetheless twice in one morning." Claire spoke to the brunette.

"He used to do it more often than that, actually. After he was kicked out of the guild, he became much more chill."

"Hey, Claire… can I… talk to you?" Levy spoke, her small and timid voices interrupting their conversation. Claire couldn't recall a time that the woman was so nervous or soft spoken. "Alone?"

"Uh, sure thing." Claire said, and looked to Evergreen.

"I'll just, uh… go over there and wash my hair." She said awkwardly, and moved to the other side of the room to the small waterfall.

Claire waded over to Levy, curious about what the little blue-haired girl wanted to talk about. The guys were being loud and obnoxious in their communal baths, so she wasn't too worried about people overhearing. "What's up?" She asked, taking a seat next to her.

"I…" Levy looked at the water, a soft red tint on her cheeks. "I was hoping that you could help me with something."

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Could you… I need to tell Gajeel something really important, but he keeps avoiding me. Could you…" Her blush deepened and she looked away.

"… hold him down so that you can tell him?" She guessed. Strength was her forte as of late, so she was a little surprised no one had asked her to help with muscle work until now.

"Y-yes."

"What are you going to tell him?" She asked, hoping that it wasn't what she thought it was. If it was a love confession, that would be awkward on so many levels that she didn't even want to think about.

Instead of verbally answering, Levy reached over to grab her hand, and guided it to her stomach, looking away with her lower lip quivering. Claire instantly blushed at the contact, and her gutter mind originally went to dark places when she'd taken her hand under the water.

"Levy, I…" She was going to say that she had a boyfriend.

But then she felt it.

There was another magic signature in her stomach, and it was slightly rounder than usual. In the water she hadn't noticed it.

"You're pregnant? With… Gajeel?" Claire asked, her mind going blank. _But I thought… isn't he...?_

"It was just… one time…" She said, so softly that Claire had to strain her ears to hear it.

"Have you, uh… told anyone else?" Her hand was still on Levy's stomach, and the woman's small hands gripped hers, trembling slightly.

"I didn't want to tell anyone else until I told him. But he keeps avoiding me… and it's beginning to show…."

Looking in the direction of the mess hall, Claire strained her ears, trying to hear if he was in the building. Compared to the other dragonslayers she wasn't as good at pinpointing other people from far distances, but after a second, she locked onto Gajeel's voice. It wasn't hard since he was yelling at the top of his lungs at someone.

Guess Laxus isn't the only one having a bad day.

"He's in the mess hall. Do you want to go do this now?" Claire asked, looking back to Levy. Her uncertain and scared face caused a something to flare inside the fire woman, and one way or another, Gajeel was going to be paying for his fuck up.

4.

By the time that Claire and Evergreen were dressed and back in the main room, whatever Gajeel had been fighting about had ended. He was sitting quietly in his usual spot to the side of the room, drinking whatever he was drinking, and listening to Pantherlily next to him.

While Evergreen stayed with Levy by the stairs, hiding from the iron mage's sight so that their plan would work, Claire made her way over to the mage. Hands in her pockets, she tried to look casual, smiling and nodding to the other mages as she made her way over to him.

"Hey Gajeel, how's it going?" She asked, causing him to look up at her. Judging by the tense reaction from the man, she guessed that her 'casual' approach may not be as convincing as she'd like.

"… can't complain." He said after a moment.

"Pantherlily, why don't you go for a walk?" Claire told the Exceed. The black cat looked up at her, and then to Gajeel, who looked ready to fight.

"I'll go catch up with Happy and Carla. If you need me, Gajeel, let me know." Lily said, and although he didn't get a response from his friend, jumped from the table and made his way over to the middle of the room, where Team Natsu goofed off and chatted animatedly.

"You need to have a talk with Levy." Claire said, getting straight to the point. His blood red eyes glared at her, hand still on his glass, and otherwise unmoving.

"No, I don't." He said curtly. "And you know why."

"The 'gay card' doesn't apply right now. If you're going to do adult things, you need to be an adult and face the consequences. Man the fuck up and talk to her." She told him. Normally she hated using that phrase- to 'man up'- but in this case it seemed like the most appropriate thing to say.

"You can't boss me around. You got a lucky hit the other day." He told her, referring to her drunken fights the day before.

"Once you hear what Levy has to say, then you can be as stupid as you want. But she needs to tell you something, and you're going to sit there like a good boy and listen to her." She told him, still trying to look casual to outside observers. It wasn't entirely unusual to see them chatting with each other, and it was so rowdy in the Guild Hall, no one really cared.

Gajeel stood up, downed the last of his drink, and then turned to leave.

She easily grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind him, using her magic to amplify her strength tenfold. Unlike the previous day, she didn't go easy on him- this wasn't about fighting or having fun.

He gasped as his upper body hit the table, effectively breaking the empty glass with his weight. Using his dragonslayer iron magic, he tried to use his infamous iron dragon club attack, which should have made her go flying across the room.

Instead, the force of hitting her solid and unmoving body caused vibrations to racket through him, and to make a weird face as his iron cracked. _When the hell did she get so goddamn strong? I liked her better when she was unconscious._ He thought angrily and recalling the mission when he'd been sent to retrieve her from Bacchus. While he'd been dating Laxus, and the two times that he'd saved her life, he'd started to view her as a little sister that needed protecting from the dark wizards. The idea of her pinning her like this was laughable.

But hell. She wasn't as weak and defenseless as Laxus made her out to be when they talked. When they were alone and talking in confidence, the lightning dragonslayer would whine and complain that she wasn't strong enough, or that she was such a huge target to dangerous dark wizards. _Weak my ass… over exaggerating, motherfucking-_

"You done?" Claire asked, and he growled angrily, trying to struggle against her steal hard grip. It felt oddly like his fights with Laxus, but obviously, it wasn't going to end the same way.

Between her newfound strength and her fire magic eating up his own, he couldn't think of a way to get out of this. She had him restrained, pure and simple, and his magic was useless against her. Laxus had pinned him enough times for him to know he was beat. "Fine." He grumbled, and she finally loosened her grip. Claire roughly shoved him back into his chair, nearly knocking him over in the process, and then gestured for Evergreen and Levy to come over.

Gajeel looked awkward and uncomfortable in his chair, although he tried to hide it by crossing his arms and glaring at the checker woman, who stood next to him eyeing him for any move to escape.

"Hi Gajeel…." Levy said softly after she'd sat down. Evergreen sat next to her with a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Do you two have to be here?" Gajeel snapped, looking between Claire and Evergreen.

"You're not getting out of this." Claire said simply, returning her hands to her pockets and looking bored to the outside observer.

"I'm pregnant."

Claire wished that she had brought a camera at that moment, watching as Gajeel's entire world shattered around him. The clues were subtle, but they were there. Eyes widened, he stopped breathing, his entire body went rigid as if he'd been put in a freezer for a week.

"You don't have to decide anything now, but… I wanted you to know before I started telling other people. I'm not asking for us to date, since, I know… but I don't want our child growing up without a dad." Levy spoke, gaining a bit more confidence as she spoke, finally able to tell him what she'd been planning to say for a month now. "It would be nice if you were part of his, or her, life."

"… you… I…" Gajeel muttered incoherently. "Only… the once…" His voice went up an octave. "Birth control…?"

"I told you I wasn't on it…." She said softly.

"You're not leaving her to raise this baby on her own." Evergreen suddenly intervened, glaring up at the iron mage. "You two are getting married and raising the kid and that's that."

"Marriage isn't the answer, Evergreen." Claire told her.

"Why not? People do it all the time. That's why half the married couples I know are married."

"How many of them are actually happy?"

"What does that matter? The kid is more important than their happiness."

As Evergreen and Claire argued over what the pair should do, both Levy and Gajeel just stared at each other with unreadable expressions, quietly absorbing the situation they were in.

Eventually, Claire let Gajeel go (after getting the 'okay' from Levy), and it wasn't long before the entire guild was buzzing with whispers about the pregnancy. Once a good group of friends were aware of Levy's situation and started taking care of her, Evergreen and Claire made their way back to the Thunder Legion table on the second floor.

"What's all the buzz about?" Bickslow asked when they got back to them.

"That's what happens when you get struck by lightning three times in one day." Fried told him with a small smirk.

"Ha ha, very funny." The seith mage said, rolling his eyes beneath his visor. _I'm going to be hearing that stupid buzzing sound for the next few hours, at least._

"Levy's pregnant." Evergreen said, and Claire shot her a glare.

"It's not nice to gossip about people." The fire woman chastised. Since Levy was openly telling everyone around her downstairs, it wasn't like it was a big secret, but she didn't know if Laxus knew already or not. Every time she looked over at Laxus, he was arguing with someone, shocking them, or staring off into space ignoring the tense individuals around him.

"Oh come on, she's telling the entire guild. If we don't tell them, someone else will." She said with a smile.

"She's not telling people about the dad, though."

"I think it's pretty obvious." She said with a roll of her eyes. "I mean, they _were_ 'secretly' dating for several months, and they were terrible at hiding it."

"What about a dad? What happened?" Bickslow asked, grinning at them and intrigued. Normally the Thunder Legion, aside from Evergreen, avoided gossiping like this. But they'd been stuck at the Guild Hall almost 24/7 for the past month and a half, and it was the only remotely interesting thing for them to talk about. Consequently, there was no way to not tell them.

"Levy's pregnant." Evergreen said, and Bickslow made a small 'o' shape with his mouth.

" _Levy_?" He asked in with a mix of disbelief and giddiness. "That little bookworm is preggers?"

"My cousin is pregnant?" Fried asked, and the trio simultaneously looked at him. All of them had forgotten that they were related. "Who is the father?"

"How about we let Levy decide who to tell that to?" Claire suggested, noticing that Laxus was now coming out of whatever stupor he was in, and was now paying attention to the conversation.

Her efforts were for naught, at the booming voices of Jet and Droy filled the mess hall. "WE'RE GOING TO KILL GAJEEL!" They screamed at the top of their lungs, immediately searching the area for the iron mage. When someone told them that he'd gone home, they ran out the door continuing their battle cry.

"Do they even know where he lives?" Someone asked, and the person next to them shrugged.

"Gajeel is the father?" Fried asked, and Ever nodded, her face contorted in a giddy grin, not entirely unlike Bickslow's.

"Father of who?" Laxus asked.

"He knocked up Levy. Weren't you paying attention?" Bickslow asked, letting his tongue hang out.

Just as Gajeel had shut down earlier when he heard the news, so did Laxus. He froze, staring at his teammate with disbelieving eyes, and then his gaze locked onto the man's tongue.

Without fail Bickslow was hit, yet again, by his leader's lightning magic. Unlike the previous times it wasn't a light hit- at least by his standards, at least- this hit sent him flying into the banister and he would have fallen over the edge, had his babies not saved him.

"How about we go for a walk, bro?" Claire asked, moving to stand and nodding for her team to look after Bickslow. She moved to stand between the unconscious seith mage and Laxus, hoping that if he did choose to vent his frustrations again, it would be at her and not him. Until then she had never seen the dragonslayer mad. Annoyed and mildly pissed off? Oh yes.

But not genuinely angry and pissed off, as if he was prepared to murder everyone in the vicinity.

"Come on." She encouraged, reaching out to touch his shoulder. His lightning magic coursed up her arm at the contact with an intensity that startled her. When his magic didn't tickle her, it was a strange pins and prickles sensation, as if her arm had fallen asleep. "Let's go." This time, she tried to make her voice a little more forceful, and shoved at his shoulder. "Get up."

A loud screeching sound resulted as he stood, the feet of his chair scraping against the hardwood floor. The man grabbed his jacket roughly and started walking, his team readily jumping out of his path.

Claire followed suit, glancing at Bickslow and Fried, hoping that he was alright. The green-haired mage checked Bickslow's pulse and nodded to the fire woman, who sighed in relief and continued walking.

For an hour, they walked in silence to the outer limits of town, and then to their usual trails. Lightning magic sparked sporadically along his skin, and the fire mage kept some distance between them.

When they made it to a viewing area next to the ocean, Laxus parked himself down on a bench, wordlessly staring out at the water. Upon his arrival the occupants of the area had vacated in a sprint, seeing the large and intimidating man glare and continue letting his lightning magic run while along his fit body.

Claire took a seat on the opposite side of the bench, eyeing him for a moment, and then looking out at the water with him.

"What's up?" She asked after a while. It was a good thing the other sight seers had left, because even with the simple question, the immediate area became alight with his lightning magic. At the sound of some 'thumps' behind them, Claire turned to see that he'd barbequed a few little woodland critters. "Levy is 4 months along, just so you know. From what you've told me about Gajeel, I'm guessing that they hooked up before you two dated."

"That not why I'm upset."

"Oh?" She asked, looking at him. _He was already pretty upset before he found out…._

"Gajeel lied to me about how serious his relationship was with her. He accidentally let it slip last night."

"How serious did he tell you it originally was?"

"He said that he flirted with her. That was it." Laxus said, still staring out at the water while his lightning magic continued to fry the various small life forms in the area. "Apparently they actually, you know… dated. Once he slept her with her and realized that he was gay, he broke it off. Shit like this is why I don't date people from the guild."

"… huh."

"I wouldn't care if he had just told me. The fact that he lied about it for so long is what pisses me off. And now they're going to have a kid together."

"They can raise a kid without being together, together." She told him, but doubt that it comforted him in the slightest. Her baby brother was hurting, and she didn't really know how to help him. When Carl had girl issues growing up, he'd laugh it off or do something stupid, since he was so awkward. When her sisters had boy troubles, they'd cry on her shoulder. Neither coping issues seemed to apply for this.

"It's too complicated. I don't want to be mixed up in that."

"Are you going to break up with him?" She asked curiously, and he grunted. Even though her brother had a habit of being vague, unsure, or awkward when it came to talking about the iron mage, she knew he had strong feelings for him. Laxus had never been in a long term relationship before, so this was new territory.

"I might."

"Mind if I make a suggestion?" She asked, and he grunted. "Sleep on it. Don't make any brash decisions until you've calmed down, and talk to Gajeel in a couple of days. I'm sure he's freaking out right now, and having his boyfriend break up with him while he's making a life changing decision won't help anyone."

"It was stupid to break my rule for him." He said disdainfully.

"You can't help who you fall in love with. At least you didn't fall for a guy that talks to dead people on a daily basis." She joked.

"At least your boyfriend didn't get a girl pregnant." He retorted, and her smile faded.

"… fair point."

4.

The next day, somehow, although it wasn't a huge leap considering the recent conversation of gossip, the women in the communal baths were talking about birth control.

Claire was both grossed out by the incredible amount of detail some were willing to give, and also glad that she didn't have to go through it anymore. Uterus shedding its wall, globs of disgusting bloody gunk coming out, some birth controls upping or downing their sexual drive, some birth controls advertizing less periods while actually increasing them, and apparently there were just some fake ones in market. From what Claire could tell, the good birth controls were amazing on this world, but there were so many unregulated terrible ones that you had to be extremely cautious.

"What birth control do you use?" Mirajane asked her, bringing her out of her thoughts. Claire had started zoning out when the conversation topic came up, her thoughts drifting in and out of the group discussion.

She was suddenly reminded of her fear of large groups of women.

"I, uh… you know. The usual." She said awkwardly.

They all gasped in horror. "That's a terrible brand!"

"… no, what? I just mean… Evergreen, what kind do you use?" She asked, turning to the brunette next to her, who rolled her eyes.

"Weren't you paying attention?"

"Not really."

"I don't use birth control, because I'm not seeing anyone. I'm waiting until marriage." She said haughtily.

"You are on birth control, right?" Lisanna asked Claire, returning their attention to her. "I mean, you're the only one of us in a stable relationship, and it's no secret that you guys have had sex before."

"Of course I am on birth control." Claire defended awkwardly, feeling the eyes of her guild mates on her. "I, uh, use some stuff that Porlyusica gave me." _Nice save._

Another gasp of horror from some of the women. … _or not._

"No wonder you act like such a guy." Evergreen spoke, earning a sharp glare from the fire woman.

"I have some extra birth control pills in my locker. When we leave, I'll let you try some and see how they work." Mirajane told her.

"It's fine, really." Claire tried to tell them, but before long she found herself being talked about by the entire group, like she wasn't there. One by one they all started talking about her faults, deciding that the birth control 'Porlyusica gave her' explained all of it, and that once she stopped taking it she'd go back to 'normal'. She couldn't recall a time that she felt so incredibly awkward before, and in her lifetime, had had plenty of them.

"That time she freaked out in the girls dormitory?"

"When she threatened Erza like that?"

"All the fighting,"

"Dating Bickslow,"

"Her drinking problem,"

Claire slowly sunk in the water, her face bright red as she tried to ignore them and pretend like she was anywhere else but there.

5.

Sitting at their usual spot in the second floor of the guild hall, Evergreen braiding her wet hair while the others drank, Claire read the back of the birth control box that Mirajane had given her.

The take over mage had practically force fed one of the pills to her, saying that it had practically no negative side effects, it worked better than any other brand, and she'd apparently done tons and tons of research on it. Despite trying to tell her that she had adverse reactions to even the simplest of drugs on this world, Mirajane insisted that it was harmless.

So now she was reading the ingredients on the back of the box, looking at the multitude of side effects and 'increased risk if you are…' section.

Upon the gross conversations in the girls communal bath, and the utterly terrible sound proofing between the men and women's communal baths, the guys had vacated the communal bath in preference for the mess hall.

"What are you reading so intently?" Bickslow asked curiously, and peered over her shoulder at the collapsed box.

"It's birth control that Mirajane gave her." Evergreen answered for her.

"She made me take one, so I'm reading the side effects." Claire mumbled. She'd already read through the hard paper box several times now, but she kept searching it nonetheless. There were some instructions on the inside, but it accompanied so many graphic pictures that she'd hoped to wait until she got home to read it. From what she could gather, the pill would create a magical barrier between her eggs and any semen that tried to get inside. It only activated in the presence of semen; so hypothetically, there would be no side effects.

"Why did you take birth control? It's not like you need it." Bickslow asked, and instantly regretted it. The timing couldn't have been worse, as Mirajane had been dropping something off at their table, and gasped at his words.

"You two are definitely taking our safe sex seminar." She told the couple. They both looked up at her, blinking in confusion.

"'Safe sex seminar'?" They asked in unison.

"We're requiring everyone at the guild to attend at least one seminar, given Levy's recent 'happy accident'."

"Doesn't seem so happy to me." Laxus muttered, his gaze moving to the crying pregnant woman across the guild. The Guild Master was panicking near her, most likely because he said something to upset her, and if Laxus was in a better mood he'd laugh at the almost comical seen.

A pile of pamphlets were tossed onto the table, and they looked back up at Mira. They now noticed that she had a ton on them in her apron pocket.

"Is that stupid birth control supposed to cause stomach aches?" Claire asked, frowning as she went back to the box and looking at the back.

"I've heard some people say that they have minor ones when they start, because the magic is acclimating inside them, but it goes away. It's a little uncomfortable for some, but it's not painful."

"You took something that's messing with your magic? Is that such a good idea?" Laxus asked.

Claire's forehead smashed into the table top, causing all of them to jump at the sudden sound. "No." She squeaked, gripping her stomach at the abrupt pain in her lower abdomen. It felt like her uterus was being torn to shreds.

6.

As she lay curled up in the infirmary, she silently cursed the women of Fairy Tail. _Stupid… brash… ignorant… motherfucking…._

Porlyusica set a bottle of vodka on the nightstand next to her, and at the sound, Claire looked up. The infirmary was empty except for them, since the healer had forced everyone out of the room except for them. Mirajane had been panicking about accidentally hurting her, so she kept showing the box to Porlyusica, trying to prove that what she gave her was harmless.

"Why the hell did you take birth control?" She asked coldly.

"Peer pressure." Claire replied, and reached over to the bottle, quickly screwing the top off and then gulping down a third of it. She'd been trying to decrease her consumption of alcohol as of late, given what happened to Bacchus, but right now she didn't care.

"I suppose this was bound to happen sooner or later." Porlyusica commented, and Claire looked at her, waiting for her to continue. The old woman took a seat next to her, seeming to relax for the first time she'd met her. She reached over and took a drink from the bottle.

"What do you mean?"

"It happened to me when I came to this world. It's a dragon occurrence." She spoke. "Dragon anatomy is a bit different from humans, so when we came to this world, our bodies adapted a few dragon qualities. One of them is that unnatural foreign substances near our eggs causes our magic to attack it."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Since you were infertile, I didn't see the point." She said simply.

7.

"Welcome to our first Safe Sex Seminar!" Evergreen said cheerfully from the front of the room. They were using one of the many meeting rooms at the Guild Hall, and the box next to her was filled with papers and props.

"Having sex safely, like a man!" Elfman added exuberantly from the other side of the white board. On the board was written the seminar name, the leaders (Evergreen and Elfman), the date, and a few smiley faces and hearts on the sides.

Bickslow scoffed quietly, recalling when Elfman walked in on Claire and him during their first time having 'safe' intercourse. The big, hulking man had the audacity to accuse him of not being a man, while he was having sex, and now Bickslow was watching the same 'man' call it 'manly' to have safe sex. No matter how much time passed, he doubted that he'd ever get over that.

Slouched in his seat, Claire bumped her knee into his, knowing what he was thinking about. She was just as awkward about being there, if not more, since she knew that Evergreen was going to bring them up in the presentation. Somehow, some way, Evergreen would use them as an example or comment on their relationship.

There were about 15 people in the room, and surprisingly, Romeo was one of them. He sat on the other side of Claire, his face absolutely beat red, and his face cast downward in utter embarrassment. She had no doubt that if the chairs had been set up in rows and not a circle, he would have taken the absolute farthest seat away from the two leaders. Two seats down from was Erza, who was sitting straight with a notepad on her knee, looking excited to start the event.

Most of the people were blushing or bored, not wanting to be there. Fried and Laxus were signed up for the seminar with Mirajane teaching that afternoon.

"Let's start by seeing what you people know." Evergreen spoke, and grabbed a pen, starting to write the words 'forms of safe sex'. "Anyone, tell me a way to have safe sex."

"Abstinence." Gray spoke, trying to ignore the blue-haired woman clamoring to his arm.

"Let's have all the babies, Gray." Juvia told him with hearts in her eyes.

"No." He said curtly.

"What's sex?" Natsu asked loudly, and a mix of giggles and face palms resulted.

"I'm glad you asked, Natsu." Evergreen said with a smile. "It's when two consenting adults decide to be intimate with each other, and today, we're going to be talking about ways people express that intimacy."

"What's intamiseree?" He asked, pronouncing the word awkwardly and completely wrong.

"Back to the topic. Ways to have safe sex?"

"Condoms." Biska said nearby. "Birth control, oral, backdoor, semen killing lubricants," She continued listing off tons of different methods, most of which no one had heard before, and as she spoke Evergreen froze by the board. Once she was finished, the group blinked at her in surprise. Her husband was blushing a deep shade of red and looking at the ceiling, while Biska herself was mature and kept a straight face.

"Maybe you should be leading this." Claire commented, impressed by the woman's knowledge base.

"Let's… uh… move to the condom portion of the seminar!" Evergreen said, a blush spreading along her cheeks. She reached down into the box and pulled out a few condoms, set them on the table, and then a rather accurate looking dildo. Elfman's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Don't touch that!" He yelled, smacking it out of her hands.

"Why'd you do that!?"

"Do you even know what that is!?"

"It's a dildo!"

"Why were you touching it!?"

"I'm using it as an example for how to put a condom on!"

"Banana would have worked too." Claire muttered as she sunk into her chair, and her boyfriend snickered at the scene unfolding.

"Why would you do that!?"

"Because we're supposed to, you idiot! That's part of what safe sex is!"

"Since when!?"

"Since didn't you read the stupid manual!?" Evergreen yelled, grabbing the textbook manual nearby and shoving it in his face. The mage paused, looking at the page, and started blushing.

"Why did my sister sign me up for this!?" Elfman yelled, gapping at the page that she was showing him. The group snickered and full-blown laughed at the hilarious reaction from the panicking and freaking out man.

"I thought a 'real man' knew what safe sex was, Elfman?" Bickslow asked over the laughter, watching with a wide grin as the take over mage gapped and stuttered, still staring at the page that Evergreen was holding up to his face.

8.

Since the first seminar was a bust, they were required to go to a different one.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail's Safe Sex Seminar!" Mirajane greeted cheerfully, smiling at the large group. Since Evergreen's group had been required to take another one, most of them had been bumped into Mira's, even though it had already been filled. "Gray, can you try to keep your clothes on during this?"

Gray looked down, his eyes widening. "Crap!" He yelled, and reached for the shirt and pants he'd taken off 5 minutes ago.

"Getting a little ahead of yourself, Gray?" Bickslow couldn't help but tease, grinning wide.

"Bite me." The ice mage retorted.

A stray bolt of lightning landed on Bickslow, and like the times before he was knocked out. Claire caught him before he fell out of his chair, slowly lowering him so that his head rested on her lap.

Everyone in the room turned to the lightning mage, both scared and curious why he did it. "Laxus," Mirajane spoke, an edge in her voice. "Remember what we talked about, play nice."

"Bickslow _is_ sleeping with his sister. Makes sense." Macao whispered to Wakaba in the front, only to get zapped by Laxus as well.

"Why don't you wait outside until you've calmed down?" Mira suggested to the large man. He grunted, stood, and left. Nearly everyone missed the confident smirk on his face. "Now, where were we?"

"If I leave to take Bickslow to the Infirmary, can I still be counted as being here?" Claire asked, raising her hand.

"No, I'm sorry, you have to actually be here."

"Even though you almost killed me with the birth control you made me take yesterday?"

"… have a nice trip." Mira said with a strained smile. Claire somehow managed to get her boyfriend over her shoulder and then walked out of the room, maneuvering around the embarrassed and miserable Fairy Tail wizards. When she finally made it outside, and the door closed, she locked eyes with her brother.

"Nice." He told her, and she smirked.

9.

Laxus and Claire found themselves back at the bench by the ocean, looking out at the water. It had somehow become their new hangout spot outside of the guild.

"You're picking fights a lot at the guild." He commented. The way he phrased it made it sound more extreme than it was, since she'd only done it once. Well, she challenged the entire guild, and then she accepted a few other fighting challenges, and then restraining Gajeel….

"Is that bad?"

"You're still injured." He told her, referring to the sling holding her arm firm against her front.

"It's not like I break a sweat when I fight them." Claire replied easily, missing their training sessions. When she'd been attacked at the tournament, and upon watching the rather grotesque operation for it, he'd insisted that she rest until she fully healed. They stopped their training for the time being, but as Bickslow reminded him, it was impossible to keep her completely inactive when it was a non-lethal injury.

"You used to not pick fights."

"I used to live on a planet where it was illegal to pick fights."

"You know what I mean."

"How's Gajeel doing?" She asked, looking over at him. He grunted and looked away.

"Don't change the subject. I want to know why you're suddenly challenging people at the guild when you should be resting and healing."

"Because I'm bored as hell, and why not? Since I'm not training anymore, I have a ton of energy I'm not using. Since we're on the topic of picking fights, I could ask why you keep attacking Bickslow and random people at the guild."

"Are you mad at not getting the S-Rank title at the stupid tournament?"

"I'm pissed off that I got disqualified the way I did. As for the title, I never cared about the stupid thing, especially since Makarov would have found a way to make sure I didn't get it."

"You fought in the tournament more than anyone else, which you gained more than enough respect from the guild. There's no reason to prove yourself; if that's why you're throwing punches left and right. I don't doubt that you're going to pass the S-Class trials next month."

"Is it really coming up so soon?" She asked, blinking at him. _Has it really been a year?_

"You're obviously going to be competing, again. Fried will be as well, since he got first place on the Intelligence test, and then Natsu and Gajeel for winning the fighting portions."

"Huh. I probably shouldn't go." She commented, and looked back out at the water. Laxus looked at her, raising his eyebrow at her and watching her shift uncomfortably. On the outside she looked bored, but he'd started hypothesizing that when she looked that way, it actually meant she was mad and restraining herself from acting on it.

"Why the hell not? Don't you want to be S-Class?" He asked after a moment.

"Haven't you noticed a pattern?" She asked, still not looking at him. "Kelsey has attacked me at every single fighting competition I enter. Last years S-Class trials, the Games, the tournament… they all ended with me getting stabbed with her stupid crazy weapons and anti-healing magic. I'm fucking tired of being stabbed, dude."

He watched a stray flame burn a small hole in her dark green hoodie. "Makarov has increased security for Tenrou Island, and will be adding even more in a few days. I was thinking of going with him, and I can make sure that it's top notch."

"Do I even deserve the title if I can be taken down by my sister at any turn? I mean, shit. You recovered faster than I did when you had the same injury." She started cursing more in her frustration as she spoke, and tried to keep her breathing steady.

"Only because you didn't follow the doctor's orders. Not to mention you were arrested before it could heal properly, and almost died saving Lucy after losing half your blood and fighting off a group of executioners. That in itself was S-Class worthy."

"Are you saying that as an S-Class mage or my brother?"

"Both." He said simply. "I wouldn't train with you unless you had potential. If any of the S-Ranked mages, including me, got injuries with that anti-healing magic, we'd be out of the fight, too."

She sat there for a moment, thinking over his words, and then grinned. "It _was_ pretty bad ass when I saved Lucy, right?"

"Yep."

"And then I killed a dragon."

"Don't get cocky."

"And I escaped a dark guild laboratory while drugged. And I've taken down two guilds, and survived a harpoon to the chest." She listed, now having fun recalling her winnings over the past year. "And I took down the king's personal team of executioners, and the seith mage that hurt Bixy, and a bunch of other super strong people."

"So you're going to do the trails?" He asked, and she shrugged.

"Maybe. I'll think about it."

10.

 _No one in their right mind should be up at this hour. I should be safe._ Gajeel thought to himself as he casually traversed the streets, a full pack on his back and guitar case in his hand. The dragonslayer was walking down the streets of Magnolia at 4 AM towards the train station, and was keeping a vigilant eye out for Fairy Tail wizards.

Thankfully he hadn't told anyone the location of his new pad except Laxus and Lily, so no one knew where to find him. He'd been holed up in his home for the past few days, avoiding the judgmental eyes of his peers, and most importantly a certain dragonslayer.

A jogger passed him on the opposite side of the street, and he paid them no mind. They were in sweats, hood up, and in his experience mages at Fairy Tail were extremely proud of their bodies, wearing little to no clothing. Gajeel himself wore a hood to keep from being noticed. He continued his pace, not too slow and not too fast, planning to leave this town behind him with the next train to anywhere-but-here.

Of course, his luck wasn't that good.

"Gajeel?"

 _You've got to be fucking kidding me._

He froze, midstep. There was no point in claiming to be a different person. Five people in the entire fucking guild had heightened senses, only 2 of whom could actually stop him if they wanted to, and of course one of them had to be up at this ridiculous hour in the morning and catch him on the street.

"What are you doing out here at this hour?"

"Going on a job." He said, unmoving. She was standing behind him, and upon realizing that he wasn't going to move, she walked to stand in front of him.

"With your guitar?"

"Yeah."

"What kind of job?"

"The kind that's none of your business."

"You're not skipping town because of Levy, are you?" She asked, and he was glad at that moment that his hood obscured his features. The sun hadn't entirely risen yet either, which helped.

"No."

"Liar."

He gulped, subconsciously, and mentally cursed at himself for doing so. She wore a hoodie just like him, and with the lack of light, she looked particularly ominous. He couldn't quite see her eyes, so they just looked like black pits of darkness and certain death.

"Have you talked to Laxus?"

"I've tried. He won't listen." He said, and shifted uncomfortably. His palms were sweaty, and he gripped the handle of his guitar case tighter to keep it from falling.

"I suggested that he wait a few days and cool down before talking to you."

"Pretty sure he wants me dead at this point."

"Why'd you lie about dating her?" She asked. It felt weird and awkward to stand there, in the middle of the dead silent sidewalk, while his maybe ex-boyfriend's maybe psychotic sister was staring him down. The image of her melting him down for car parts crossed his mind.

"Because I felt bad about leading her on. I didn't think it was such a big deal, and then Laxus got mad, and then Levy, well… you know."

"So now you're going to run away and leave your kid fatherless?" Her words cut through him sharper than any blade, and for a moment he forgot how to breathe. "Not to mention run off without a word to my brother, who cared enough about you to break his sacred rule, and is freaking out because he doesn't know what to do with all his feelings for you. I don't like seeing my baby brother heartbroken."

He turned away at the last word, unable to look at her anymore. His chest hurt, constricting painfully. Everything about this sucked.

"Getting Levy pregnant isn't the end of the world. You have an amazing boyfriend to help you through it and an entire guild to help Levy and you prepare for being parents. And even if you did run, do you really want to run for the rest of your life knowing what a shitty thing you did?"

Gajeel stayed silent, unable to formulate a good response. He honestly didn't know what to do. Even leaving town was a half-cocked plan, and he'd half-expected to run back to Magnolia after he cooled off. Laxus wouldn't talk to him, his 'friends' at the guild hated him, and he was getting death threats from nearly everyone at Fairy Tail.

"If you need help, all you need to do is ask. Later." She said, and as she walked passed him, he stared dumbly after her. Amazed at being alive, he grumbled something under his breath, and started walking back to his home on the other edge of town.

11.

"I think we've been stuck at the Guild Hall for too long." Claire told her team, looking out over the main floor with her head tiredly propped on her hand. They looked at her questioningly, glancing up from their various activities. "I'm actually getting interested in this drama crap." She said, watching particularly when none other than Gajeel Redfox entered the Guild Hall. His arrival was subtle enough that no one noticed at first, but it didn't take long before a few people did, hitting their friends and then pointing at him.

"This is going to be good." Bickslow said, and decided to climb up and sit on the middle of the table to get a better view. He picked up the fries so that he wouldn't knock them over, and started munching on them as the show started.

"Gajeel, you bastard!" Jet yelled, an angry Droy by his side as he ran forward with his fists at the ready. The dragonslayer simply sat down at his usual spot, seeming to ignore or not care about the men barreling towards him. "How dare you do that to Levy!" Jet launched his closed fist at the iron man's face, only to curse and jump back holding his very injured hand.

Gajeel simply sat there, unmoving.

Droy tried to do the same, punching him in the face, but had the same result.

Levy walked over, smiling, and took a seat across from him. Their conversation was surprisingly civil, and both of the Thunder Legion members 'aaw'd at not getting a better show.

"What did you want to happen?" Evergreen asked, and took one of the French fries from his hands.

"Something more dramatic. I'm bored." Claire said.

"I was expecting a marriage proposal with a giant piece of iron glued to a plastic ring from a cereal box. Maybe even 'Captain Awesome' inscribed in it." Bickslow explained with an odd amount of detail.

"You've been hanging out with your nephew too much."

"Speaking of marriage," Evergreen spoke, and the couple's interests were piqued by her word choice. "No, I'm not getting married; idiots. Have you heard of the new romance restaurant in town?"

"The married couples thing?" Laxus asked, and she nodded. "It's supposed to have the best food in Magnolia."

"What is?" Claire asked, having to crane her neck look around Bickslow's form, since he was still sitting on the table.

"It's this place that only serves food to married couples. It's supposed to be crazy romantic, beautiful, and have amazing food."

"And they only let married couples in?"

"Yeah, but they don't really check wedding certificates, so some people will put on rings and pretend like they're married." Laxus explained. "Kana has been there a few times now, and says it's great."

"Who'd she go with?" Claire asked.

"You really are getting interested in the drama crap." The blonde smirked, and she rolled her eyes. _Definitely too much time at the guild._

"Want to go buy some cheap rings and eat fancy?" Bickslow asked, turning back to his girlfriend.

"Ooh, we should try that, too." Evergreen said to Laxus, who shrugged.

"Sure. I've been wanting to try their food."

12.

After deciding that they would meet up at a designated place around 6, the four mages went their separate ways. Evergreen went home to prepare, excited to finally dress up for something, and told Laxus that she would stop by his house afterwards to help him get dressed. Because, apparently, he was too inept at dressing for formal occasions to do it himself.

And while they did their thing, Bickslow and Claire stopped by a pawn shop on their way home for the rings.

They spent way too much time and energy there.

"What do you think of this one?" Bickslow asked, holding up a neon green ring from a basket. She gave him a look.

"Neon? Really?"

"Okay… this one?" He asked, randomly pulling out another one with a giant metal skull on it. The woman knew that he was just toying with her, but she wanted this to be over with.

"Are we pirates?"

"I thought you liked pirates?"

"No. Do you even know what a wedding band looks like? We don't need anything bulky that'll draw attention." She informed him, starting to go through the wide basket he'd been sorting through. The store owner had just informed them that he had two places in his overly crowded and weirdly decorated shop for rings, one of which they were sorting through, and the other was a glass case filled with expensive jewelry. "How about this?" She asked, pulling out a simple black, onyx color ring.

"It's got weird stuff on it." He said, frowning. "Is something shiny okay?"

"Only if it looks classy. And no, a ring from a cereal box is not classy, no matter how much you polish it."

"How about this one?"

"Is that a penis engraved on it?" She asked, and he immediately dropped it back into the pile, wiping his hand on his purple skirt. As he looked closer, it also had a weird residue on it, and he was terrified of what it could be.

"That is disgusting."

"How expensive are the other rings?" Claire asked, also feeling a bit gross from sorting through them. Her eyes perused the jewelry, checking the prices on the rings behind the glass counter. Some of them were outrageously high, but others were decent; and they actually looked clean.

"You want to get an actual wedding ring?"

"If you want to wear someone else's cock ring on your hand to dinner, be my guest." She said, looking through the various styled bands. Bickslow shuddered, still trying to get off any germs that may have gotten on him, and moved to join her. "How about that one?"

"No way." He said immediately.

"What's wrong with it?" She asked, glancing over at him. He was standing next to her and bent over slightly, and judging by the angle of his visor, it looked like he was looking at the nicer jewelry. "It's black, simple, no gross stuff on it, and it's cheap."

"Well now that I'm looking at nice rings… how cheap would I look if I went into a nice restaurant with my wife, and she was wearing a crappy ring? I would look like a shit husband."

"Since when do you care what people think?"

"Since I like you and shut up." He said quickly. "What about that?"

She wrapped her arm around the back of his waist, and rested her head against his shoulder. "Well, if we're going to actually spend money on this, I think that one over there would be better." She said, pointing to a pair of wedding rings further down. Her face heated up as they continued perusing the rings, feeling both embarrassed and a little excited for the night. Pretending to be married was never something she found enjoyable, even when her neighbor Max 'proposed' when they were 5, and instead of going through with the play wedding that both of their friends had spent 20 minutes on, she instead chased him around the yard threatening to give him cooties.

 _Maybe I should try and give Bickslow some 'cooties' tonight…._ She thought to herself, and even in her mind, it didn't sound as sexy as she wanted it to.

13.

They arrived at the meeting place just on time, with Laxus and Evergreen already there, arm in arm; the pair had simple gold rings on their fingers, which Evergreen explained that she already owned them. She also went on to explain that she brought two extra rings for the couple to wear, but they awkwardly held up their own.

"What the hell?" Evergreen said as she walked forward, grabbing her friend's hand and looking at her ring. "Is this an actual wedding ring? Did you propose in the last two hours?" She asked, looking over to Bickslow.

"We went to a pawn shop. They were on sale." Claire explained, feeling her face heat up as the fairy woman inspected it. Her brother was silently interrogating Bickslow all the while, and the seith mage tried to shrug off the questioning stare.

"I wanted it to be convincing." Bickslow said, trying to act casual with his hands in his pockets. He really wished that he had his visor right then- he always felt a little naked without it.

"Let's go. I'm hungry." Laxus ordered, gently nudging Ever's shoulder so that she would stop gawking at the ring on Claire's hand.

The design of the ring was fairly simple, with one medium size rock in the center and several smaller ones on the rest of the band. What was beautiful and unique about it were the crystals, which were predominantly red and orange but would shift to slightly different shades at different angles. Bickslow wore a matching ring on his hand, but it lacked the medium sized crystal, and instead was a simple gold ring inlaid with the small red and orange crystals.

Other than great food and the marriage requirement, they didn't really know what they were getting into. Claire and Bickslow held hands as they walked next to Laxus and Ever, who had their arms linked as they walked down the street.

Ever was wearing the fertility dress that Claire had given her, and she pulled it off rather nicely. Beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows glimmered beautifully from her body as she walked, and matching red high heels pulled it all together.

The guys were wearing simple slacks and a button down shirt with their hair combed back; Bickslow wore purple, Laxus wore light pink.

Claire wore a simple black dress that reached her knees, and the neck line had extra subtle red and orange frills. Loose sleeves covered her arms while the rest of her dress was tight in all the right places, and she had reduced the pain killers for her arm, so that she wouldn't have to use a sling. (Since there was muscle damage, Porlyusica had given her muscle relaxers to prevent her from flexing those damaged muscles) Knowing that Ever would bitch at her if she didn't, she wore the black heels that she'd gotten her as a belated birthday present. Both women were now 4 inches taller than usual.

"I made a reservation earlier today." Evergreen said after their group entered the restaurant. Noticing that it really was as upscale as the brunette had made it seem, they were all glad that she'd made them dress up.

The inside looked much larger than the outside, and most of that was probably due to the excessive number of mirrors on the walls, mixed with the exotic decorations on the walls. There were artifacts from all over the world depicting various aspects of love, most of which were rather cute depictions of people dancing or kissing, while there was the occasional humorous piece depicting the horrors of marriage.

For the most part, the Thunder Legion had accidentally worn the colors used in the design of the restaurant. Deep reds and purples were strewn around the upscale building, red roses were on each table, and the guests wore fancy gowns and suits.

"Name?"

"Crystal." She replied.

"Table for four. Your group is a little early, so we'll have to ask if you can wait about 5 minutes." A suited man told them, gesturing to the waiting area by the entrance. They nodded and went to sit down.

"What if someone recognizes us?" Claire suddenly asked her group, quietly. They all looked at her awkwardly for a moment. "I mean, Laxus and I are pretty popular at this point, and I was the main fighter in the recent Fairy Tail tournament."

"No one is going to recognize you with all that make up. Laxus, on the other hand…" Ever said, and the trio turned to look at him. He simply sat there, staring off into space, and upon their sudden attention he looked back.

"What?"

"Your table is ready." A waitress announced in front of them, and they blinked up in surprise.

"That was quick." Bickslow commented, and stood up first to help Claire stand.

Laxus stood, and Ever paused in her seat, hoping that he would help her, but he was too lost in his own thoughts to see her expectant stare. After a moment she simply stood up on her own, and the two 'couples' followed the waitress into the restaurant.

Candles, flowers, little romantic poems on the tables, chocolate fondue- it was like all of the romantic cheesiness of every romance movie ever created rolled into one place.

"Can I get any drinks started for you guys? We have a great selection of wine."

"I could go for some wine." Claire spoke, and Evergreen wasted no time in ordering a bottle for their table, naming a fancy sounding bottle from memory, and proceeding to question the waitress about it. They joked and laughed about something the rest of the group didn't understand, and then after dropping off their menus, she walked away to get their wine.

"I wonder how many of the people here are actually married." Bickslow whispered to his girlfriend, who smiled as she picked up the menu and began to peruse it.

"They're definitely not." Laxus said in a low voice, indicating to a couple a few tables over. The man and woman, dressed in what looked like a prom outfit, were visibly extremely awkward. Both of them were sweating, shaking, and laughing just a little too loud.

"Definitely." Bickslow snickered.

" _They_ definitely are." Evergreen said, and the group subtly took notice of the couple she was referring to. They were arguing, progressively louder, and the guy looked ready to storm out of the place. From there the Thunder Legion continued making a game out of it, guessing who was and wasn't married around the room.

14.

"Please?" Fried asked, and although Ever was instantly on board, Claire was reluctant.

"I understand Ever being good at this, but why me?" She asked, although she knew that she was going to cave. The green-haired mage was laying on the guilt trip, hard, and she wouldn't last much longer.

"Because you're sensible, and I know that you're good at organizing things. Also… Levy likes you, and she asked me to ask you to do it." Fried told her, and at this, she tilted her head ever so slightly in confusion.

"Why didn't she ask me herself?"

"She's scared of you. If you don't do this for her, then do it for me." He said. "All the times I've helped you, such as: fixing the enchantments at the girls dormitory, giving free tutoring lessons to Bickslow's nephew, the Eastern Gonzao Tea recipe, the-"

"Okay, okay, I get it. I owe you and I'll do it. For the record the first two things were for Bickslow, though."

"Both of which you benefitted from." He said, giving a triumphant smile when she reached for the large binder he had planted on the table in front of her.

"Also for the record, I've never thrown a baby shower. Don't blame me if it's not perfect."

"I'm sure you'll do fine. Bickslow," The word mage said, turning to the seith mage. Once he had started laying on the guilt trip to Claire, he knew it was just a matter time before he got to him. After all the help with Michael, he owed him big time, and it was just a matter of time before he used it to his advantage. "I need you to help me with something else."

Bickslow's entire body sunk slightly, knowing that whatever it was, it was going to be terrible and he'd hate it. "What?"

"I need your help setting up the nursery. Laxus, I'll need your assistance as well."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"Particularly, I'll need your help picking out the toys in the room, since you're the resident doll expert."

Claire snorted next to him.

15.

She wasn't quite sure how she'd ended up in this position.

Evidently, Levy was into cuddling now, and according to the other women that had been looking after her, she always liked being in contact with someone. No one minded in the slightest and gave her plenty of attention and affection in that respect.

"Someone's tired." Evergreen smiled across from them.

The trio was situated in the little blue-haired mage's apartment, surrounded by the mage's ridiculous collection of books. Books covered the walls, piles were on the floor, and it was a miracle that she'd managed to fit the furniture inside. She had a simple brown leather couch and simple coffee table, along with several love seats and comfortable chairs littered about. When they'd glanced in her room, it was filled with more books, wrapping paper from the gifts she'd opened and hadn't gotten the chance to clean up, and there was barely any space to reach her bed.

Levy, Claire, and Evergreen had spent the past two hours talking about the baby shower and planning it. The fairy mage would go off about a grandeur setting, filled with expensive wine and crystal chandeliers, and then Claire would have to bring her back to reality and try to compromise with something a little more baby oriented. Evergreen wanted a party and was easily side tracked.

Eventually the word mage had fallen asleep on Claire's shoulder, and then in the girl's sleep, she had grabbed the woman's wrist and put her arm around her, and effectively snuggled into her side. When she fell asleep like that, the fire mage tried to keep working with Evergreen on their assigned project, but the brunette wouldn't stop smiling and giggling.

16.

"As co-coordinator on this, I say we do it."

"And as the apparently more sane person between us, and co-coordinator, I say no way in hell." Claire said after signing a page on a clipboard and handing it back to Mirajane. They had been running around the guild for the past two hours talking to people, checking schedules, assigning jobs to people for the event, etc. For the most part Ever had been great for figuring out decorations and food- up until that point.

"Why are you so against this? It'll be perfect."

"This is a baby shower, not a bachelorette party."

"It might be if Gajeel would get his shit together." Evergreen said, crossing her arms and glaring at the iron mage across the room. He looked up, having overheard it. "That's right, you heard me."

"We're not doing it, Ever."

"Yes, we are."

"Fried!" Claire called out, effectively stopping the word mage that was walking quickly by them. "Back me up on this."

"On what?" He asked, and stepped to the side to avoid traffic. Evergreen and Claire had been standing by the bar when he'd happened by, and a small part of him hoped that they wouldn't rope him in. He had enough going on as it was.

"You're dragging Fried into this?" Ever asked, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

"She wants to make the decorations penis themed."

"It wouldn't just be penises. It would also be cute little semen going after eggs, and the banner I found with it is cute."

"With extremely graphic penises all over it."

"It's not _that_ graphic."

"You found those decorations at a sex store, which, I'm still baffled by the fact you were even there in the first place since you have never _had_ sex."

"I was doing research for the safe sex seminar I was teaching."

"This is supposed to make people focus on helping Levy with her pregnancy, not reminding her and everyone else how she got pregnant and making it awkward for everyone."

"They're mature adults, they'll get that it's funny and if you weren't-"

"Evergreen," Fried finally interrupted. He'd been standing there watching them argue for a while now, and gently rubbing circles on his temples from the oncoming headache threatening to emerge. "Why don't you help me with another project?"

"Seriously? You're kicking me off of the baby shower committee?"

"No, I'm… redirecting your impeccable decorating abilities elsewhere." He said with a reassuring smile. "I need your help decorating the nursery."

17.

Surprisingly, Claire got over the 'birth control' thing rather quickly, and found herself in the locker room again, getting ready for the communal bath. At the time she thought that she'd avoid it for a while like the first time it had happened, but she was getting used to Fairy Tail's overly inquisitive and zany nature. After two days of planning the baby shower, which was turning into much more of a pain than she'd initially thought, she needed the rest.

"I'll meet you in the water." Evergreen said, already in her towel and walking away.

"Kay." The fire woman muttered distractedly, still getting undressed. When she was in her towel and closing her locker, a woman approached her that she didn't recognize. After talking to so many people that day, namely women and a majority of them she had never met before, it didn't really strike her as odd. She was extremely well-endowed, with such large breasts that rivaled Lucy Heartfilia's, and a waist that was so thin it looked like she might break at any moment. Fairy Tail's tell-tale emblem was on her breast. "Are you new to Fairy Tail?"

The red head smirked and leaned against the locker next to hers, batting her long dark lashes and peering up at her with green eyes. "Not exactly." Her voice caused a shiver to run down Claire's spine and her eyes to widen, not expecting such a deep voice to resonate from such a gorgeous woman.

"I, uh… are you trans?" She asked awkwardly. If that was the case it would make sense, given her extreme features, but on the other hand if it was simply a peeping tom….

"No, this was the only way I could talk to my little sister. Your team is so clingy." He spoke, and Claire had no doubt who it was: Bacchus Groh. Goldmine had told her last week that Bacchus was still alive and well- physically, that is- but that he had disappeared again and gone rogue. If she saw him, she was supposed to tell him to go back to his Guild Hall or lose his status as a Quatro Cerberus mage.

"After you dumped me in a war zone, drugged, unconscious and half-naked, I'm kind of glad that they're looking after me." She said, and immediately went for her locker, shoving her clothes into her leather bag and slinging it over her shoulder. Telepathically she summoned Riley, although he was far enough away that it would take several minutes to get there.

"You weren't half-naked, and it's not my fault you reacted so weird to tranquilizer."

She slammed the locker shut. "What I remember is getting on a train with you, being knocked out by you, and waking up half-naked in a laboratory with a dark wizard about to cut me open." She told him, keeping her voice low as she retold that trips events, and shoved past him. As she made her way to the exit, clad in just a towel with her back pack on her back, he followed.

"Well, if you had just stayed in the shed where I left you-"

"I was unconscious and drugged! Where the hell did you leave me?"

"On the edge of a war zone. I left a note in your pocket for when you woke up." Their argument was in harsh whispers as they walked down the hallway, both of them wearing nothing but small white towels. A few men passing by did a double take.

"Oh how considerate." She said sarcastically, and pushed open the door to the women's bathroom. It was surprisingly empty, and she headed to one of the stalls. Bacchus grabbed her arm, yanking her back.

"You obviously made it out alive, so I don't see why you're upset."

"I'm only alive because Gajeel saved me!" She yelled in his face, and then her voice lowered again. "I'm used to your crazy shit, but at least you never drugged me. How the hell did you expect me to get out of that when I was drugged out of my mind?"

"You weren't- you were supposed to stay put, idiot." He said, as if _she_ was the unreasonable one.

"Do you have any idea what this looks like to me?" She spat, pulling her arm back to her side, glad when he relinquished his grip. "You drugged me and I woke up in a dark guild."

"That wasn't my fault."

She made an aggravated sound as she turned and stormed into the stall, locking it after her and hanging her bag on the hook. As she dug through her bag to get her clothes, she was so mad that she didn't know how to talk to him. Whether he was just dense or stupid, or maybe both, it aggravated her to no end. In the back of her mind she could sense that Riley had gotten her message to Bickslow, and they were on their way.

Her hand shook as she pulled her underwear on. The sling helped keep the towel in place, thankfully, but it was difficult to get the clothes on with just one hand.

"I'm your brother. I look out for you." He said after a moment. "And why are you being modest? It's not like I haven't seen you naked before."

"I'm not a nudist like you." She retorted. Once she got her underwear and pants on, she took her towel off and went to put her bra on, when the door exploded. Instinctively she covered her breasts with her arm, her sling helping, and her wide eyes locked with the angry red eyes of her brother.

When he'd forced the door open she had almost slipped, since her feet were a little wet from the locker room, put his painfully strong grip on her cheek bones kept her upright. "I never handed you over to a dark guild. _Never_."

In the past, when she'd been confronted or attacked, she'd always felt some level of anger. That anger that someone was trying to control her, that they were trying to take something away from her, or even just anger at herself for not being strong enough to defend herself.

She didn't feel that this time.

Fear grabbed hold of her from the deepest depths of her soul, and a consequential coldness racked through her like a snow storm. His words barely registered in her brain, frozen in fear, and all she could do was stare back at the man she didn't recognize.

Bacchus shook abruptly as lightning shocked his body, and a hand on his shoulder pulled him away from her. Claire stood there, frozen in place.

Laxus sent another bolt of lightning at his brother on the ground, further shocking him. Bickslow kicked him on the ground.

"Piece of shit." The lightning mage muttered, and hit him again with his magic.

"What's going on?" Lisanna asked by the door, and when Claire heard that voice, she snapped out of her reverie. Ducking behind the door of her stall, she closed it again to finish getting dressed.

"You okay, Checkers?" Bickslow asked.

"Yeah, just, a… give me a second."


	28. Chapter 28

**Author's Note:** With Bacchus's character I have been going a little nuts with him, but at the same time, trying to give a reasonable explanation for his actions and in a way bring attention to a real life problem: psychological disorders. Dealing with him admittedly delves a bit into my own experience with a paranoid schizophrenic, and although I haven't decided what Bacchus's diagnosis is, it'll have a lot of parallels. Alcohol is known to increase the chance, or trigger, psychological problems. By far the most terrifying experience in my life was watching the man I was in love with, the first man I had ever truly fallen for, completely lose his mind.

Anyone that has watched a loved one lose their sanity knows how painful it is to watch- especially when you know that you can't do anything about it. In my case, my boyfriend got the right medication and therapy to deal with these issues, but there's way too many people in our world that are discarded because they don't have access to these things, and are treated poorly for something out of their control.

Not sure yet what will happen to Bacchus in this story, but hopefully he ends up okay. : )

 **Walking Cliché 28**

 _The Sound of…_

Since Fried had effectively kicked Evergreen off of the 'Baby Shower Squad', as Bickslow had so cleverly deemed them, the preparations for it went surprisingly faster. So fast that Claire had everything prepared and planned a full week before the actual event, and for the next few days, all she had to do was wait around for people to get back to her.

It was especially convenient since she really, really didn't feeling doing that planning anymore. When Fried had first guilted her into doing it with Evergreen, she was a little annoyed; but the more she got into it, the more she enjoyed it. It was a chance to see her female friends at Fairy Tail as more human, and the work itself was kind of fun. Planning the baby shower reminded her of her mom's when she was pregnant with Bacchus and Laxus.

And then Bacchus disguised himself as a girl, cornered her in the women's locker room, followed her into the bathroom, and scared the hell out of her when he grabbed her face while she was half-dressed. To make matters worse, Laxus, Bickslow, Lisanna, and possibly a few others saw her like that, and had been giving her sympathetic looks ever since. Only a day had passed, yet it felt like forever.

She flipped a page of her book, continuing to read, ignoring the world around her. She wasn't sure when she'd stopped reading, and even though she had never really enjoyed it back on her home world, she'd begun to feel a sense of comfort with it here. It was a weapon to add to her arsenal of power. Given what happened with Bacchus drugging her, she borrowed a book from Levy on poisons: _Basic Chemical Properties of Common Poisons._ Since this world's science was significantly behind her own, it didn't take long for her to understand. Basic 101 chemistry, if even that.

Granted, it was a book on the 'basics', so she reminded herself that other books could be more difficult.

 _Bacchus was raised better than that._ That phrase would repeat in her mind every so often, stopping her from being able to actually read the text for a several minutes. _In his mind, he did nothing wrong. He doesn't understand, and that in itself is so much more terrifying than if he had done it on purpose. He's not himself… he's dangerous._ Laxus had joked, and so had she, that he had lost his mind of several occasions. The more she thought about it, and the more she recalled that dead look in Bacchus's eyes yesterday, the more she wondered if they were actually right.

Porlyuisca told her, when she first came to this world, that therapy wasn't common here. It was still a developing world lacking in technologies and all the things she took for granted back home; what they didn't have in technology they made up for with magic. They had some anti-psychotic drugs, such as anxiety relievers and the like, but as for the field of psychology it was still extremely new.

That anger deep down inside her, that rolling heat and flames that burned within her and fueled her will to survive had been snuffed out. She knew the stupid word, 'depression', correctly labeled her melancholy and utter sadness for everything around her. Knowing that didn't help. She wanted to hide from everyone and sulk, but the closest she could get was burying herself in a book. Physically she felt cold, and wore a pair of black skinny jeans and extra large dark purple hoodie that day... not that it really helped.

Finding her mind wandering a little too much, she looked up from her book. Instead of the mess hall, Bickslow and her had decided to hang out by the pool. When she looked up, however, she was surprised to Laxus there instead of her boyfriend.

Hearing a scream, she looked over to find that Bickslow had just canon balled in the pool. Cries and yells of annoyance rang out as he emerged, grinning and laughing, until Natsu tackled him into the water.

"What are those things on your head?" Claire asked, looking at her brother.

"Headphones." He said simply.

She blinked.

 _What._

"What?" She asked, eyes wide as the book dropped from her lap, her entire body shifting in her chair to face him. Surprised by the enthusiastic response, he took the large pointy devices off his ears.

"Headphones." He repeated.

"You guys have headphones on this world?" She asked exasperatedly.

"Duh."

"Wha…" So much anger and frustration bubbled to the surface, she found herself temporarily at a loss for words at how to describe it. That anger that had disappeared? It was back. Her hands grasped the air, as if she find the words to voice her frustration that way, and her face started turning red. For Laxus, it was quite amusing. "You have actual technology on this stupid planet?!"

"Duh."

"You have mp3 players!?"

"What's that?"

"You guys don't have computers but you have fucking headphones? Can you listen to music with those?"

"Duh." He honestly just liked saying it because it made her writhe in the air angrily, and she looked like a kitten pawing at a string. Between her terrifying moments, she had her absolutely adorable ones, too. The excessively large sweatshirt added to her childishness.

"Then how do they work?"

"You upload music via a magic cable, and the headphones transmit sound into your ear drums."

"How many songs can you hold on there?"

"I dunno. I've never reached a limit."

"How many do you have on there now? Do you shuffle through the songs, or is there a way to create a playlist, or can you skip them, or organize them in any way shape or form?"

"… yes."

"I-" Again, writhing anger, and Laxus barely kept a straight face. "To which one?!"

"All of them."

"That- doesn't-UUUUGH." She yelled, unable to express any of her anger and giving up, collapsing on the little stand between them. Her face rested on the cold surface of the glass sheet, a little circular nightstand that was about two feet in diameter, and her hands interlaced on the back of her neck after brushing through her short hair.

Chuckling, he moved her arms a little so that he could put the headphones on her ears, and smiled at the absolutely delighted expression on her face. She lifted her head, eyes closed, and shifted so that her left temple rested on her now folded arms.

A deep, strange sound reverberated from her, almost akin to purring.

Laxus ruffled her short hair. He felt a great amount of pride for making her smile like that, especially after what had happened the previous day. Making her smile like that brightened his entire day.

"I didn't know she did that." The sound, something caused a wash of dread to come over him every time, also caused his smile to falter. He looked over at the man blocking his sunlight.

"Did what?"

"That purring sound. Metalicana did that when he was sleeping and having a good dream, or just _really_ happy about something." Gajeel told him, smiling softly. When Laxus looked back to his sister, he realized that the way she was curled up looked like a lot of dragon drawings he had seen in his lifetime. He'd compared it more like a cat earlier, but dragon felt strangely more accurate.

"She didn't know headphones existed on this world until a few minutes ago." He informed him.

"Really? No wonder she's in heaven. She is a musician, afterall." Gajeel stated.

"… she is? How do you know that?"

"Her old man taught her how to play guitar when she was little, so she tried to pick it back up a while back. She asked me for good places to buy instruments."

"IGNEEL!?" Natsu yelled at the top of his lungs as he launched himself in Claire's direction. Before Laxus could take care of him, Gajeel held out his arm so that the pink-haired mage would run into hit, causing him to painfully fall to the concrete ground with a bloody nose. "Where's Igneel you bastard!?"

"What the hell are you yelling about, flame brain?" The iron mage asked him, glaring down at the boy that quickly pulled himself back to his feet.

"I hear Igneel somewhere around here! Where are you hiding him!?" Natsu yelled, craning his neck and looking around the area.

"You're hearing Checkers, you idiot."

"How would a game of checkers make dragon purring sounds?!"

"It's Claire's nickname, you idiot. You know, dragon girl?" He said, now pointing to the oblivious girl in question. She was still curled up half sideways, head resting on her folded arms, and purring contentedly at the music.

Confused, the dragonslayer leaned closer to her, staring at her and listening.

"… why is she making dragon sounds?"

"Since her counterpart on this world was a dragon, she picked up a few dragon characteristics when she came to this world." Laxus explained, prepared to hit the fire mage with his lightning if he got any closer to his sister. After all the times he'd knocked him out, just in the last few weeks alone, he was surprised that he hadn't learn his lesson.

Natsu leaned back again, scratching his head.

"Don't think about it too hard, you'll hurt yourself." Gajeel told him. "I don't even get it myself, really."

"Natsu, why'd you run off like that?" Lucy asked, jogging over to the group forming.

"She's making dragon sounds... I thought it was Igneel." Natsu said, his shoulders slumping slightly in disappointment.

"Dragon sounds?" The blonde asked, looking over to Claire. Her ears perked when she realized what sound he was talking about, and her small hand flew to her mouth. "Is that… purring?"

"She's listening to music through headphones for the first time on this world." Gajeel explained. "Apparently, she's so happy about it that she's purring."

"That… that's so cute!" Lucy squealed, and pushed Natsu back so that she could get to the fire woman, accidentally knocking him into the pool. She paid no mind as she knelt in front of Claire, whose eyes still closed, and she reached up to pet her hair.

"I don't think-" _You should be doing that_ , Laxus was going to say. Evergreen had tried to pet her like a cat once when she'd curled up on her bed in that manner, and the result wasn't pretty. This time however, Claire purred louder, and nudged her head into Lucy's hand.

"I guess music _does_ sooth the beast." Gajeel chuckled, having expected the same result as Laxus. Lucy giggled, continuing to pet Claire's hair and comment on her cuteness, treating her more like a pet than human. "Can we talk?" He asked, turning back to Laxus.

The dragonslayer glared at the question, and the lack of clothing didn't help his attitude. They were both just in swim trunks, and he had a hard enough time gathering his thoughts around the iron mage when he was fully clothed. "No."

"Hey Claire?" Yet another voice spoke, and Laxus groaned. _Why the hell is everyone so interested in her all of a sudden? She's happy for the first time in months, leave her alone._ Levy had joined the group, her belly obviously pregnant at that point, and she paused awkwardly when she saw what Lucy was doing. "Luce, what are you doing?"

"She's purring, isn't she cute?" Lucy said with a smile, continuing to pet the fire mage, even scratching under her chin.

"She's not a damn cat." Laxus spat, but the dragon woman's purring didn't help. Not to mention she seemed to actually enjoy the affection that Lucy was giving her, and as he and the entire Thunder Legion had confirmed early on, she did look adorable when she slept. She wasn't sleeping now, but she still had that relaxed dreamy look.

"Oh my gosh, you're totally right!" Levy gasped, her hands flying over her mouth. She then walked forward and kneeled next to Lucy, petting the checker woman. Unlike the celestial mage, Levy's hand wandered down Claire's back, and her happy look was replaced by an intrigued one. "Luce, feel her back- it's so cool! It's like she's vibrating."

It wasn't long before half the women in the guild were fawning over the happy dragon woman, and at some point, Laxus got kicked out of his seat so that they could get better access to her. A few yards away he scratched his head, unsure what to make of the situation, and Bickslow walked over to join him.

"Why is there a group of scantily clad women groping my girlfriend?" The seith mage asked, his arms crossed as he observed them.

"They think she's cute." The blonde replied.

Bickslow grunted, deciding enough was enough, and went to go break it up. To his dismay Erza was one of those people clamoring to his girlfriend, and sent him flying back with a bloody nose into the pool.

1.

"She is so much easier to deal with now." Evergreen commented the next day, reaching up and gently petting Claire's soft hair. Riley hummed softly from her shoulder, and the rest of Bickslow's babies were under the table on her legs. How ever the music had made her pur, it had also changed her soul wavelength so that her babies loved resonating with her more than usual, and Bickslow had stopped trying to keep them off of her. The sound resonating from her sometimes got louder and softer, but overall, it was surprisingly nice background sound for the Thunder Legion and others that passed by. It was an enchanting sound that lifted their spirits, and the sight of her so calm and happy made them all relax.

"Hey!" Bickslow yelled, carrying two plates and glaring at the fairy woman. Ever stuck her tongue out at him. "You stole my spot! And my signature move!"

"Tough luck." Claire turned her head slightly, slouched over with her head still in her folded arms, and caused a hot pillar of smoke to heat up her arm. She pulled it back with a half scream, huffed angrily, and moved back to her original spot.

Triumphantly, the seith mage reclaimed his seat and set down the two plates of food. A mug of hot water was on each of them and a little packet for their teabag next to it.

The fire mage sat up, a content smile on her face as she pulled the plate of food closer and opened the paper bag, pulling out the tea and putting it in the mug. Heating it further with the fire magic in her hands, she brought it to her lips, causing the purring to increase in volume.

"So," Bickslow coughed, making his team snap out of their hypnotic state. It was hard not to stare. "What's the plan for today? More nursery stuff?"

2.

At some point in the day, while Claire was managing the baby shower stuff, she ended up finding a comfortable spot on the main floor of the mess hall. Laxus had given up trying to watch her all the time by following her around the guild, since she had to move around and talk to so many people to get her project done; so he'd resigned to hanging out at his usual spot drinking. The guild had enough of their friends keeping an eye on her that he felt satisfied of her safety. Bickslow, Evergreen, and Fried were gone to work on Levy's unborn child's nursery.

"She sounds just like a dragon, but like, a small one." Wendy said, fellow dragonslayers Natsu and Gajeel not far behind.

Claire was slouched over at a table on the far end of the mess hall, head rested comfortably on her folded arms, and purring contentedly as she had for the past 24 hours. Most of the people at Fairy Tail had already gotten used to it, but many people still made comments about her being cute, especially wearing her brother's trademark headphones.

"She's like a cat! Like you, Happy!" Natsu said cheerfully, and went to stand behind Claire, reaching over and petting her checker hair roughly.

"Natsu, you need to be gentle with her!" Happy chastised him.

"Is she okay with you doing that?" Wendy asked, watching as Happy flew over to show Natsu how to 'correctly pet Claire's head'.

"Weren't you here yesterday?" Gajeel asked the girl, and she shook her head.

"Is she part dragon or part cat?" Carla asked, walking over to step next to Happy. "Is she even awake?"

Claire cracked one of her eyes open, causing the white cat to jump back in alarm. The fire woman chuckled, the sound mixing with her deep purring.

"You sound really nice. It reminds me of my mom, Grandeeney." Wendy said with a smile, and took a seat in front of her, Natsu and Happy still petting her hair with matching grins. "I used to fall asleep to that sound every night."

"Same! We should all have a slumber party!" Natsu suggested.

"Aye!"

"You realize that Laxus would probably kill you for trying to have a 'slumber party' with his sister, right?" Gajeel asked, and took a seat neat to Wendy. Cautiously, he glanced up at Laxus on the top floor, who seemed to be staring off into space.

"Pfft, why? He can come, too!" Natsu said with his typical carefree grin. "Dragonslayer party!"

"I think it would be nice." Wendy added with a smile. "What do you think, Claire?"

"Maybe someday." She mumbled, eyes closed as she sighed.

"Ooh, I wonder how much of a dragon you actually are, hee hee." Natsu snickered with an evil grin.

"Natsu…" Gajeel warned, watching that look in his eye as he stared down at Claire. She remained oblivious, at least on the outside, as Natsu leaned down closer to the back of her neck, and blew some of his fire magic at the exposed spot. Lucky for her, she had decided to wear her fireproof tank top that day.

Her purring increased in volume, and Natsu snickered, pulling away from her. "Igneel loved that. He'd make me get up on his back just to get a particular spot that he couldn't reach."

The group fell into an unusual silence, all of the dragonslayers feeling nostalgic at the sound. All of their parents had left so abruptly, without warning, and when they were so young that any reminder of them brought back happy memories. Natsu was so entranced that he actually sat down next to her, his legs on either side of the bench, and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. He buried the face in the back of her neck, feeling like he was close to his dad for the first time in years. She smelled, sounded, and felt so much like his dad, that he felt like a kid again. The heat of her body was unnatural for a human and closer to a dragon, a sensation that he didn't realized he'd missed so much.

"You really miss your dad, huh Natsu?" Happy asked, looking sadly at his friend. It was a somber moment, and the silence between the usually rowdy trio felt louder than any fight they'd had. The only sound was Claire's purring, and the background sound of the rest of the guild eating their food and drinking merrily.

Natsu buried his face further into her neck, smelling the fire magic on her.

3.

Bickslow had the annoying, sneaking suspicion that someone was doing something they weren't supposed to be doing with his girlfriend. Yesterday half the women at the guild were clinging to her like superglue, and it took an hour to get Laxus to finally pry Claire away from them. Even his babies wanted to stay with her all the time, and hell he did to, because happy Claire meant happy Bickslow and happy babies.

He didn't like sharing.

"Really?" Evergreen asked, looking up at him with a quirked, finely plucked eyebrow.

"You asked me to get yellow paint, and I got yellow paint." Bickslow stated, and set down the two rather heavy buckets of yellow paint. He would have used his babies, but _someone_ was hogging them for the day….

"I asked you to get 'Sunshine Yellow'."

"You asked for yellow, I got yellow."

"You got mustard yellow." She told him, hands on her hips.

"So? Yellow is yellow."

"No, it's not. I would accuse you of being colorblind, but since the containers are _labeled_ , I have to assume that you're just a dumbass."

"Fried, back me up!" Bickslow called out to his friend, who was standing on the other side of the room with Erza.

"Huh? What do you need, Bickslow?" He asked, turning to the troubled seith mage.

"She asked for yellow, and I got yellow. Am I in the wrong?" Bickslow asked, raising his arms exasperatedly.

"I told him to get Sunshine Yellow and he got Mustard Yellow." Evergreen said, and both Fried and Erza made faces.

"Oh, come on!"

"Keep the paint you got because we might be able to use it later for the sunflower paintings, but you do need to go back and get the right shade." Fried informed him, feeling only a tiny bit bad for him. Bickslow cursed and grumbled under his breath as he exited the room to go back to the store.

"Can you pick up lunch on your way back? Thanks!" Evergreen called out with a smirk.

4.

By the time that Laxus noticed that Claire had been surrounded by dragonslayers and Exceeds, along with a very random mages that had decided to join them, it had already been a half hour. They were all sitting in silence, some of them drinking, and just sitting there.

Just… _sitting._

Natsu and Gajeel. At the same table.

Just… _sitting._ And giving Claire a hug, which he was undoubtedly going to kick his ass for, even though he had no doubt that it was platonic. He doubted Natsu even knew what sex was, nonetheless go out of his way to hit on her. If Natsu did any kind of hitting, it would be with his fists.

The occurrence was so strange that instead of attacking them from his spot, which is what he would usually do when Natsu got close to his sister, he downed the last of his drink and stood. He would get an explanation for their weird behavior and then hit him with lightning until he saw stars.

When he made his way over to the group at a leisurely pace, they didn't notice him at first. Wendy was the first to realize he was there, since he was standing next to her, and her entire body froze in fear at the sight of him. "L-l-l-laxus." She stuttered.

The rest of the group looked up with a mix of horror and amusement.

"Where the hell have you been? Aren't you going to kick Natsu's ass for getting' on your sister?" Kana asked on the other side of Gajeel. "Defend your sister's honor, dude!"

"Before I do that, what the hell are all of you guys doing over here?" Laxus asked with a deadpan expression.

Makarov was sitting at the end of the table next to Kana, looking rather relaxed and calm, which was a rare sight for the old man. He had so many health problems and stressed so much about the guild, it was a rare sight.

"We're just hanging out." The Guild Master said with a soft smile, and took a sip of the warm liquid in his drink. Laxus sniffed the air, finding it odd that he was smelling Claire's 'coffee'.

"Are you… drinking coffee?"

"Eastern Gonzao tea." He said simply, and took another sip. "Fried and Claire recommended it. It's apparently a very common drink on her home world."

 _This is just… way too weird._ Laxus thought, looking between the faces at the table. Kana was the only one that didn't seem to be in a strange trance.

"The sound reminds us of our parents." Wendy explained with a soft smile. "It's why Natsu likes being close to her; she reminds him of Igneel."

 _So that's why. That makes a little sense, at least._ Laxus thought to himself, still looking between the various mages. He finally sighed, and walked over to Natsu; he grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back, effectively lifting him off of Claire and the bench, and dropped him on the floor. Natsu smiled up at him with a cheeky grin.

"Hey, Lax." He said.

The blond ignored him and turned back to the maybe awake maybe sleeping dragon woman, and gently shook her shoulder. Sighing, she sat up and looked up at him, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Sup, bro?"

"Come on." He said, and she begrudgingly stood, yawning as she did so. Her babies all emerged from under the table and floated near her.

"We still on for the dragonslayer slumber party?" Natsu asked her with one of his stupid, oblivious grins that caused the entire group to face palm. The lightning dragonslayer sent a bolt of lightning at him, and placed his hand on Claire's back to guide her back to the second floor.

"How do you stand that guy?" He asked her as they walked.

"His fire magic made me sleepy." She said, and yawned in her hand tiredly again.

"Sleepy, sleepy~" Her babies said in unison.

"If you're going to sleep, do it at our usual table, away from the rest of the guild. You're a freaking girl magnet in this state."

"I don't know why." She mumbled, and slowly walked up the steps, yawning yet again. When they finally made it back to their usual table she plopped down in her usual seat, folded her arms on the table, and rested her head on it.

Laxus sat on the end of the table next to her, contemplating whether to further question her. He'd never seen her so relaxed, or genuinely happy for that matter, and didn't want to jinx it by asking questions.

Feeling his eyes on her, she lifted her head and rested her chin on her palm, opening her eyes to look at him. Her purring had gone down to a dull hum, but it was still there. "Yes?"

"… are you okay?" He asked cautiously. The woman had been so happy; like she exuded the emotion like a perfume and infected the people around her with it, and a soft smile had never left her face. Despite appearances, he worried, and he figured that was a permanent 'big brother' feeling he'd have to live with.

"Not really." She replied, looking tired and still wearing the headphones. Laxus sat there for a moment taking in what she said, not expecting such a candid response. "The music makes me feel good and puts me in a good place to reflect on my past year on this world, but my head still feels jumbled and messed up."

"Do you… want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I'm good will listening to music and chillin'. Assuming you're okay with me borrowing your headphones?"

"Go ahead." He said, and with that, she went back to her previous position. Not really knowing what to do with that information, he shrugged, and pulled out the _Sorcerer Weekly_ magazine he'd been reading earlier. If she was happy doing whatever the hell she was doing, who was he to argue with it? So long as she wasn't crying, he could deal with it.

"Hey, mind if I join you guys?" Lisanna asked as she approached the pair, smiling shyly at them as she did a short wave. Claire sat up and rested her chin on her palm again, and Laxus grunted.

"Sure, why not? Sup cat girl?" The fire woman asked, chuckling at the small blush on her cheeks.

"Cat girl? What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you use take over magic and one of your fighting costumes is cat themed." She explained easily, smiling at her. Lisanna took a seat across from her, just as her sister approached them with drinks.

"Hey Lisanna, what are you doing up here?" Mirajane asked while she placed the drinks in front of the siblings, and then a bowl of vegetables.

"I felt like sitting up here for a change."

"What's with the vegetables?" Laxus asked.

"Makarov asked me to send them up in place of French fries. He thought they would be healthier." Mira giggled, and waved to Lisanna before making her way back downstairs.

"French fries on this world are probably healthier than the vegetables on my world, considering all the pesticides and crap they put on them." Claire commented, reaching for a carrot.

"Actually, that's kind of the reason I came up here." The white-haired mage spoke, an awkward smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "I kind of figured, you know, we have that in common."

"… huh?" Claire asked, and bit into the orange vegetable.

"When the Lisanna of Edolas died, I was taken from this world and sent there. I was there for 9 years, and thought I would never make it back home. I was just, you know… wondering how you guys were coping with being sent here?" Lisanna asked, looking between the siblings.

"I was 2 months old when I came here." Laxus shrugged. "I adapted fine, aside from being sick a lot when I was a kid."

"I knew that you were young, but not _that_ young." The youngest Strauss sibling commented, and then turned to Claire. "How long have you been on this world?"

"About a year. I was transported here shortly before you came back." Another bite from her carrot.

"What was your world like?" She asked curiously, and Claire shrugged.

"Different. Technology is the biggest difference, but what this world lacks in tech it makes up for in magic equivalents."

"What kind of technology?"

"Uh… a lot of things. Computers, airplanes, tvs, internet…"

"We had computers back on Edolas. I understand why you miss them." Lisanna said with a smile, and Claire had a matching one. "How about telephones?"

"Texting?" Claire asked hopefully, but given the blank stare, she guessed not. "What did your phones look like?"

"I guess like a stick, and then a ball shape on each end? With a chord going into a box with numbers on it."

"What?" Laxus asked, giving her a weird look.

"I totally know what she's talking about. That's totally retro." Claire said. "That's about… 30+ years behind my culture? Over the past 20ish years in particular we've had a major technology boom, and our phones have become so awesome. Before I came here I got a new Galaxy S4, and I'd spent a months rent on it. Totally worth it."

She giggled. "Sounds like it. Your world must have gotten really creative since it couldn't rely on magic."

"Hell yeah it did. Some days it feels like I've been sent back to the stone age."

"Yet you can barely work basic kitchen appliances." Laxus interjected, and she rolled her eyes.

"I couldn't use them on my world, either. Parents banned me from the kitchen, remember? I was limited to the microwave and refrigerated foods."

"It took me a long time to get used to kitchen appliances in Edolas, too." Lisanna chuckled. "The air feels different, doesn't it? Or is it just me?"

"The air on my world was polluted by cars and factories, and god knows what else, so I definitely did. Actually, Porlyusica told me that there's a lot more lung diseases back on Edolas than here."

"Really? I can see that… how did Porlyusica know that?"

"She, uh… I guess she's been telling people, so it's not a huge secret, but she was originally from Edolas. She was sent here, like, 80 years ago or something."

"Wow, really? That's so wild. I never would have guessed it." Lisanna giggled.

"How's it been for you? Adjusting and everything."

She paused, still smiling, thinking over her answer. "I… for the most part, it's been a pretty easy transition. Some days I'm afraid that I'll wake up back in Edolas… but, I'm so happy to be back with my guild and my family, I try not to dwell on it. I'm happy to be with my family again."

"I'm happy for you."

"Hey, I'm not the only one with great family. How awesome was it to find out Laxus was your brother?"

"Well, after a few weeks, it was pretty awesome. Once I was clued in on the fact we were related," She gave him a pointed look, but he was busy reading his magazine again, having gotten bored with their conversation. "And we hung out more, we got along. Laxus and I have always had a weird friendship, so it was… weird, to find out we were related."

"Laxus, what was it like learning that you were related to Claire?" Lisanna asked, causing the man to look up.

"Shitty." He said simply. "She keeps almost dying all the time."

"Not _all_ the time. The only _real_ close call was before you found out, with that stupid harpoon thing."

"You have dozens of dark wizards after you and we've been catching them around the guild weekly. The times you have almost died could probably fill a book."

"Good to know that finding out we were related was shitty for you."

"You said it was weird when _you_ found out."

"Yeah, because you lied to my face for two months and I found out through a stupid enchantment created by a dark wizard. Real mature, bro."

"And _I_ found out right before you were nearly killed by our psychotic sister and my deranged step-father. How is that not equally as weird?"

"Weird, but not as weird as finding out someone you had gotten stabbed to find out the identity of turned out to be a guy you've been working closely with for two months, and also convinced Makarov and Erza to lie to me, too. Oh, and we forgot about the insurmountable hell that was participating in the Games because of my stage fright and brutal stab wound because your stupid grandfather blackmailed me to compete with your identity. Not to mention his _also_ turning me over to palace guards who interrogated, tried to murder, and then throw me in jail cell after losing half my blood and according to our healer, 'should be fucking dead but isn't because god knows why'."

"Feel better, now?"

"… a little." She shrugged, and picked up another carrot. She turned to look back at Lisanna to apologize, but blinked in confusion at the empty space. "Where'd she go?"

"I think she ran off somewhere around the dark wizard comments." Laxus stated, and grabbed one of the celery sticks before going back to his magazine.

Figuring that she'd see the white-haired mage sometime in the next few days, she went back to laying on her folded arms, nibbling on her carrot and turning up the volume. She was a little surprised when Laxus started petting her hair, but, hell- half the guild was doing it nowadays, so why not.

The lightning mage had honestly been curious about what the appeal of doing this was. As he pet his little sister's hair, which was actually remarkably soft, and even scratched behind her ear in a way that the headphones wouldn't come off, her purring increased in volume. Definitely weird, but also cute in its weirdness.

He continued doing that as he went back to his magazine, still nibbling on his celery stick as he went back to reading. Quite a few people had migrated to that floor since their arrival, and it had gotten unusually quiet. So long as they let him read in silence, he-

"M-mind if I sit with you guys?" Glaring as he looked up, he realized that it was the smallest of the dragonslayers: Wendy. When their eyes locked she instantly froze in fear.

"Why?"

"I just… her purring reminds me of Grandeeney…" She said, her toe twisting on the hardwood floor and eyes cast downward.

"Fine." He finally grunted. Wendy was more acceptable than the other dragonslayers, anyway.

"I promise not to cause any trouble." She said with a cheerful smile, and took a seat across from the purring woman. Carla stood on the other end of the table. "Can I… pet her?" She asked apprehensively, looking over at the blond.

"Ask her." He nodded to her.

"Knock yourself out." Claire rumbled, the sound mixing oddly with her deep purring sounds.

"I thought you were asleep?" Wendy asked, slowly reaching over and starting to pet part of her hair. Laxus moved his hand to the base of her skull, lazily playing with the short hairs with his thumb and forefinger, while the side of his hand rested on her exposed neck. It was an odd sensation, and he didn't doubt that what he felt bubbling up inside him was brotherly affection for his sister. He was overprotective, and maybe he took suggestions from Elfman a little too often, but little moments like these were why he did it. Even if she could take care of herself (and he had made sure that she could) he would still look out for her.

"She's been meditating." Laxus answered for her.

"Is she meditating on what happened the other day?" Wendy asked curiously, and stopped petting her.

"That's rude, Wendy. They probably don't want to talk about it." Carla chastised, and the little girl looked down in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"It's alright." Laxus told her, smiling softly. "I'm pretty sure she's meditating on that. Our brother has been hurting her a lot lately, and it's hard for her to accept that he's a bad guy."

"How do you know he's a bad guy?" She asked innocently.

"Good people don't hurt family like that."

"Not to sound mean, but, um… didn't you hurt our friends a long time ago? I mean, I wasn't here back then, but people have told me about it. You got kicked out of the guild?" She stammered awkwardly. Her Exceed lay on her stomach nearby on the table, hypnotized by the sound Claire was producing, and resting her chin on her hands.

"This is different." He said defiantly, not expecting her to know that. _She's just a kid… and really, it was a shitty thing for me to do, and I'll never be able to truly make up for that… but this_ _ **is**_ _different._ "I learned that I was wrong, and I'm determined to make amends for my mistakes. Our brother keeps doing things disregarding the safety of those around him, and he's going to get our sister killed one of these days."

"Does he know that he's wrong? Maybe he just needs someone to point him in the right direction, and like you, he'll start making amends and learn from his mistakes." Wendy said with a smile. "I think that, deep down, everyone has a good heart. Some of us just get lost, and we need something to show us the way back."

Laxus pondered her words for a minute, and looked back to Claire, who was still purring away. He doubted that she wasn't listening. Nonetheless it was good insight, and even though it was a rather black and white interpretation of their current predicament, he guessed that that's how Claire saw it. Bacchus is just some lost kid that needs to be guided back home. Too bad it wasn't that simple.

"What would you do if he came back and apologized for what he did? If he said that he was wrong and wanted to prove himself?"

"Right now, Goldmine is dealing with him, and will hopefully straighten him out. If he went a few months without drinking and Goldmine said he was safe to be around, I would _consider_ having a conversation with him." He explained, and the young girl beamed up at him.

"Erza was right." She giggled. The man gave her a quizzical look, raising one of his eyebrows in silent question. "You're not as bad as people say you are."

He tried to hide the small, embarrassed blush by turning back to his sister, and took another bite out of his celery stick.

"Checkers! I need your help!" Gajeel yelled as he slammed into the table, causing their beverages to nearly fall over as he kneeled on the chair next to Wendy and leaned over, hands grasping the edge of the table. "You said that if I needed help with something, you would help, and I need it now!"

"What's up your ass?" Laxus asked, narrowing his eyes at the panicked dragonslayer.

"Not you, as of late." He scoffed. The insinuation went right over Wendy and Carla's heads, but Claire got it, and she snorted as she sat up again. Resting her chin on the palm of her hand and elbow on the table, she looked up at the sweaty, wide-eyed, adrenaline pumping man. "You said that if I needed help with something, you would help, and I need it now!"

"You already said that." She said smoothly, a lazy smirk on her face.

"Before you get all snarky, I know this is lame and I'm terrible and everything else, but I'm desperate." Sensing the look he was getting from Laxus, he sneered at him. "Shut up."

"What do you need help with, Gajeel?" Claire asked, getting his attention again. Panicked Gajeel was actually pretty common nowadays, along with panicked looks from anyone at the guild, actually. Levy's pregnancy had been raising a lot of new emotions in people, or exasperating them, whether directly or indirectly. Since the resident dragon mage was in charge of the baby shower, it wasn't uncommon for them to unload on her.

Which, was one of the reasons why she loved this new 'purring power'. It fucking calmed people the fuck down.

"I'm not good at this sort of thing. I'm not ready to be a dad. I'm going to be terrible and the kid is going to hate me and-"

"Shut up and tell me what _specifically_ you need help with."

"Baby shower present. It needs to be awesome, or else she'll hate me, and she might cut me out of the kids life and-"

"Shut up." She ordered, and he surprisingly obeyed; Laxus wondered nearby how she'd managed to do that. "Dad's aren't supposed to bring gifts to the shower, because the gifts are for the _parents_ to make it easier to raise the kid, so stop panicking. If you want to get a gift anyway, to help make up for knocking her up or whatever, there's a list of things to get her downstairs on the 'baby shower board'. Once you decide which gift you're going to get her, cross it off the list so that she doesn't get multiples of each thing."

"… there's seriously a list?" Gajeel blinked stupidly at her.

"Next time, before you start freaking out, go to the board. It has all the information you need, along with 'FAQs' in case you have other questions."

"'FAQs'?"

"Frequently asked questions." She told him, and he made a small 'huh' sound before running off again at full speed. Not two seconds later he was back again, carrying the stapled pages with him, and slammed them down on the table.

"ALL OF THEM ARE CROSSED OFF!"

"Well then, I guess you're fucked."

"DON'T SAY THAT!"

"Yeah, Claire." Laxus spoke up. "It's not nice to remind him that he's not getting any."

"NO THANKS TO YOU, AND DON'T JOKE ABOUT OUR SEX LIFE WITH YOUR SISTER!"

"The entire guild is making jokes about your sex life. I was just joining in the fun." He said with a smirk, and for a moment, the iron mage just glared in pure rage at him.

Wendy and Carla had since moved from their original spots to sit next to the fire mage, both startled by Gajeel and using the excuse to get closer to the hypnotizing and soothing sound still reverberating from Claire. At time point Carla had actually moved to sit on her lap, and since the fire mage was distracted with the conversation with Gajeel (and snickering at the argument with Laxus), she had let her. Just like the rest of the guild had been petting her, she held Carla like a stuffed animal and petted her soft fur, which made the small Exceed immensely happy. If she had known about the dead souls on her lap, it might have been a different story.

"How about instead of making jokes, you actually help me?" Gajeel suggested, and at the sudden seriousness in his tone, the lightning mage stared back with a slightly guilty expression. They locked eyes for several seconds before Claire coughed, interrupting their 'moment'.

"I'll make a new list and have it up on the board by tomorrow. You've still got 5 more days, so don't worry so much." The checker woman told him, and when the iron mage looked back at her, he blinked in surprise. _When did that happen?_ Carla was sitting on her lap, being hugged and petted, while the air dragonslayer looked to be falling asleep on her arm. Considering how snooty and uptight the white cat usually was, it was really a strange sight.

"Uh… you guys comfy over there?" Gajeel asked, and the Exceed immediately blushed and looked away.

"I'm a girl magnet with this new purring thing." Claire snickered, furthering the blush on the white-furred feline. Before the cat could squirm out of her grasp, the fire woman started petting behind her ears, and Carla's eyes closed as she started purring again. Her lap really was the best spot for hearing the purring thing; since her entire body vibrated with it.

"Since the list is a bust," Gajeel spoke, getting back on topic. "Can't you just tell me what I should get her?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask Fried if there's anything you can make for her with your iron?" She suggested. "They're remodeling her apartment and the room next door for her, and she might need some new furniture. Since you're good with iron, maybe you can make something structural that she'll need."

"Like…?"

"Like a bookshelf with bars on it, so that the books down accidentally fall off the shelves and hurt the baby if it gets handsy with them. Whatever you make, make sure that's baby proof."

"What does that mean?"

"No sharp corners, no small, removable objects it can choke on. Stuff like that. Talk to Fried."

"Where the hell is he?"

"Girls Dormitory. The enchantments are down until construction is done, so you'll be able to get in no problem." She explained. The iron mage nodded, gave the girls sleeping on her one last weird look, and then ran off again.

"He's such a dumbass." Laxus grumbled when he was far enough away. His sister just gave him a knowing smirk, to which he grumbled 'shut up' and went back to his magazine.

5.

Bickslow glared, hands on his waist, standing next to his bed. They had _finally_ got home after a long day, and when he _finally_ got undressed and ready to 'cuddle' with his girlfriend, he turned around to find their babies hogging her.

"Oi, it's my turn to cuddle with Checkers."

"We can share." They said in unison, even Riley. She was laying on her side in underwear and tight tank-top, with no bra.

"Nuh-uh, no way. You guys got to be with her all day while I did back breaking labor." He said, and with a wave of his hand, they were gone.

Well, except for Riley, who Claire made go to the nightstand and then unbind. "Do you want me to take the headphones off?" She asked, even though she really didn't want to. The music, despite some of it not being that great, made her feel amazing. Like it was resonating with her soul and bringing a calmness over her that she didn't know was possible, and somehow, she was able to spread that calmness to the people around her.

"No. I want to make you purr louder." He said with a sexy smirk that she knew all too well. Bickslow crawled onto the bed, his hand reaching out and touching her soft skin. "I've had to share you all day." He added with a pout.

"I'm all yours now."

"You are mine _all_ the time." He informed her, grabbing her wrists and pinning them over her head. Straddling her waist with his legs, his smirk grew at the interesting sound she made in response. Nipples perked beneath the tight confines of her shirt, back arched up, her lips parted slightly. "What other sounds can you make, Checkers?"

6.

After some much needed sex, the pair sat down in the living room for dinner. It was simple rice and vegetables, and they sat on the living room couch with their babies nearby. Claire had taken off the headphones for the first time in the past two days, which caused a strange silence to follow, although a not entirely bad one.

"So uh… what if we got married?" He asked, and she choked on the large piece of broccoli in her mouth. "I mean, I'm not proposing right now, I just wanted to know your thoughts on it. We've been in a pretty solid relationship for almost a year now, my babies like you, I like you, you like my babies, you like me, I can't see myself dating anyone else in the future…."

"… marriage…?" She muttered, looking out the window and pondering it. The rain outside pounded against the glass, and in that moment, she was reminded of her first breakfast with Bickslow. It was cloudy that day, and she remembered thinking how it looked like Portland, and how thoughtful Bickslow was. At that time, he was the only glimmer of hope in her new life on this world.

"And I'm not just saying this to be bro-in-laws with Laxus… even though it's going to be fucking _awesome_."

"If I married anyone on this world, it would be you." She said softly, and looked over at the seith mage. He was only wearing sweatpants, his blue-tri-hawked hair in disarray, beautiful green eyes on either side of his tattoo gleaming at her in such a way that made butterflies flutter through her stomach.

"If, uh," He mumbled, looking away and brushing back his hair with his fingers. "If we wanted, we could, uh… get engaged, and be that way for a while, until the actual wedding. I've heard of people being engaged for years before actually getting married."

"None of them were in Fairy Tail, no doubt." Claire chuckled. "If we were openly engaged, people would be bugging us to get married for months until we cave."

"Would that be so bad?"

"… not really." She admitted, and took a bite of her veggies. They both fell into a comfortable silence, contemplating the idea of getting married and listening to the soft patter of rain outside.

7.

"Juvia wishes to help with the baby shower!" The blue-haired mage announced during breakfast at the guild. Looking up from her meal and still wearing the headphones that Laxus has loaned her, Claire blinked tiredly at her. "Juvia will do whatever it takes to help with the preparations!"

"No." The fire mage said simply. Her group gave her a surprised look, wondering why she was turning down the free help; over the past few days she'd been excellent at taking willing volunteers and giving them tasks, so good in fact that she'd been able to shoulder off the majority of difficult or annoying things she hadn't wanted to do. No one had complained so far except Natsu, who was being forced to help by Erza.

"But… I need to prove to Gray that I'm good around children!"

"We've got everything covered. If you need something to do, take care of Levy."

"I tried, but she told me to come to you!"

"Then go help the Guild Master set up the Day Care Center. He's been needing help with that."

"He's the one that directed me to Levy!"

"Then babysit Asuka."

"Her parents told me to go to the Guild Master!"

"Just give her a job, already. She's giving me a headache." Laxus told her. "Weren't you saying that you didn't want to deal with the decorations?"

"Juvia can help with that! I'm great with decorations!"

"Fried, do you-"

"I've already got enough people helping me, thank you. Thanks again for sending _Gajeel_ my way." Fried glared at her, and she pouted slightly, trying to think of something else to redirect the clumsy, annoying, boy obsessed teenager's baby energy to.

"What is Gray doing?" She asked, looking back to Juvia.

"My beloved is helping with the baby shower! He is with Erza and the others collecting supplies outside of town!"

 _Right. I sent them on that somewhat bogus mission so that they wouldn't destroy everything… maybe I can send her on one, too…._

"How about you go downstairs by the baby shower board, read up on everything planned and happening so far, and after I finish my breakfast I'll come down and tell you what your job is."

"Thank you! Juvia won't let you down! I'll prove to Gray that I'm great with babies!" She said with hearts in her eyes, and then skipped away happily.

"Something about her makes me want to rip her stupid little head off." Claire grumbled, and Bickslow looked at her, surprised by the hostility. He knew that she wasn't a morning person, but damn, that look in her eye made him wonder if she would actually do it.

"She's not as bad as Natsu's team, and somehow you actually like them." Laxus commented, digging into his breakfast. It had become ritual for the team nowadays to meet in the Guild Hall for breakfast, eat their food, and then go about their daily activities.

"Why not give her the decorations job? You said that a 'mindless goldfish with hands' could do it." Fried asked.

"A mindless goldfish wouldn't destroy the entire building, decorations at all, at the drop of a hat. Why do you think I sent Natsu's team halfway across the country for supplies?"

"Good thinking." Bickslow mumbled between bites.

"If I do choose to have someone help me, they'll need to be calmer and more stable; and not likely to draw little penises on everything." She said, looking pointedly at Evergreen and Bickslow. "Laxus, any interest in cutting out stuff for a few hours?"

"After weight lifting, sure." He muttered, and she grinned.

"What are you going to make Juvia do, though?" Evergreen asked, and the grin disappeared.

"Any suggestions? Something for a baby shower that would be cool but not essential, so that if she messes up, no harm done? Preferably something that requires going out of town?"

"What did you make Team Natsu do?"

"I gave them a list of stuff to buy and told them to be back by Tuesday…. Maybe I can have her make snacks for the people that are doing the actual work. That's pretty hard to fuck up, right?" Claire asked her team, and they shrugged.

"Sounds easy enough."

 _ **2 hours later…**_

"What do you mean Juvia gave everyone food poisoning?!" Claire exclaimed, eyes wide at the implications. "All she had to do was hand out crackers and lemonade! She didn't even need to cook anything!"

"She baked cookies…" Droy informed her, and clasped his hand over his mouth before running to the nearest trashcan and puking his guts.

The fire woman watched as one by one, everyone in the mess hall made a dash for the bathrooms. "This cannot be happening…" She muttered, running her hands through her hair at the sight before her. _This is not supposed to be so difficult. Please don't tell me she gave those cookies to the_ _ **entire**_ _guild._

8.

Everyone in Levy's apartments were busy working on getting everything ready….

Except for Gajeel.

The dragonslayer sat pouting, legs criss-crossed beneath him, and cheek pushed up from his hand holding his head. Fried had gotten so frustrated that he created a 3'x3' enchantment to keep him in the corner of the room, and it disabled his magic so that he wouldn't cause any more damage. Consequently, Gajeel sat their bored for close to an hour, watching everyone else work.

That is, until Claire showed up with pieces of her outfit burned in places and looking like she was about to murder someone.

"Do you have anyone to spare? Anyone that's not doing anything and can help me at the Guild Hall?"

"I thought you had too many people helping?" Fried asked curiously.

"Juvia gave the entire guild food poisoning. People are throwing up left and right, luckily most of them in extra trashcans I found in a storage room, and everyone helping me prepare for the shower is sick. Some of them even puked on what they were working on, so I need to replace those supplies and redo them."

"Didn't she just need to pass out crackers and lemonade? How did that-?" Bickslow asked, stopping in the middle of the room with large stacks of books in his arms.

"She baked cookies, apparently. Which were evidently just as delicious coming out as they were coming in."

"Way too much information." He said with a shudder.

"We can all take a break from this for a few hours; we're ahead of schedule, so it works out." Fried told her, and she sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Fried."

9.

"Juvia's crying in a janitor's closet."

"Good. It means she's not messing anything else up."

"She's been in there all day. Maybe since yesterday." Gajeel told her. In the past 24 hours, they had managed to recover from most of the damage that had been caused, but it had been a major headache. Almost everyone was home resting and recovering, so Claire had to get creative in how she picked up the extra slack.

"Not my problem." Claire said mid cutting, having finally gotten around to doing the stupid decorations. Gajeel was helping her.

"I know she messed up, but… it's not like she meant to. She was just helping out."

"Is she crying because she feels bad about making people sick, or because she's afraid of Gray not liking her?" She asked. The purring from the previous days had stopped, but she'd continued listening to the music. It reigned in her temper and stress, surprisingly.

"Probably both."

The paper shapes in her hands combusted into flames, and Claire cursed.

"You could at least tell her to go home. It can't be comfortable in there."

"It can't be comfortable sitting at home puking your guts out, either."

"Everyone messes up at one point or another. We've already fixed most of the damage, everything is back on track, and everything will be done by the time the stupid baby shower happens."

"If you're so worried about her, you go talk to her. Aren't you two friends or something?" She snapped. The iron mage, set the scissors and papers down, and left the table, presumably to go do so.

 _ **1 hour later…**_

She didn't want to be in the same building as her, and yet somehow, she was in a broom closet with the crying water mage.

Juvia was, almost literally, a crying puddle of pathetic teenage angst. Claire honestly didn't know how old she was, but just by her behavior, guessed in her mid teens. Gajeel's attempt to make her stop crying had failed, along with several other attempts by various mages, and after their insistent nagging the fire mage was finally forced into the small space with the door closing behind her. _Stupid Laxus…._

"Would you stop crying?"

"Juvia is so sorry!" She screamed, causing the fire woman to jump back in alarm and bump into some brooms. The water mage's crying worsened.

"You fucked up; it's not the end of the world."

"Juvia will never be a good mother!"

"Then let your future husband do all the cooking. It's what I do with Bickslow."

"Gray will never love me if I can't cook something as simple cookies!"

"How do you know that?" Claire asked, and the crying woman stopped for a moment, looking up at her with red and tear-filled eyes. Her cheeks were puffy and raw from her crying, lower lip quivering, and little sobbing sounds came from her shaking body. "I mean, I can't cook for shit, but I've been dating a guy for almost a year."

"Everyone at the guild p-probably h-h-hates m-m-me now. You h-h-hate m-m-me." She stuttered, voice cracking and tears starting again. "Once G-Gray h-h-hears…"

"Compared to you stalking him all the time, that's nothing. He'll probably just laugh it off. Now can you stop crying and go the fuck home?"

She started wailing again at the top of her lungs.

"Geez, you're just like my goddamn sister. A selfish little brat." She spat, and at those words, Juvia looked up at her. "My sister was so obsessed over finding her 'soul mate' that it got our parents and nieces killed, my other sister so insane that she kills people for a living, and two of my brothers bat shit crazy. All because she was a selfish little brat like you that thought about nothing except a stupid boy. Newsflash: people will like you more, especially your love interests, if you actually do things for other people to help them." And there it was: the real reason that Juvia pissed her off. It had nothing to do with her, she just reminded her so much of her sister, right down to their magic that was so eerily similar.

Juvia blinked up at her, suddenly completely still, and then smiled.

"What the hell are you smiling about? I just called you a selfish brat." Despite knowing that her anger at the blue-haired mage was simply redirected rage at her own sister, it didn't stop the fact that she annoyed the hell out of her. Not to mention she had poisoned the entire guild and caused her a ton of extra stress.

"You said I'm like your sister." She laughed. _Is that all that she got from that?_

"So?"

"Juvia has never had a sister… Juvia has always been alone." She spoke, still smiling up at her from the floor. The puddle of water she had previous created was now reforming into her legs again, which were bent at either side of her.

"Comparing you to my sister isn't a compliment." Claire said, watching annoyed as the blue-haired mage stared off into space with that stupid grin on her face, muttering 'sister' and 'love'. Her daydreaming nonsense about Gray was funny to watch in the anime; being on the receiving end was creepy.

"Juvia's sister!" Juvia yelled as she launched forward, wrapping her arms around her and crying about how awesome it was to have an older sister.

"I'm not your sister. Go home." Claire said with a deadpan expression, and started heating up her skin to burn the woman. "How- hare are you not burning up right now?"

"Juvia can turn into water, so it doesn't bother her!"

Claire's eye twitched.

"I love you, sister!"

"… you know, I was thinking of asking Gray out. Do you know if he's seeing anyone?"

"WHAT!? LOVE RIVAL!" In the blink of an eye, the water mage turned from hugging her 'big sister' to turning into a massive vortex of water that caused the door to flood open. The surrounding people that had been eavesdropping were caught up in the current, and her blinding rage knocked over at least another half dozen people.

10.

The baby shower finally happened.

Live music, entire Guild Hall full of people, plenty of food, 'baby shower games' happening in various spot in the building, and in the center of it all was Levy, who was glowing. She was smiling, laughing, having fun, and all of their friends were there to support her.

Her due date was January 20th, exactly two months from now. They would have done the baby shower a little later, but since the S-Class trials were coming up, the Guild Master requested it be done before then. Getting it done beforehand would allow the people competing to not worry about it.

There was a sign on the front door telling people about the shower, along with where 'Fairy Tail guild matters' would be dealt with. Otherwise the mess hall was closed to the general public and uninvited guests.

Levy's family was there, and the Thunder Legion was having a ball meeting Fried's parents. They were kind of parents that loved sharing embarrassing stories about their children, so Bickslow and Evergreen got enough blackmail for a lifetime.

While Claire would occasionally eavesdrop on her team's conversations, she spent most of her time running around the mess hall making sure everything was going okay: checking in with guests, making sure people were doing their jobs, making sure Levy was happy, etc. Evergreen had chosen her outfit for the event: a skin tight lavender dress that reached her knees, plus a pair of white heels. A light blue flower was in her hair, along with beautiful light blue and purple flower themed jewelry. The pastel colors fit the theme for the party, and every person she talked to gawked at her when she tried to talk to them about one thing or another; again, so long as they weren't yelling or getting in her way, she didn't really care.

"Claire?" Someone spoke, and immediately the woman turned, surprised yet happy at the surprise guest.

"Goldmine, I don't remember seeing you on the guest list. How have you been?" She smiled politely, and stepped forward to give him a hug. For such a 'wild' guy, and Guild Master of the 'wildest' guild in Fiore, he was a total sweet heart. When she was in debt he had let her do missions with her brother (which involved being a temporary mage of his guild), and periodically would check up on her to see if she was okay between those jobs. After the harpooning incident he visited and checked up on her during the initial recovery stages, bringing her the occasional cards and snacks.

"I've been good. I don't think I've ever seen you in a dress before." He said, pulling away and taking a good look at her.

"My teammate convinced me to wear it."

"You look beautiful in it."

"Thank you. You look really nice, too. Did Makarov invite you?" She complimented, commenting on the fact that he was wearing a black suit and red tie. His usual collar and hat were missing, but he still wore the same sunglasses as always.

"At the last minute, yes. I was about to go home after a lunch date when I walked into him on the street."

"A date, huh? How'd it go?" She asked, but he shrugged.

"Eh. She said I was 'too wild' for her." He said, and she chuckled. She doubted that was the real reason or what really happened, but she wasn't going to push it. "Where's your boyfriend? I'm surprised he's not with you."

"He's around. I'm in charge of this event, so I have to run around a lot, and he didn't want to run around with me."

"Don't get any ideas, though!" A small voice spoke, emerging from behind her. The blond looked at the flying object for a second, and then at the second one that emerged from behind her.

"Goldmine, meet Riley and Pappa." She introduced with a laugh.

"Uh… hello? It's nice to meet you both." He said with an even louder laugh. "I remember seeing both of these guys at the tournament. That was an impressive match between you two; too bad no one could see it."

"Bickslow's a lot more fun to watch in battle when he has an environment to use to his advantage. I wouldn't stand a chance in almost any other setting."

"I somehow doubt that; if you were able to survive months of working with Bacchus, you can survive pretty much anything." He spoke, and at the mention of her brother, there was an awkward silence. "I heard that you're going to be the next S-Class mage."

"Laxus seems to think so." She chuckled. "My arm has healed since the tournament, so we're going to start training again tomorrow."

"So he's actually been training you, huh?" He asked, and she nodded. "You're pretty lucky to have two S-Ranked mages for brothers."

"So I've been told…. How is Bacchus?" She finally asked. Ever since she saw him last she'd been theorizing hundreds of scenarios of his situation, but ultimately, she'd always come full circle. Being part of her brother's life at this point in time wouldn't help him, or her for that matter, but she still cared about him.

"He…" Pausing, he glanced around the happy room. Thinking about how to answer the question and simultaneously thinking that the mess hall looked great, he eventually turned back to her, knowing by that look in her eye that he had to be careful with his words. "We had an intervention for him. Tied him to a chair, drained his magic, and confronted him about his actions and his drinking."

"He didn't understand, did he?"

"No… he didn't. He doesn't understand a lot of things." He said softly, noticing in the corner of his eye that she was fidgeting with something in her hands. "He's still tied up at my guild hall right now, and we haven't officially decided what to do with him. For now we're just trying to wean him off of alcohol."

"Is that because of what he did to me, or-?"

"No, this was a long time coming. Partially because of you, yes, but it's hardly the first time he's put people in unnecessary danger. Attacking you was just the tipping point. If he keeps going the way he is, he's going to end up in prison; or worse."

"Thank you for taking care of my brother. If you need anything, or he needs anything, let me know."

"I honestly don't think you can do anything for him at this point, but thanks; just mentioning your name or Laxus's will set him off. Hopefully getting sober for a while will make him think clearer, and we can get through to him. Bacchus has been a dear friend of mine for over 10 years, and I won't give up on him without a fight." Goldmine explained, and the pair exchanged a sad smile. "If you need anything, let me know. You should visit the guild hall sometime; everyone at Quatro Cerberus misses you."

"I miss them, too. It's been a long time." She said, and her attention went elsewhere when she heard something break. "Gotta run, it was nice seeing you, and free drinks at the bar." She said hurriedly, pulling him in for a hug and then walking quickly away. As he looked in the direction she was heading, he saw Natsu and Gray looking absolutely terrified and running away from her at top speed.

"Damn, that woman can move in heels." He commented, his eyes moving to her swaying hips, and slightly lower. "Damn." He whistled. One of the totems from earlier appeared in front of his face, and he stepped back in surprise.

"What ya looking at?" Pappa asked.

"I, uh, nothing."

"Good. Bickslow has been looking for new souls to add to his collection." The little soul told him, and then flew off, leaving a startled and slightly paranoid guild master to his own thoughts. When he looked in a completely random direction, he jumped in alarm when he realized the seith mage was staring in his direction. Bickslow stared at him for a moment, took a sip of his drink, and then slowly turned his head back to Fried's parents.

"You got caught staring at her butt too, huh?" Makarov snickered near the guild master, a mug of beer in his hand. He was sitting on a wooden table edge in suit and tie, to the side of the mess hall, and had been overseeing the event.

"Maybe." Goldmine grinned, walking over to the old man. "She always wore such baggy clothing before now, especially when we first met. I thought she was a guy when Bacchus first introduced us."

"Don't tell _her_ that. Laxus has been training her, and she's a hell storm when she wants to be. Just like her brother- _both_ of her brothers." He corrected.

"She mentioned that." He laughed, taking a seat next to him. "I thought baby showers were a girl thing? Why is it mixed?" He asked, suddenly realizing what felt so off about this. The few baby showers he had attended were because a girlfriend dragged him to it, and 90% of them were girls, or it was mostly girls because the men would get bored and barbeque outside.

"So many men wanted to be a part of it, she suggested that we make it a 'Fairy Tail baby shower'; basically, a few hours of gift giving and baby games, and then directly afterwards a typical party with drinking to celebrate Levy's baby. She figured it would encourage more gifts and emotional support for Levy, which I wholeheartedly agree."

"So who's the father?"

"Gajeel Redfox."

"Gajeel? The dragonslayer?"

"Yep."

"Are they getting married?"

"Nope."

"… huh."

"Gajeel is evidently gay as a mandarin."

"… and he got a girl pregnant."

"It only takes one time." Makarov said as he took a drunk, and the fellow guild master nodded.

"That it does… that it does."

Across the hall, Evergreen hit Elfman's arm with her fan for the umpteenth time. "Stop looking!" Dressed in a similar styled dress to Claire's, although slightly more poofy with frills, she had been watching the take over mage's gaze when her teammate moved.

"Damn it, woman, I wasn't looking at anything!" He yelled back, a light blush on his cheeks.

"Take it easy, Evergreen. He is a _man_ , after all." Guildarts spoke up, having passed by when he noticed their spat. Just like the others he was in a suit and tie, although his tie was extremely loose around his neck and he had a fresh glass of whiskey in his hand. The bar was only allowing one drink an hour for each person, until 5 PM that is, and he was nursing his second in the past hour and a half.

"Not you, too. You both are perverts." She huffed, crossing her arms.

"Have you seen that ass?" Kana asked, walking up to them. "I'm straight, and I would totally tap that."

"What are you guys talking about?" Bickslow asked casually as he approached him, hands shoved in his pockets and one of his souls floating behind him. He tried to come off as casual, but also intimidating because he knew what they'd been talking about, and he'd somewhat succeeded. Without his visor he was extra frightening, tattooed face and bright blue tri-hawk brushed back, not to mention his wandering souls flying about.

"Your girlfriend's ass." Kana stated, and took a swig from the bottle of wine in her hand. Bickslow glared.

"My daughter's not wrong." Guildarts shrugged.

"Can't you guys at least _act_ like you're not perverts? Do I even need to point out how creepy it is that you both are creeping on my girlfriend?"

"We just think that your girlfriend has nice asstributes." Kana stated, and took another drink.

"How'd you sneak that in?" Guildarts asked.

"This isn't the first time I've been told not to drink at the guild hall. I have my ways."

Evergreen hit Elfman's arm again. "Stop staring!"

"It's not like she's got a ring on her finger. She's fair game, Elfman, go ask her out." Kana stated, receiving another glare from Bickslow and Evergreen.

"She's not fair game." Bickslow grit through his teeth, knowing that she was just messing with him, but pissed off nonetheless. _I'm going to kill Evergreen for making her wear that dress today._

"Dude, loosen up! It's a party!" Guildarts said with a grin, and walked around to sling an arm around his shoulders. "Here, if it'll make you feel better, have the rest of my drink!"

"No thanks."

"Why haven't you proposed yet, huh? What the hell are you waiting for? If you keep her waiting, she might find someone else who will."

"If it wasn't for this stupid party she wo-" Bickslow stopped himself midsentence, realizing that he'd accidentally said too much. He quickly grabbed the drink he'd been offered and walked off, chugging it while the group stared at him with excited expressions.

"Did he just-?" Evergreen asked, blinking at the form retreating from them. When she turned to Elfman to have him confirm when she'd heard, she smacked him in the arm again. "ELFMAN!"

In the middle of the mess hall, Levy laughed joyously with Lucy. Claire walked over to them, checking on how they were doing. "Hey girls, how's it going? Everything good? Pregnant lady happy?" She asked with a grin.

"We're doing great. All of this is great." Levy told her, beginning to tear up. "Thank you." She squeaked, and pulled out one of the tissues from her purse. "Darn hormones."

"You're very welcome, I'm glad that you're enjoying it. Are you ready for presents soon?"

The word mage nodded, and Claire leaned in to give her a hug. "You and Lucy get to your places, and I'll start letting people know that we're starting. You're doing awesome, Levy." Once she pulled away, Lucy swooped in and guided the very pregnant Levy over to the designated 'unwapping presents' table. Summoning Riley, Claire turned, smiling to the floating soul. "Riley, go tell Bickslow to have our babies spread word that we're opening presents and to gather."

"Yes, ma'am!" The little soul said, and zoomed across the room to her boyfriend, who had been leaning bored against a banister. Before the baby shower, Bickslow and his nephew Michael had spent time together making outfits for their babies, so that they didn't scare the guests. People knowing what they were would be intimidated no matter what they looked like, but with the fake flowers, sparkles, and cut fabric, they looked more like a child's creation. Which, they kind of were.

With her babies beginning to spread the word, she looked around the room, seeing if there was anything else immediate the she needed to tend to.

Natsu's cackling met her ears, and she knew that the fire mage was trying to cause some kind of havoc. The little pyro was an attention whore, if she ever saw one.

"Bow down, puny mortals! Hahahaha!" The dragonslayer laughed from the second floor, wearing an assortment of baby clothes on his body. People looked up at him with a mix of horror and disbelief, and Claire quickly made her way over to him. He was holding a wrapped present in his hands above his head, still cackling, when Claire summoned Riley.

"Natsu, what do you think you're doing?" The dragon mage asked, hands on her hips as she contemplated the best way to go about it. He ignored her, continuing to cackle at the top of his lungs causing a scene, while Riley came up behind him. Using her fire magic, she tried something she hadn't done before, which was using Riley's flames to catch him on fire. When her flames were effectively on him, she burned enough of his magic to knock him out. Riley knocked the box in his hands towards her, and she caught it from the floor below. "Can someone go get the baby clothes that Natsu was wearing?" She asked, looking around.

"I will!" Several boys exclaimed at once, running up the stairs to the unconscious dragonslayer. With her mind still racing about the various things planned for the rest of the evening, she took the box she had caught and returned it to the massive pile of presents. _Is it 5 yet?_ She thought to herself, sighed, and checked to see of the crowd was forming around Levy yet.

The gift opening, which was the main 'event' of the day, went smoothly. Pretty much everyone got what was on the (several) lists she'd made of things to get Levy, plus a few extra random ones, and everyone had no doubt that the kid would be spoiled rotten. Fairy Tail truly was a big family, and they would make sure that Levy's child got what he or she needed.

When 5 o'clock rolled around, everyone was ready to party. Laxus and Erza volunteered to take the presents back to the girls dormitory so that they wouldn't get broken in the chaos. Which, it's Fairy Tail- of course they would have gotten broken.

"It's 5 PM guys, you know what that means." Claire announced to the group, gaining everyone's attention. "Time for the real party! Open bar tonight, in honor of Levy becoming a mom!" A round of cheers erupted from the entire building, and the blue-haired girl started crying in happiness again, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm so glad you guys were here, thank you for-" Levy spoke, only to be cut off by an all too familiar scream in the distance.

"WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES!?" Natsu yelled from the second floor, just now waking up; when he stood, the entire guild hall got a view of everything he offered, having looked in surprise by the announcement. Hysterical laughter commenced at the nude dragonslayer. It was hardly the first time he had lost his clothes in the mess hall before, and the man didn't fail to blush and try to cover himself with his hands. "Seriously, who took my clothes!?"

"I told you guys to take the baby clothes off of him, not his actual clothes." Claire spoke loudly, and a few guys in the group blushed as they awkwardly scratched the back of their heads.

Rounds of drinks started getting passed around the mess hall, ties thrown off in unrestrained freedom, and heels taken off from sore feet. Arm wrestling matches, small fighting matches, and lots of mingling took place.

"You did a great job, babe." Bickslow said, arm around his girlfriend's waist as he leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"It would have been better with my decorations." Evergreen muttered as she took a sip of her drink.

"When it's your baby shower, you can use whatever the hell decorations you want." Claire told her with a smile, her arm around Bickslow's waist as well.

"Thank you so much for doing this," Fried spoke as he approached her, and pulled her in for a hug. Since her arm was still around Bickslow, she could only reciprocate it with one arm, but it was enough to the message across. "And not letting Evergreen take charge." He added in a whisper.

"No problem, it was my pleasure. It was actually kind of fun… when Juvia wasn't involved, at least." She said with a smile, and let go of the green-haired mage.

"Oh, not again," He said with a blush, and ran off in a random direction.

"I love his parents." Bickslow snickered. Claire took a sip of her Champaign, looking around the room to make sure everything was going okay. She was technically off the clock by this point, but it had become habit.

"Great party." Gajeel said as he approached them. He was one of those people that could and would never be able to pull off anything remotely classy or formal, but it didn't keep him from trying. The tie was still taught around his neck, hair brushed back, and his piercings looked recently polished.

"Thanks. I thought your gift was pretty cool." She said, and the man grunted, looking away. His gifts one of the few actually opened, since there were too many to open that day, and it was by far the least popular. It was a rather beautiful and intricate toy car, but alas, it had so much iron and non-baby friendly features that it got a lot of criticism.

"Thanks." He muttered, and took a sip of his drink. "Nice outfit."

"Thanks, Evergreen loaned it to me. She dressed me today." She said with a smile, and Evergreen laughed awkwardly. "She has good taste in fashion; I've been getting compliments all day."

"Good job." Gajeel nodded to Evergreen.

"I thought you were gay?" Bickslow asked him.

"No one's too gay to compliment an outfit." He replied with a knowing smirk, and the seith mage glared.

"Are you looking forward to being a dad?" Claire asked, sensing the tension between them; and she wasn't a complete idiot, she knew what they were actually talking about.

"'Terrified' might be a better word."

"Hey! Gajeel!" A drunken Jet yelled as he made his way to them. The iron mage grunted in annoyance and walked off.

"FIIIIIRE SHOOOOOOTS!" Natsu yelled at the top of his lungs by the bar, holding up a shot and then drinking it. There were several fire shots by the bar, a clear challenge to the dragon mage on the other side of the room.

"Didn't we ban those?" Bickslow asked.

"I did coordinate this entire event." Claire said with a wink, and then slipped out of his arms, walking over to the grinning mage by the bar. He was clad in just his boxers and scarf, evidently unable to find his other clothing after he'd been stripped of them. A mix of excited calls and groans rang out through the guild hall.

This would be a fun night.

Her boyfriend groaned, knowing that someone was going to end up on fire by the end of the night, and followed after her. Once they made it to the bar he took a seat a few stools away, watching the excited smirk appear on Natsu's face. Claire grabbed a lit shot glass and clinked it with his, and they both drank the hot liquid. The fire woman burped fire into the air, her fire magic erupting into the air like a volcano, forming the shape of the Fairy Tail emblem before disappearing.

A round of cheers rang out in the guild hall, various colored shots making their way through the mess hall.

After about the tenth shot, Natsu got distracted and started dancing on one of the tables. Claire laughed, stumbled a little in her 4 inch heels (5 if you include the toe), but easily steadied herself. When guys walked over and started talking to her, Bickslow took it as his cue to finally intervene. He'd been watching her chat with everyone at the party all day, even when they openly gawked or flirted, and he'd been able to do nothing but stand around and watch.

He came up behind her, slipping his hands on the beautiful curve of her waist and wrap around her, pulling her against him. "Hello girlfriend. How'd the fire taste?" He asked his girlfriend, smirking at the guys. They took the hint and left. _That felt so good. My girlfriend's hot and none of you assholes are taking her home._ He thought cockily, ready to fend off any other guy that came her way. _This is kind of fun, actually._

"It was awesome." She said, and then reached over to the counter, grabbing another. Bickslow chuckled, keeping his arms around her as she drank the shot, and kissed the side of her head.

"Be careful, you don't want to get hammered too quickly." He spoke in her ear. "I don't want to see you dancing on tables, like Natsu."

"Why not?" Claire asked, shifting in his arms to see his face. She was grinning from ear to ear, and he couldn't help but smile. He leaned back down to her ear.

"Because you're wearing a very sexy dress, and I don't want anyone seeing what I'll be pounding into tonight." He whispered low, and leaned back to see the deep blush spread across her cheeks. "You can dance for me when we're alone if you want to, though." He added, letting his tongue hang out.

"You're jealous that people have been looking at my butt." She giggled, and he smiled as she squirmed in his arms, keeping her upright.

"Damn straight. Now come on, let's get back over to Evergreen, she looks lonely." He told her, and started guiding her back to their teammate.

11.

Gajeel waited outside the Guild Hall, leaning against the wall, and blending with the shadows. It took over half an hour for the blond to get back from the girls dormitory, and when he finally did, Erza was dressed in a new outfit and speedily walking ahead into the mess hall.

"Laxus."

He froze, his entire body stiffening at the sound of his voice.

"Can you please talk to me?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"That's not true, and you know it." Gajeel scoffed, and stepped out of the shadows. The lightning mage stared ahead at the closing doors, tense, and debating whether to leave. His breathing was becoming labored despite his best efforts, and even though he willed his feet to move forward, they remained glued to the spot. Even when Gajeel got closer to him, reaching out his hand, and ever so slightly brushed the skin of his wrist with his fingertips. Their magic reacted, as it always did, and Laxus shut his eyes.

"Go."

"No."

His feet finally found the power to move as the door opened, and he strode forward past the stumbling drunk mages. Gajeel followed hot on his heel, the sounds of laughter and smell of beer assaulting their senses upon entrance. By the bar Laxus saw his sister, so he instantly made his way towards her.

Gajeel wouldn't give up that easily.

"Laxus," He spoke, following him through the crowd and tables filling the mainfloor of the mess hall. "Laxus," He spoke more urgently, and if they weren't in front of people, he would grab his hand to forcefully turn him around. Neither of them wanted their relationship to be public, but Laxus was being difficult, and as always the younger mage had to do the chasing.

"Claire, how's it going?" The lightning mage asked as he halted to a stop, and the pursuing mage almost bumped into him. Claire was obviously intoxicated, as she giggled nonsensically for several seconds while holding Bickslow's hand.

"It's going awesome. I just did fire shots with Natsu."

"Didn't we ban those?" Laxus asked Bickslow.

"She coordinated the party, sooo…" He explained with a shrug.

"You okay bro? You seem a little pale." Claire asked, stumbling over her feet and leaning against her boyfriend's arm.

"Yeah, I just got back with Erza." The blond said, but he saw his sister's gaze move to Gajeel inquisitively, and then raised her eyebrows as her eyes moved back to him. Even in her state she could figure it out. If his drunk sister could figure out there was something going on with him and Gajeel, he couldn't let the iron mage follow him around the busy mess hall. "I'm going to go get a drink. Want to come, Gajeel?"

"Sure." He said immediately, and then both of them walked off together in a hurry.

"… what was that about?" The seith mage asked, confused. He didn't dwell on it for long, when he realized that somehow Claire had wandered off.

Laxus couldn't think straight. Everything was blurring together as he made his way to the hallway to the side of the bar, and then down the mostly empty hallway, dragonslayer on his heels. When they reached the door to a meeting room, Laxus stopped, looked up and down the hallway, and then opened the door.

Gajeel flipped on the light switch, revealing the bare and simple room. A single long table was in the center with several chairs lining it, and then another smaller table to the side, and a white board on one of the walls.

"I didn't mean to lie, okay? I know it was stupid, I know that I shouldn't have done it, and-" Gajeel had tried to speak as fast as he could, knowing the lightning mage could stop him at any moment with his fist.

Laxus stopped him, but it wasn't with his fist. His mouth planted firmly on Gajeel's lips, hand gripping his long hair, and he stepped forward to push him into the door. Keeping his lips on his and licking those sweet lips for entrance, his leg went between the younger mage's legs to spread them slightly apart, and with his free hand he locked the door.

12.

A little after midnight, Bickslow and Claire finally made it back to their apartment.

"Shit," He cursed, not for the first time as the sexy girl in his arms pulled him down for a kiss, and pressed her hips to his in a moan worthy motion. The flower in her hair had fallen off sometime in the night, and her hands had found a comfortable place on his tie, the action both further arousing and a little annoying at the same time.

His hands rarely left her perfectly firm ass, just like his eyes for a good portion of the evening, and he massaged the fabric covered flesh while his tongue massaged her mouth.

When her hands moved to her back, to unzip her dress, he grabbed her wrists to prevent her from doing so. "Not just yet." He whispered into her parted lips, and when she tried to lean forward again to the kiss again, he smirked. "Eager, are we?"

"You should wear a suit more often." She whispered , her lust-filled eyes glancing down and then back into his green eyes. Her hands moved to his sides, moving up and down the fabric beneath his blazer, fingers pensively feeling the muscles beneath.

"Let's move this to the bedroom, Checkers." Bickslow spoke, and licked at her lower lip. He gently nudged her towards the bedroom, pausing when she stopped to take her heels off, and then they continued to their destination. Claire sat down on the middle of the bed and looked up at him with her wide blue eyes, watching his every movement. He closed the door and stepped closer to her, crawled onto the bed and gently pushed her back with a soft kiss, hand on the back of her neck to keep her from falling too quickly.

When her back hit the mattress, he leaned back and sat on her knees. His hands moved along the curves of her body, his eyes exploring the expanse of lavender fabric that had hugged the parts of her body so well, his pants becoming increasingly uncomfortable as he did so. He'd been wanting to do this all night, waiting for this opportunity, and now he was taking all the time he needed to fully appreciate her pristine, curvaceous body.

"So you liked the dress?" She asked with a smirk, and his eyes never left the pathway along her body.

"Oh, yes. So did everyone else at the party."

"The only opinion I cared about was the man's in this room." She said, and he chuckled.

"Good."

"Can I take this dress off yet?"

"Nope. Can you turn over?" He asked, looking back up at her face.

"You've been staring at my butt all day in this dress. Haven't you gotten enough of an eyeful?"

"It's one thing to look," He spoke, and one of his hands reached beneath her hitched skirt, gently stroking the soft flesh of her thigh. "It's another to touch. Now if you would please?" He asked, and after a few seconds more of gentle caresses, she finally gave in and flipped over. "Thaaaaank yooou~" He sang happily.

Even though he loved her boobs, it was the back that he loved the most.

His hands roamed up and down her back, massaging in some places and simple caresses in others, and of course extra attention to those two perfect mounds of lovely cheeks. He loved the soft fabric, the feel of her muscled flesh beneath, and everything else he could never form into words.

Knowing she was getting bored from just laying there, he finally placed kisses along the base of her spine and made his way up, eventually biting the zipper between his teeth, and pulled down. He exhaled as he did so, allowing his warm breath to warm the expanse of her skin, and felt her shudder under him. He'd only gotten halfway down when he was unexpectedly flipped, the gracefulness of it displaying all the hours upon hours of fighting practice, and he blinked up at the woman now sitting on him. Sometime in the process she'd hitched the skirt even higher, so that she could straddle his waist without damaging the fabric.

Her fingers fanned as they moved up his chest, eyes watching hungrily as they moved up and down his torso. The way she looked at him, starving for the flesh beneath- it caused a small shudder of anticipation of his own.

She rubbed her sex against his straining member, and he moaned, closing his eyes at the sensation. So few layers between that particular anatomy….

"Should we keep our clothes on?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "Although, so long as you fulfill your 'banging' promise, I'm not too picky." As she spoke, she had leaned down to his stomach, and then placed a small kiss on his hip. He looked down at her, so close to his pulsing erection, and she batted her eyelashes at him cutely; but then she placed a small kiss on the fabric covering his penis, and he was done simply looking.

Hand reaching up to her neck, Bickslow gently pulled her back up to his lips, and flipped them back to their original position. "Doggy style?" He asked, his hands moving up and down her sides again. Without another word she turned, getting on her hands and knees, and then onto her elbows. Just the sight almost made him cream himself; it took a lot of restraint to hold back, knowing that there was still more to come.

Her ass in the air, skirt already hitched most of the way, and her black shorts were soft to the touch. He kissed one of her cheeks, his hands gliding from the base of her knees to her hips, and then to pull the skirt even further out of his way; and then pulled her shorts down. She was dripping wet, and the sight sent another excited pulse to his member.

After getting the shorts off of her, he gave her clit a tentative lick. She made a small sound, both in surprise and delight, and he could feel the heat she was giving off.

His tongue found its way back to her folds, and she moaned his name as he lapped up the wonderful juices she'd created. Once he got a few more licks in, he reached down to his own pants and unzipped himself, glad to finally let it spring free. Getting on his knees, he aligned himself to her entrance, teasing the entrance with his head.

"Fuck me, Bickslow." She panted.

He sunk himself inside her, ceasing the teasing and filling himself to the hilt inside her, and both of them groaned at the pleasant sensation.

"Bickslow," She moaned.

"I'm going to fuck you til you cum, and then I'm going to fill you with everything I've got." He grunted in a half moan, pulling out and then ramming himself back in again, hitting that spot that she loved. _So warm,_ he thought as he started a rhythm with his thrusts, and pulled on the neck of his tie, pulling it off. _She really does have nice asstributes._

"Is that all you've got?" She asked, referring to his speed.

"I'm working up to it."

"Uh-huh."

He didn't need to see her face to know she was smirking, and she was doing something he'd suggested she try in bed; challenge him to work harder. Something about trying to please his partner and making it a challenge made it much more interesting and fulfilling; too bad she didn't know that he was on the verge as it is, and any faster would send him tumbling over the edge into bliss. "You want harder?"

"Hard as diamonds."

"Faster?"

"Oh, yes. Am I having sex with a turtle right now?" Claire asked, and gasped when he rammed himself as hard as he could inside her.

"Diamonds and a rabbit, at your service." He told her; she didn't understand quite what he meant, but she felt it, and that was good enough.

Grabbing her hips, he started pumping in and out as fast and hard as he could, and when he felt her climax tighten around his cock he threw his head back in his own orgasm, continuing a few more humps as he rode the wave of his cum spurting inside of her.

They stayed still for a moment, catching their breaths, and still inside of her. "Diamonds and a rabbit?" She asked after a while, still breathing hard.

"You said… hard as diamonds… and then the turtle… cuz… tortoise… and the hare…"

"So you really liked the dress, huh?"

"Duh."


	29. Chapter 29

**Thank you guys for the wonderful reviews, faves, and follows! 3**

 **Walking Cliché 29**

 _What is Love?_

Gajeel watched the Thunder Legion from his usual spot on the main floor.

Bickslow was bickering with Evergreen. Claire was happily listening to her brother's music, purring still. Fried was reading. Laxus…

Laxus was just sitting there: staring off into space with a blank look on his face, and it was something he'd been doing a lot lately. He used to do that when he was tired, when he'd stayed up all night with Gajeel but had to show up on time to his team's activities anyway, but now he did it all the time. His team was confused and concerned, vocally asking if he was okay, and Gajeel suspected that Claire knew more than she let on, since she didn't ask as often. That, or she really was entranced by that music and didn't bother asking.

Getting glares and hated looks from people in his guild was normal, and just because they were more common, didn't mean that he couldn't handle it. He cared a little that some of his 'friends' would scoff or turn away when he tried to talk to them, but it was Laxus who was really hurting him.

It was tearing him apart.

Between the pregnancy and whatever the hell Laxus was doing, he felt like he was going to break soon. Levy was thankfully communicative with him, and between her emotional outbursts (which she apologized for all of them, even when she didn't need to) she was actually the most sane of anyone when it came to the child. She wanted him to be part of their baby's life, and more than anything, she didn't want to raise that child alone.

Every single time he tried to talk to Laxus, to tell him how he felt and for him to reciprocate, he'd fuck him instead. There were no words, no love or compassion like there used to be- just fucking.

It made him feel dirty, which for Gajeel was saying something. He'd done and seen his fair share of bad things in his life time, but this thing happening with Laxus was really making his skin crawl. The lightning mage was stronger than him, plain and simple, so when Laxus decided they were having sex, there wasn't much else he could do but go with it. If he didn't go along with it then the blond would start to leave, and Gajeel was so desperate that he'd do whatever it took to make him stay. Companionship was something he needed, because deep down, he hated being alone. Before Fairy Tail he'd spent years on his own, ditched by his own father into a world he'd been isolated from up until that point, and had been forced to try and make sense of it. He still doesn't understand it, but the one thing he knew was this: he couldn't go back to being alone.

Five times now. Once in the guild hall, two times in the park, once at his house, once in a bathroom stall at a restaurant. Wherever Gajeel cornered him alone, it didn't matter where, Laxus would pull him to a secluded spot and fuck. They'd almost gotten caught every time, but he didn't seem to care.

If the guild ever caught word of their relationship, it would be pure hell.

Pantherlily had eventually figured it out. He had suspected from the beginning, but hadn't said anything until he noticed just how tense Gajeel was getting. He offered some vague advice, but nothing particularly helpful to the iron mage.

He briefly wondered if this was how Levy felt when she first tried to tell him about her pregnancy. Frustrated, hurt, anxious… what did she do to fix that?

… she had Claire hold him down.

 _I wonder if…? No way… she's strong, but she's not strong enough to hold down Laxus. And besides, it's not the matter of him simply listening, it's the act of making him say something other than 'not here'._

One of the characteristics that drew Gajeel to the lightning mage was the fact that he was so strong. Quiet, stoic, strong, powerful…. Ironically, it might be what ultimately tears them apart.

 _Although, if anyone were to get through to the thick-skulled idiot, it would be his sister. She knows about their relationship, kind of approves their dating, and they've been getting close ever since the island thing; and she did say that she would help if she asked… even though she was talking about the baby thing… and it was at an ungodly hour in the morning…._

Before he could talk himself out of it, he finished off his drink and made his way to the Thunder Legion table, bypassing Tweedle-dipshit and Tweedle-dumb.

"Claire, can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked, bringing the young woman out of her blissful purring state to look up at him, doing that typical Laxus thing and quirking an eyebrow at him. They had the same eyes, which made it all the creepier.

"What about?"

"… baby stuff. I need your help on something."

"What do you need help with?" Evergreen asked with a small smile. "I'm pretty good with kids. Claire isn't the only one who knows how to deal with kids."

"It's… kind of embarrassing, and I don't want to trouble you guys with it. Can I talk to you alone?" He asked, looking back to Claire. He tried to put on his typical tough guy personae, with his gruff voice and slightly puffed out chest, hoping that they'd assume he was just being an awkward guy needing help with diapers or something. After spending so much time with Laxus in gay bars, he'd learned how to pull it off pretty well.

"Sorry dude, we don't like Claire getting separated from the group unless she has to be." Bickslow stated.

 _He can't still be upset over that stupid outfit comment, can he?_ "If you're worried about dark wizards, I've been the one catching all of them. If anything she's safer with me than you guys." Gajeel argued, and actually didn't exaggerate. Natsu had caught one of them, but for the most part, he'd been catching all of them. Since Levy was pregnant with his child, he'd been particularly vigilant of anything out of the ordinary.

"Come on, just tell us! At least give us a hint." Evergreen requested. "Promise not to laugh."

"I don't." Bickslow said with a smile.

"Alright, alright, let's go somewhere and talk about whatever baby problem you've got." Claire said with a smile as she got out of her seat, and stretched as she stood, yawning cutely.

"You're no fun." Bickslow accused her, watching as she walked off with the anxious looking iron mage. From behind his visor he narrowed his eyes. "He better not try anything."

"She can handle herself." Evergreen chuckled. "Jealous, much?"

"Well, if you didn't put her in a dress that made the entire guild stare at her ass all night, _including_ your boyfriend…"

Gajeel and Claire went out to a secluded section in the backyard of the guild hall. A few people in the field were training and sparring, but otherwise it was fairly empty, and they found a spot under an oak tree. "What's up?" She asked.

"Can you take those headphones off?" He asked, not looking at her. It was bad enough that her eyes and facial expressions were like Laxus, but those headphones completed the ensemble.

"I take it this is isn't about baby Gajeel?" She asked, and he grunted, continuing to look away until she took off the oddly shaped devices.

"You know him pretty well."

"Depends on the day." She shrugged. Ignoring the comment, he continued.

"What the hell is going on in that stupid little head of his?" He snapped, and when he looked back at her, felt the resurgence of all the pain he'd been feeling over the past few weeks. In the guild hall he'd managed to keep his emotions in check, but something about her made him want to spill his guts. "I mean, he won't say more than two fucking words, and then we fuck, and then he runs off without a word, and…" His hand combed through his unruly hair. "and then the baby is coming, and I don't know what to do, and Laxus…"

"Calm down, Gajeel. How about we sit down and you can explain everything to me?" She suggested, nodding her head to a nearby bench. Gajeel nodded, letting her guide him over to the small wooden structure, and wiped away the stray tears that had fallen. It didn't take much to get him talking, and before he knew it, he was spilling his worries, fears, and anxieties over the past few weeks. He went into detail- a little too much at times- and through it all, she sat and listened, nodding softly and occasionally touching his shoulder in support.

1.

"What the hell do you want?" Claire asked the blue-haired mage, glaring up at her.

"Juvia wanted her big sister to meet the love of her life!" She exclaimed with hearts in her eyes and clamoring to Gray's arm.

"Would you stop telling people that? And I've already met Claire." Gray said, trying to pry her off of his arm with little success.

"And I'm not your sister." Claire added, still glaring. Both Gray and Claire watched as the water mage stared off into space with a stupid grin on her face, muttering 'big sis' and 'Gray-samaaa!' with hearts in her eyes. "Stop doing that. They were creepy in the anime and I don't want to have any part of them."

"Anime?" Gray asked.

"Gray, you have to get the approval of my big sis, or we can never be together!" Juvia cried.

"I'm not your sister." Claire repeated.

"Say you disapprove, say you disapprove," Gray spoke quickly, his eyes wide and leaning closer to the checker woman.

"… I disapprove."

"Nooo! This means we have to be secret lovers, now!" Juvia squirmed, wiggling her butt as she kept her steal hard grip on the man.

"Do we have a sibling that I don't know about?" Laxus asked, an amused smile on his lips.

"When she was crying in the broom closet _you trapped me in_ , I compared her to our selfish, boy crazy sister, and somehow she got it in her head that she was our new little sister. Even though Carol was older."

Juvia gasped, looking at Laxus. She grinned.

"Big brother?"

"… you said she was like our assassin sister?" He asked, turning back to his actual sister.

"No, the one that could turn into water, was boy crazy, transported our entire family to this world and then ditched us to bone a dragon."

"Carol? I thought you liked her?" Bickslow asked.

"Before she got our parents and nieces killed, half our remaining family insane, and ditched us without so much as a second thought on an alien planet. Before all of that she was awesome. Gray, you realize that stripping in front of her is sending the wrong message, right?" She asked, noticing that the ice mage had taken his clothes off at some point while she was talking.

"Why does that keep happening!?" He exclaimed, and ran off after grabbing his shirt and pants, Juvia on his heels.

"You excited for the S-Class trials, Fried?" Claire asked, changing the subject. Still reading, he nodded, and flipped a page.

"Is it just me, or have more people been getting unusually attached to you lately?" Bickslow asked her, and she looked at him, making a small 'hmm?' sound. "I mean, Juvia, Natsu, Gajeel, Levy, our babies, and then half the guild has been drawn to you when you make that purring sound." As he said that, he glanced at the surrounding people at the nearby tables, who visibly tensed and tried to look like they weren't eavesdropping.

"It's pretty cool, huh?" She asked with a smirk, a deep chuckle mixing with her purring, which was returning to normal. "Either working with everyone on the baby shower made them suddenly like me, or this new purring thing causes people to lower their guard and be drawn to me. I'm pretty sure the dragonslayers, the one raised by dragons, are the most affected because of their parents. You'd be surprised at how easy it was to work with people when they calmed down at the sound."

"So you've been doing it on purpose?" Evergreen asked. "I mean, you've been purposely making the sound so that people like you?"

"Yes and no. I can only make the sound when I'm listening to music, and I would be stupid not to take advantage of it. To my knowledge there's no downside: I'm happy, they're happy, everyone is happy."

2.

"Gajeel is going to snap if you don't talk to him." Claire brought up during training. They were in the middle of crunches, and Laxus was holding her bent legs down as she did them over a hundred foot cliff.

"You really want to bring this up _now_?" He asked as she leaned back, far enough so that she could see the little tiny trees so far below, and then she slowly started coming back, looking indifferent.

"Why not?" She asked. The first time they did this she was absolutely terrified, and discovered a fear of heights that she didn't even know she had, but after doing this over and over again, she'd gotten used to it. This was training with Laxus; pushing passed limits you didn't know you had.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Then don't talk to me; talk to Gajeel."

"It's none of your business."

" _He_ made it my business." She said, slowly continuing her reps. "When he confided in me and cried about how you've been fucking around with him. He's stable for now, but if you keep this up, he's going to tell the entire guild. Once that happens, Fried is going to find out."

"Fried will be fine. He's an adult."

"An adult that is finally just getting over you. Bickslow and I took him to his first gay bar the other day."

"Elbows back." He instructed, and she complied.

"If he finds out that you broke your rule for anyone other than Mira he'll be heartbroken."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Either break up with Gajeel or talk to him. You don't have to reciprocate his feelings, just tell him anything. He just needs a little respect and not be used as a fuck toy when he's trying to deal with the idea of being a dad." She explained. Talking was more than a little difficult, and she'd hoped that he would do most of the talking when she'd brought it up. Open up to her like Gajeel or the other random people that had been feeling comfortable around her.

"… what would I say?"

"What do you want out of your relationship?"

"… I don't know."

"Then tell him that."

"How is that any better than saying nothing?"

"Believe me, it is. Anything is better than nothing."

"… so he actually talked to you, huh?" He asked after a moment, keeping a firm grip on her legs. Even if he lost his grip on her or she accidentally loosened some of the rocks and fell, he would use his lightning magic to save her, or if that failed her wandering soul would get her.

"Yep."

"… what'd he… say?" Laxus asked hesitantly.

"That he's going to snap if you keep treating him like shit."

"Aren't you supposed to be on my side? You are my sister."

"He cried, Laxus. Big boys like Gajeel don't cry unless they're really hurting." She told him. He sat there for a moment, thinking about her words, and trying to ignore the stabbing pain in his chest. "It would be easier to be on your side if you told me anything. All you say half the time is 'uuh, I don't know', which is cute because you're practically a mountain of muscle and testosterone, but from what little I've heard from you and how much I've heard from Gajeel, it sounds like you two are just having communication issues. He says that you haven't said more than two words two him, and after our conversations, that doesn't surprise me." Exhaling sharply, she rested with her back curved and let her upper body hang. _This is a lot harder when I'm trying to fix your relationship at the same time, bro._

"… was it difficult when you told Bickslow?"

"Told him what?" She breathed, closing her eyes and catching her breath.

"That you… you know… loved him."

"For us, it was one of the easiest parts of our relationship. At least for me, anyway."

"How'd you go about it?"

"Uh…" She continued her breaths, trying to recall the event. Bickslow and her had never been the cheesy romantic types, so stuff like that tended to blend together. The only event they might be celebrating is their one year of dating anniversary, and then they're engagement, which she suspected Bickslow would propose soon. "I think it was right after a job with Bacchus. We were in bed, cuddling, and he told me he loved me. I said something stupid, and then I said I loved him back."

"And it was easy?"

"Bicks and I have… always had a pretty easy relationship. In that sense. 'I like you. Do you like me?' 'yeah, want to be my partner and do it?' 'sure, why not?' 'I think I love you, do you love me?' 'you're pretty cool, I love you too'."

"Seriously?"

"I dumbed it down a little… but yeah. Can we take a break?" She asked, and when he held out a hand to her, she grinned and grabbed it. Helping her back up, he stood and used counterbalance to do so, and they both sat down by their bags at a nearby tree. She chugged her water bottle.

"Has anything been difficult with you two?"

"Yeah." She said, still breathing hard. _Note to self: never talk about relationships while dangling off a cliff with Laxus._ "Most of it is our own personal baggage crap. For me it's our family, for him it's his babies and family. When we first started dating I was a pain in the ass when it came to communicating our feelings, which I think helped in the long run."

"Bickslow says you get quiet a lot."

"Yeah, he hates it when I do it." She chuckled. "When it comes to our family I sometimes do this thing where I shut down, and it becomes physically impossible for me to speak. After meeting Bacchus for the first time I hid in the corner of my room, curled up in a ball for hours. Bickslow had to coax me out."

"What about family causes you to close up?" He asked, and she chuckled, reaching into her bag to get out some of their power snack bars.

"We're talking about you, not me."

"It would be easier to open up if you did."

"I'm not the one that needs to talk." She countered, and bit into her power bar. They exchanged a glance, Laxus curious about what she was hiding, and her amused gaze indicating that she wasn't going to share. "If you're not ready to tell Gajeel you love him, then don't. If you actually care about him, then I'm guessing that all the pain you're inflicting on him is also affecting you. It's why you've been acting so weird lately, right?"

He took one of the power bars she offered him.

"You know, our parents used to be happy together." She commented after a while, when he seemed reluctant to say anything. "They were together for over 30 years, and had known each other since they were kids. They told me that communication was the most important part of their marriage, and I've always believed that it was one of the most important aspects of any relationship."

"And then they died."

"… yeah. But they loved each other until the end." She said softly, her heart sinking at the memories.

"… sorry." He mumbled, realizing that that was probably a sensitive topic for her; she'd just said that family was a touchy subject.

Claire didn't say anything for the rest of that morning.

3.

"So how long exactly are we going to be banned from jobs?" Claire asked that afternoon, having strolled up to the Guild Master. She was getting pretty low on funds by this point, and soon Bickslow was going to have to pick up her slack on the bills. She'd been getting enough to get by with what she'd saved up, along with the added amount whenever someone requested her specifically for jobs, but it sucked not working. The drama bullshit was getting tiresome and it felt like her training was for nothing at that point.

"Until January." He said, and she blinked in surprise.

"January?"

" _If_ you get to S-Rank."

"Seriously?" She asked with a deadpan expression. _Damn it, how many times is this guy going to do this…?_ "Most of the guild is taking jobs like crazy to get into the trials, and you won't let me do jobs unless I win it? What if I lose, are you going to keep me here until next year?"

"I haven't decided. Maybe." He said with a non-committal shrug.

"You have a habit of not keeping your word, so I guess I shouldn't hold my breath even if I do win."

"If you're talking about the Games, you did end up finding out who your brother was. Just not immediately. You would have never found out who he was at all unless Erza had asked me about him."

"You promised me that _you_ would disclose the identity of my brother if I participated in the Games, and I did. You didn't fulfill you're end of the agreement, no matter how you put it."

"… I'm only banning you from jobs to keep you safe."

"I understand and appreciate that. What I don't like is you trying to manipulate me into doing something by cutting off my income. You can't keep us from working forever."

"I'm sorry for upsetting you." Makarov told her, and although she was a little surprised and suspicious of his sudden apology, she nodded. Most of her anger dissipated with that one sentence, and she took a deep breath. "I would have thought throwing the baby shower would be enough compensation for at least the next few months. I wasn't aware that you were getting to the point of needing more work."

"What compensation? I did it as a favor to Fried."

"Didn't Mira talk to you about that?" He asked, and given her blank stare, he sighed. "Mirajane?" The Guild Master spoke, getting the attention of the take over mage at the bar. She looked up at the sound of her name, smiling at the old man.

"Yes, Guild Master?"

"Did you talk to Claire about paying her for the baby shower?"

"Oh, I'm sorry! I completely spaced it! I'm sorry Claire!" She apologized quickly, and after finishing the drink she was making, went to the backroom to get something.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why am I getting paid?" Claire asked, hoping that she wasn't jinxing it. Some part of her wondered if he'd just made up paying her so that she wouldn't complain about being broke, and this wouldn't exactly be the first time, but Mirajane's expression seemed genuine when he asked her about the paycheck.

"It may have been for Levy, but ultimately it was a Fairy Tail event. All of the leaders for events at Fairy Tail get paid."

"Even the support groups and safe sex seminars?" She asked, and he nodded. "I thought they were just volunteering."

"Only the people in charge of the events and leading it get paid, and it varies in the amount. For example with the support groups, the person leading it that day would get paid, but if someone volunteered to set up the chairs, they wouldn't get a paycheck. Since you led and organized the baby shower, which was a Fairy Tail sponsored event, you get paid for the time you spent putting it together."

"Is it hourly or based on the project?"

"Mirajane will fill you in on the details. Are you still mad about not being able to work outside the guild?"

"… depends on my paycheck." She said, although judging by the smile on her face, the Guild Master suspected she'd be content for a while. It was only a matter of time before the entire team got too restless, and he figured that if she attained S-Rank there'd be no stopping them; so he'd do what it took to make them happy until then. Aside from the threat of dark wizards attacking her, it was extremely convenient to have the Thunder Legion there. It made the guild hall safer, let them socialize with the other wizards so they felt more like family, and they picked up the slack whenever they needed help with something. Overall he felt that the entire guild was benefitting from their presence.

Mirajane emerged from the backroom and motioned for Claire to follow her, so that they could finalize and figure out numbers. Once they had disappeared, Laxus approached him.

"How'd you manage to calm her down?" Laxus asked, and the old man chuckled.

"Gave her a paycheck."

"Seriously?" He asked incredulously. "Did she actually earn it or did you do that to prevent the guild hall from being burned down?"

"Mirajane forgot to pay her for throwing the baby shower."

"She's getting paid for that?"

"It was a Fairy Tail event; of course she is." Makarov scoffed, and the blonde nodded, finally understanding what he meant. Like Claire he'd just assumed that it was a favor to Fried. "She did seem unusually upset when she came over here. Is something going on?" He asked, looking up at his grandson. It was no secret that something had been bothering the young man, but to his knowledge, he hadn't disclosed the reason to anyone.

"I accidentally brought up our parents being dead, and she got all quiet and won't talk to me…." He explained, wearing a scowl on his face and hands shoved in his jacket pockets. "I don't know if she's actually upset or teaching me a lesson."

"With women, it could be either. Best stay on the side of caution and be extra nice for the next few days." Makarov chuckled, and his grandson nodded curtly. "You've seemed a bit off lately. Are you okay?"

"Of course I am." Laxus scoffed, and walked away. The Guild Master knew it was a long shot that he'd give any other answer, so he just shrugged and went back to nursing his beer.

4.

When Bickslow realized that the highlight of his time at the guild hall was arguing with Evergreen, he knew something had to change.

Since Claire was training with Laxus again, and now Evergreen since she was going to partner with her for the S-Class trials, Bickslow and Fried spent more and more time together.

He loved the guy, but god damn he was boring.

Every morning they'd train, practice tactics and fighting scenarios, in different locations every time. Tactics, tactics, and more tactics. This is what they would do up until the Trials, which were December 15th, even though the Guild Master hadn't officially announced the participants yet. Mages in the guild had been running around frantically for jobs in order to get the remaining positions, and it was still another week until people were chosen.

So far the confirmed participants of the S-Class Trials were: Fried, Gajeel, Natsu, and Claire. Like every year they would pair up with someone else to help them get to S-Class. Just like last year, Bickslow would be Fried's partner.

After a mostly boring 5 hours of training, the team would reconvene at the guild hall around noon and hang out for the rest of the day. After that they would go home, sleep, and repeat with morning training. Thinking about it made him want to puke.

 _When did I stop having fun?_ He pondered as he sat next to his girlfriend, who was resting with her head down and Laxus's headphones on her ears. _Probably when we got grounded to the guild hall…_ He remembered. Before the threat of dark mages they would go to different bars that were actually fun every other night, go out to eat at various restaurants in town, and just… whatever the hell they felt like. Now their nights out were extremely limited to once in a blue moon or they had to go with the team- or just Laxus.

The communal baths were fun for a while, but they had started to lose their appeal after attending them so often, and then Bacchus showing up in the locker room made all of them wary of bathing there. Swimming was fun on occasion, but late November was hardly the time of year for it, even though some wizards stuck it out and tried to encourage bikini clad girls to join them. Laughing at them was occasionally fun.

So for almost 8 hours every day they were stuck at the guild hall. Lifting weights, sparring with the occasional challenger, and then eating and drinking. Claire and Laxus had both become wary of drinking regularly, likely because of their brother, so they'd started switching to sodas. _Whatever fucking bug crawled up his ass and died has been making Laxus a wet blanket… maybe it's alcohol withdrawal? Nah, he still drinks in small quantities._

Bickslow didn't dare complain about being bored, because every time he did, they got volunteered to do something and it sucked. His nephew was in school and his dad had asked that he spend less time with him, not because of his magic or anything, but something to do with disciplining him. He understood where he was coming from since he trained his own babies, although knowing that didn't detract from missing the little punk.

 _Spike people's drinks with booze? Nah, too lame…._ It startled him slightly that he thought that, since he wouldn't hesitate doing that over a year ago. Maybe it's because his own drinks were spiked that one time, and it ended so horribly…. _Aaand diverging train of thought: Plan proposal to Claire? Nah, I don't want to do that until I have the ring… but I do still need to figure out how to get it without the suspicion of the team…_ Since they've been grounded, they've been keeping tabs on each other for practically every hour of every day. When they had plans, they told each other, or else they didn't go.

He grinned, finally finding something to do.

"Why do you wear the same dress every day?" Bickslow asked Evergreen.

"I don't wear it _every_ day. Just… most days. And you're one to talk- you've only got 3 outfits."

"That's more than one." He said with a grin.

"It not like I don't have other outfits, I just don't wear them to the guild hall. For that matter, our entire team wears the same clothes every day." She said, looking around at their team. Laxus gave Bickslow a glare, sensing that he was planning something. Laxus's eyes were notoriously pretty expressive, and in this case were wondering 'what the hell are you doing getting Evergreen worked up about our fashion'.

"I change my outfit every day." Claire spoke from her spot. "Laxus switches it up sometimes."

"You never wear that cloak that Bickslow got you."

"I wear it on jobs. We haven't been working so I haven't worn it."

"Fried do you even own any other coats?" Evergreen asked the man next to her.

"… of course I do. I own a cloak as well."

"Really? Do we all own matching cloaks?" Claire asked curiously, sitting upright to talk to her team. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, and then yawned while stretching her arms upward, and making a small 'squeak' sound. _How does music make her yawns cute?_

"Yes, but we've never had a job where we've all brought them. I think we all need to go shopping and get matching outfits."

"No." Laxus and Fried said in unison.

"Well not matching, matching," She spoke. "Like, color wise unified. Making all of us have a similar style so that we look like a team."

"Remember last time we tried that?" Fried asked, not looking up from his book.

"But this time will be different."

"Why is that?"

"Because the S-Trials are coming up, and we all need to do shopping for it anyway, so why not go as a group? Even if we end up not matching entirely, we can at least help each other find good clothing." She reasoned, and knowing that she wouldn't let up on the idea, the group finally conceded.

5.

"You guys have Christmas on this planet?" Claire asked as they entered the mall. Up until that point she didn't think she had them; granted they weren't quite like the ones on her world, but it was pretty close.

"Yeah." Bickslow said simply, busy looking around the mall for the store he'd been hoping to find. Laxus eyed him from the man's side.

"What the hell are you planning?" He seethed.

"Lil' ol' me? I didn't do nuthin'." Bickslow said innocently, and waggled his tongue at the large man. Laxus wasn't convinced, keeping his narrowed eyes on him.

"Let's try this store." Evergreen said, guiding her group into a clothing store designed for athletes. Most of the items inside were pretty basic with very simple designs, ranging in tight shorts to muscle shirts.

"Psst," Bickslow hissed to Fried, holding up a black speedo and snickering.

"What size is it?" The man asked seriously, the seith mage's grin fell, remembering that his teammate was no fun… and he wore speedos.

"I'm not wearing that." Claire told the brunette, and Bickslow's attention went to them as he handed the speedo to Fried.

"Oh come on, you'll look great in it."

"It's too short, I don't like my thighs showing."

"Why? Are you self-conscious about them? If anything it's those manly shoulders you need to be worried about."

Bickslow walked up behind Claire, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on the top of her head. "I think everything about Checkers is awesome and wonderful. She could pull that off no problem." He said, looking over at the dress that Evergreen was holding. It was a rather strappy dress that left nothing to the imagination, and showed off more skin than it covered- he actually wondered if it was a dress at all. The brunette rolled her eyes at his overly interested behavior.

"You're supposed to be looking at guy clothing."

"Can't I look at girl clothing? I have good ideas, too."

"No, go look at the boys clothes."

"What if I was considering a life altering operation and wanted to check out my options on _this_ side of the store, huh? I'll bet you feel pretty awkward right now."

"Does that mean that you want to wear the dress, Bixy?" Claire asked before the fairy woman could retort to his question.

"Are there any in my size?" He asked, and the mental image alone was enough to make Ever shudder and put the dress back on the hanger.

"Guys side. Go." Ever glared.

"Bickslow doesn't wear skin-tight clothing. You really think he's going to find something in this store?" Claire asked, and the fairy woman groaned in frustration.

"Then go somewhere else and stop bugging us. Stay close so that when we go to the next store you can come with us."

"I'll leave Pappa here while I walk around the mall. Take your time, ladies~" He sang as he walked away, and his entire team gave him a quizzical look as he strolled out of the store. Laxus looked ready to murder him.

6.

When they returned from shopping, Bickslow was met with a surprise.

"Bickslow, some mail was sent here for you." Mirajane spoke, walking up to the group just as they sat down at their usual table. She handed him a couple of envelopes, and noticed the shopping bags on the floor. "Did you guys go shopping?"

"Yep." Evergreen said with a wide smile.

"I got fan mail!" Bickslow said excitedly, and a little too girly for his liking. He immediately coughed into his hand. "I mean, uh, I got some fan mail. No big deal." He said in a deeper voice.

"So?" Laxus asked, quirking one of his eyebrows up in silent question. He still knew that Bickslow had planned something that day, and he was determined to know why he'd put his friends through hell.

"Well… I've never gotten fan mail before." He said, trying to hold back his grin, but failing.

"Never?" Ever asked, peering over at the card that Bickslow was opening up to read. It was handmade and judging by the quality, the person that made it was an artist- beautiful and elegant letters covered it, little delicate doodles covered it, and the colors were themed.

"Never, Ever." He said, smiling at the word play as he continued reading.

"You've never gotten fan mail before?" Laxus asked, appearing genuinely surprised. "I them all the time."

"Hee hee, they think my visor is cute~"

"Not all of us are as popular as the infamous Laxus Dreyar." Claire told him.

"Coming from the almost as infamous Claire Groh. I've seen your fan mail letters." Laxus said with a glare.

"I, of course, have gotten my fair share as well." Evergreen said as she flipped her hair back, and puffed out her chest slightly. "I've gotten marriage proposals."

"Someone mailed me their panties once." Fried said with a shudder.

"Only once?" Laxus asked, and the entire group including Bickslow looked up at him. "What? Sometimes I get bras and speedos, too. I throw them away every time."

"Well, _I_ got an awesome not creepy letter from a fan saying that I'm cool." Bickslow said with a haughty smile, and Mira giggled, still standing there.

"I'm proud of you. Is there anything you guys want? Are you hungry for dinner?" She asked, looking around at the group.

"Food sounds awesome, along with a mojito. You guys were creating a new menu, right?" Claire asked, and the take over mage nodded.

"I'll go bring you guys some and get started on your drink. Any other drinks I can get started?" She asked, and after getting everyone's order, went back downstairs.

"Look at how pretty it is." Bickslow told his girlfriend, showing off the cover of his letter and still smiling.

"That's actually really nice." She nodded in appreciation.

"Quality over quantity~" He sang happily.

"Would you stop talking in that voice? It's not manly, dude." Laxus scolded.

"Taking advice from Elfman again?" Claire asked. Her brother stopped himself just before throwing an insult back at her, remembering his grandfather's earlier advice, and just shrugged.

"Whatever."

"Look, it's pretty." Bickslow said giddily as he showed it to Ever and Fried. He really was excited about it, and after catching that look in Claire's eyes, Laxus realized that trying to bring him down would end badly for him.

The lightning mage let his gaze wander to his love interest across the building, thinking back to what his sister told him about their parents that morning. He'd never had any role models for romantic relationships growing up- not from his adoptive parents or from other people in the guild- so he really had no idea how to go about talking to Gajeel. When he'd told his sister that he didn't know how, or at least he tried to explain that to her, she didn't get it.

He wasn't just being stubborn, or at least he wasn't trying to be; he just didn't know what to do. Everything he knew about relationships was from hearing second-hand stories of ex-wives at the bar or the occasional fleeting relationship at the guild. Bisca and Alzack's marriage was a miracle, and he hadn't been around when they first dated or got married, so he didn't count them as a role model. They also didn't spend that much time at the guild, so he couldn't observe or talk to them.

Bickslow of all people had a stable relationship. _Bickslow_. Bickslow the resident guild pervert, or at least perceived one, was Laxus's only role model of what a relationship should be. _Bickslow._

" _What do you want out of your relationship?"_

"… _I don't know."_

" _Then tell him that."_

Laxus still didn't understand what his sister was trying to tell him, but at this point, it couldn't hurt to take her advice. Or, indirectly their parent's advice.

The idea to ask Bickslow for advice crossed his mind, but when he looked over at the giggling seith mage still obsessing over the card, he decided against it.

7.

"So…"

"So…" Bickslow muttered back, and scratched the back of his head, still clad in his navy blue outfit. The lightning and seith mage sat in Fried's living room, alone, and waiting for their team to finish getting dressed. It was a thing their team did- after going shopping for new clothes they would do a little 'fashion show' of what they got, and give feedback. Occasionally Laxus and Bickslow would hear the awkward comment of someone in the bedroom, sink lower into the cushions of the couch, and wish that they were anywhere else.

"Could I, uh… ask a personal question?" Laxus spoke, interrupting the awkward silence between them. He originally wasn't going to divulge his relationship problems to him, but since they were alone, figured he might as well get as much help as he could get.

"Sure."

"What's been the most difficult part of your relationship? With Claire." He clarified at the end, crossing his arms and trying to seem indifferent.

"You got girl problems?" Bickslow asked with a knowing grin.

"Kind of…" He muttered. His team had known that he was in a secret relationship for a while now, and other than Claire, they had no idea who it was with.

"For me and Claire, it was accepting that she liked me." Bickslow answered, and the blond looked at him, not expecting that.

"Claire said that was the easiest part of your relationship." He said, and the seith mage laughed loudly.

"Of course she did. What did she say was the most difficult part?"

"Personal baggage for both of you." He said, and the grin fell, pondering the answer.

"That… I, yeah, that's been a biggie. So what's the girl problem? Maybe I can help." Bickslow said, hopping on the couch to shift and face him, leg bent and arm slung over the back of the couch.

"Claire said that it's a communication thing."

"What do you say it is?"

"I want to leave him, but I can't, and it's pissing me off."

"'Him'?" Bickslow asked, and by that tone of voice, Laxus instantly regretted talking to him.

"Nevermind, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No, no, no, please continue. Pretty please?" Bickslow asked, and the blond grunted, his arms still crossed. In the other room they could hear Ever and Claire still arguing about something. "So why do you want to leave him?"

"He's an idiot. He lied to me."

"Did he have a good reason?"

"… kind of… he said he was self-conscious about it, or something, and that he didn't mean to lie about it, or for it to be a big deal."

"Did he cheat or something?"

"No… he just… he lied about how serious a previous relationship was."

"That doesn't sound too bad. Have you told him about all the people you've slept with?"

"Yes."

" _All_ of them?"

"I…" He glared, knowing exactly what he was talking about, and also knowing that he was sworn to secrecy. The bro code was in effect regarding that night. "I haven't _lied_ about anyone I've slept with."

"Alright, but you get that it's awkward, right? I'm not saying that he's wrong or right, and I actually don't know anything about your relationship or who you're dating, but some people are pretty awkward with their sex life. Was this his first offense?"

"I guess…"

"If you're this tight lipped with me as you are with him, I can totally see why Claire said you're having a 'communication thing'. Do you really like this guy?"

"Unfortunately."

"Then buy some flowers or chocolate or something and go apologize. Say that you want to talk and hear his side of the story, and that even though he did something stupid, you still like him and you want to work through it."

"Why should I apologize?"

He shrugged. "Works with Claire. Say you're sorry, then they'll probably apologize too, and that way both of you are on equal ground and it's easier to talk. Even if you don't entirely mean it, sometimes they're mad because you did something mean without thinking about it, or something you did was misconstrued that way. If anything you can at least say you're sorry for hurting their feelings."

"… flowers, huh? That's actually a thing?"

"I tried it once with Claire and she was smiling for hours. I'm not sure how it works with gay relationships, but I'd imagine it's similar. Can you give me any hints of who it is?" Bickslow asked, but just as he asked, the trio of mages emerged from the hallway in their new outfits.

"Do I look like a hooker?" Claire asked, and her brother paled.

"You are not going to the guild in that." Laxus stated, and threw his long coat at her to cover up. While she put it on the brunette rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad. It's normal for what women wear at Fairy Tail." Evergreen defended, wearing a similar outfit herself. It was a dark red and gold mini skirt and halter top, along with her black high heels.

"If you're trying to get Elfman's attention, you definitely will in that… along with every other guy in the guild." Bickslow commented. Claire's version of the outfit had a skirt that was a little longer, reaching her knees.

Fried was wearing a pair of black slacks with a button down crimson shirt.

"Is that for team stuff, or a personal outfit?" Laxus asked the green-haired mage, and he blushed.

"Uh… I was thinking this could be a date outfit."

"You're rockin' it." Bickslow said with two thumbs up.

"Rockin', rockin'!" His babies echoed behind him.

8.

Gajeel was exhausted as he walked back home, both physically and emotionally. Everyone was training for the S-Class trials, including him, but he was training at the guild hall. Makarov had asked him to keep an eye on people at the guild hall for dark wizards, and since Levy spent so much time there, he was more than glad to do it. It felt nice to be needed, to be able to actually do something active to help his comrades at Fairy Tail, even if they hated him right now.

If only Laxus….

He sighed, recalling his one sided conversation with Laxus's sister the other day. He hated himself for opening up like that, but at the same time, it felt like a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Something about her he knew he could trust, and thus far she hadn't done anything to prove him wrong. Well, holding him down while Levy told him she was pregnant wasn't pleasant, but it was in his own best interests and he was glad he found out from her and not Jet and Droy.

For now, he'd have to put up with all of it. Not all of it was fair, but in this world anything rarely was. He'd learn to accept that at a young age and now he was relearning that harsh lesson. At least he still had friends, even if most of them hated him right now, and he wasn't starting from square one.

His neck cracked, and he grunted. He made his way up the stairs of his old apartment building, and when he looked up to see the door of his apartment, he stopped.

He had a visitor.

Laxus Dreyar, clad in a t-shirt and jeans, was holding a bouquet of flowers. They were mostly roses, but when Gajeel looked closer, he realized that not all of it was organic- there were metal flowers inside of it, some iron nuts and bolts, and it looked like a weird science experiment gone wrong. _That's definitely not something you see every day…._

The bulging mass of muscle that was Laxus shifted slightly, pushing against the wall he'd been leaning against, and he held out the flowers to him.

Gajeel stood there for a moment, blinking at the extremely odd gesture, unmoving. He could smell the roses and metal from there, and it caused his gut to churn and cheeks to flare up.

"Sorry." Laxus spoke, and the iron mage looked back up to his face, locking eyes with those stormy blue hues.

Chuckling, the iron mage walked passed him to his door, unlocked it, and gestured for him to enter. "Get your ass inside." He said with a smirk.

The blond smiled, feeling good about this approach so far, and went to enter the disorderly apartment.

1.

Evergreen and Laxus looked up at the small totem, stretching and warming up at their usual meeting place for early morning training; except, when they looked around for the fire mage accompanying the wandering soul, they couldn't find her.

"Where's Claire?" Laxus grumbled. Normally he loved training at this hour, and would even get up earlier than the others to get an extra work out in, but after his night with Gajeel he didn't really want to be there today. He slept in, gave his lover extra kisses, and forced himself out of bed.

"She doesn't want to train today. If you wish to locate her, she is currently in the guild hall library." Riley told them. Evergreen visibly gawked at the flying totem while Laxus narrowed his eyes.

"She can't just cancel training- we've only got 2 more weeks until the trials!" Evergreen stammered.

"Did she say why she doesn't want to train today?" Laxus asked the flying totem.

"She doesn't want to train today, but will resume tomorrow." Riley told them.

"You're telepathically linked to her, right?" Laxus asked.

"Aye, sir!" The small totem spoke, and did a little flip. He'd heard Happy say that phrase a few times now, and seemed to enjoy using it.

"Tell her that unless she's injured or sick, to get her ass down here. Like Evergreen said, we've only got 2 more weeks, and her teamwork with Ever is shit."

"Yeah, she needs to learn a few things about teamwork." Ever huffed.

"You're not exactly one to talk." Laxus said pointedly, and she made a small 'eh?!' sound.

"Sorry home skillet, if you have any complaints about our service today, you can direct them to the manager in charge: the wonderful and amazing Claire Riley Groh of the USS Enterprise! Weeeeee!" The flying totem cheered, now flying away again.

The pair glared at the retreating form, arms crossed, and wondering what they should do now. "He said she was at the library, right?"

2.

When Ever and Laxus made it to the library… they didn't really know what to make of the situation.

Mirajane told them when they arrived that Claire had been in the library since before she got there, which was 6 AM, and that she'd apparently worked with Warren for a half hour on some kind of project. Since her behavior was odd she asked Warren to make sure she wasn't under any type of spell, but according to him, she was just excessively manic that morning.

Gajeel had gotten there a few minutes before they did, and had taken a seat on one of the tables, scratching his head. It was 7:30 AM.

On one of the tables, the end of which the iron mage was sitting on, were an assortment of Claire's items along with some books. An envelope with Goldmine's name on it, a small lacrima ball, several notebooks sprawled out, her typical leather back pack, and the before mentioned books.

Claire herself was standing in front of a bookshelf with an open book in her hand and reading glasses on, which allowed her to read the entirety of the book's pages within minutes. She would go to one section of the library, search for something, read the back cover of a few books, and then choose one to read while she stood there and others to read later and add to her growing stack of books on the table.

"Wasn't she supposed to be training with you?" Gajeel asked, turning to the newly arrived dragonslayer.

"Apparently she canceled." Laxus replied, watching his sister move quickly around the medium sized library. He wondered how many cups of coffee she'd had that day, since she was moving around so quickly.

"Getting lazy so close to the S-Trials is stupid, even for her." Evergreen huffed, her arms crossed over her chest and glaring at her teammate. "She can read _after_ we train."

"You talked to Mira?" Gajeel asked, and Laxus nodded curtly.

"No one in the Thunder Legion has ever just 'canceled training'. Well except for you, but you're our team leader. You can do that." Evergreen added with an apologetic look to the man.

"Do you know what she's doing?" Laxus asked the iron mage, and he shook his head.

"I only got here a few minutes before you did. I asked her what she was doing, but she didn't say anything."

"I wonder if she's doing this out of spite, or she's… do you know what she's doing?" Laxus asked, looking to the brunette. "What does your 'womens intuition' or whatever say?"

"That she's lazy and doesn't want to train." Evergreen stated, and then stomped over to Claire, hands balled up into fists and scowl on her face. The lightning mage knew that look all too well, and if any of them was going to figure out what was going on, she would.

"I don't blame Checkers for not wanting to train with her." Gajeel whispered to Laxus.

The brunette grabbed Claire's upper arm to get her attention, but recoiled her hand at the touch: she'd heated up her skin to burn. "What hell? You don't just cancel practice."

"You two are free to train as much as you want together." Claire said simply.

"You've only got 2 weeks until the trials! We need to train every day until then."

"We have 18 days until we leave for Tenrou Island to compete for my rank as an S-Rank mage. 18 divided by 7 is approximately 2.5 which means I have two and a half weeks to train, not two. Makarov announces the official list of people competing in two days and he actually hasn't confirmed I'll even be in it." Claire rambled off, her voice devoid of emotion and expression deadpan as she continued her process.

"Two and a half weeks, whatever- that's till not a lot of time, and we still need to perfect our combo moves." Evergreen stated, and stood there waiting for a response with her arms crossed. Her partner said nothing. "Don't ignore me!" She hit the fire woman's shoulder.

Claire took the small pile of books she'd made on the floor and took them back to her table, passing by Laxus and Gajeel, and then paused. They were about to ask her another question, but then she was off again, hurriedly walking to another part of the library. "If she's not training today, why is she in workout clothes?" Gajeel wondered, and the two others thought about the observation. The fire woman was currently clad in her new work out clothes, which consisted of skin tight capris and a tank top, although she wore a loose croptop with a hood on top of it. She even wore her new running shoes.

"So why'd you cancel training?" Laxus asked her, deciding to take the direct approach instead of just guessing.

"Already trained. Didn't feel like doing it again." She mumbled as she read through a book.

"What the hell does that mean? You already trained? What you need to do is train with me, your partner. You need to learn how to work with your team, and just canceling without a good reason isn't a good way to do that!" Evergreen screamed. Luckily no one else was in the library so early in the morning.

Gajeel and Laxus exchanged a look, both of them silently wondering if they needed to be concerned by the erratic behavior or just leave her alone.

When Claire didn't respond to Evergreen's rage, the fairy woman stifled a scream, her face turning red. "Lazy… fucking…"

"Claire's a lot of things, but lazy isn't one of them." Laxus commented. "Does Bickslow know you're here?"

"I left him a note as to my potential locations." Claire responded.

"How long have you been here?"

"A while."

"Mira said you've been here since before she got here." Laxus told her, a little irked when she didn't respond. "Can you stop running around and talk to us?" Nothing. "If you don't, we're going to get Bickslow and Fried here."

"But we don't-" Evergreen started to speak, but Laxus elbowed her in the ribs. A small smile, barely visible, tugged at the corner of her lips.

"' _Illusion Magic', 'History of Psychology', 'The Human Brain', 'Human Anatomy and the Direct Interaction with Magic', 'Advanced Poisons and Toxins'_ …" Gajeel read, reading the titles of the books that Claire had picked out and set next to her belongings. "What's the letter to Goldmine about?"

"I'm debating whether to send it. It's just some information about Bacchus's condition that could be helpful to him."

"He's a drunk. Seems pretty straight-forward." Laxus stated.

"This world is pathetic in its psychology research. Of course you're dimwitted enough to believe it's that black and white." Claire spoke, and since her voice was still so level and devoid of emotion, it took Laxus a second to realize he'd just been insulted. Gajeel realized it at about the same time, and snickered quietly.

"Did you just call me stupid?"

"Yeah she did." Gajeel said as he tried to stifle his laughs, and the glare that Laxus gave turned it into full blown laughter. Someone calling the great Laxus Dreyar an idiot was a dead man's last words- for anyone other than his sister, that is.

His glare turned to Ever when she snorted, trying to contain her own laughter.

"Well if you're so smart, how do we fix him?" Laxus asked, trying to ignore the immature mages on either side of him.

"A brain scan to rule out biological reasons, such a tumor, and then therapy to work with his issues and determine if he needs medication to function. When people are 'off' or have issues like Bacchus, sometimes it means that their brain is simply lacking or has too much of a specific enzyme and basic medication and diet can fix it. Unfortunately this world is so new and dependent on magic that scientific advancements are zilch in the way of medicine, so none of the things I mentioned exist on this world. Alcohol can trigger dormant psychological disorders so even if he gets off of alcohol, there's a chance it'll come back, and there's a chance that getting off of alcohol won't help. After my limited research into mental institutions I know they're not an option."

"… or he's dependent on alcohol and when he gets clear headed, he'll be fine."

"I don't think he will be. I think he'll pretend to be fine sober long enough to get out of Goldmine's basement and then go right back to drinking. He went to alcohol for a reason and eliminating that reason is important to keep him from going back."

"So instead of training for the S-Class trials you're doing research to fix our brother?"

"No. I only spent a half hour doing limited research and brainstorming, and plan to return to it later when I'm more clear-headed." She replied, and the three mages stared at her dumbfounded, realizing that as she'd explained all of that while failing to miss a beat in her routine.

"… So what _have_ you been doing?"

"Research." She said simply, and the man grunted, losing his patience for her cryptic answers.

"Ugh, I need a drink." Evergreen finally stated, flinging her hands up in defeat and leaving the library.

"It's not even 8 in the morning…" Gajeel commented, but then shrugged. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't done that a few times in his life time; sometimes morning just sucked.

"What do you think we should do?" Laxus asked his boyfriend, wondering if he had any insight. As he'd discovered last night, and through their entire relationship really, of the two of them Gajeel was better at dealing with people and emotions. Which, if Gajeel was the best at dealing with people between the two of them….

"… has she ever done this before?"

"She'll sometimes get really quiet and shut down, but I've never seen her go nuts in a library before. Usually when she's pissed off she'll channel it in training."

"So we've established that she's not pissed off."

"… maybe." Laxus said, and took a seat on the table next to him, running through his brain on what to do in this situation. It was his sister and his teammate, and if she would just give him a solid explanation, he'd have no problem leaving her here to read or whatever. The expression on her face and erratic movements weren't normal for her, and if Warren hadn't cleared her, he'd guess she was under someone's spell. It felt wrong to just leave her like this, and he had the feeling that he needed to stay and make sure she was okay. "… are you okay, sis?"

"I feel fine." She replied.

"You don't look like it."

"Maybe you need to get your eyes checked." She replied coolly.

"Gi-hi," Gajeel snickered. "Dumb and blind. Maybe she is pissed off at you."

"You're not helping."

"Well neither are you, apparently." Gajeel replied. Since Claire had been nice enough to lend her shoulder to cry on the other day, he felt compelled to stay until he was convinced she was stable. "Where are those headphones she's been crazy about?"

"Probably at her place. I'm letting her borrow them until she gets her own." Laxus muttered, still racking his brain for what to do in this situation. He'd spent so much time with her over the past few months that he felt like he _should_ know what to do in this situation. Women in general had always been a mystery to him, but Claire openly hated stereotypes and 'typical girl things', so their conflicts had mostly been limited to his lying about being related and their opinions on Bacchus. Not to mention when she was mad, she'd punch him in training or something, and they'd deal with their issues that way. "She was pretty pissed when I mentioned our parents the other day… maybe it's something to do with that."

"What'd you say?"

"That they were dead; and then I apologized for being so harsh, but she's been weird ever since."

"You guys realize that I can hear everything you two are saying, right?" Claire asked as she passed them, setting more books on the table and quickly moving to another section of the library.

"Jump in at any time." Gajeel said, but she went back to ignoring them. "Ya know, the help thing goes both ways. I thought it went without saying but, you know, if you need help you can ask me for it." The iron mage told her awkwardly, and scratched the back of his head, uncomfortable with the mushiness of his offer.

"Thanks. I thought it went without saying, too." She said, and the man's shoulder's slumped.

"Did you have a bowl of Bitch for breakfast this morning?"

"No, did you?" She asked coolly, and the iron mage let out a yell of frustration. Laxus chuckled at his side.

"I'm not going to leave until I know that you're not a complete wreck, so just convince us that you're okay so I can leave." Gajeel finally told her.

"Leave or stay, I don't care. It would be a lot easier to do this without you interrupting me every two seconds." She said, and looked up at him with a glare, giving them the first indication of any emotion that morning.

"I'm going to join fairy girl for a drink." Gajeel grumbled, and Laxus followed close behind.

3.

After what Laxus, Gajeel, and Evergreen told him, Bickslow was expecting the worst when he walked into the library at 1 o'clock that afternoon. His training with Fried had run a little late; otherwise they would have been there sooner.

Both the seith and word mage entered the library, the air tense with anticipation as they looked around the empty room, searching the immediate area for the apparently hyperactive pyro. They saw a few of her belongings on a table when they rounded a corner, their footsteps slow as they navigated the library, and were confused when they didn't immediately see her.

"… didn't they say she was a 'tornado of bitch'? Where is she?" Bickslow whispered, unnerved by the silence. He was waiting for his girlfriend to jump out from behind a row of books and scare the hell out of him, and his heart was beating fast, searching every corner and crevice for the woman waiting to pounce.

"I have an idea." Fried whispered back, and indicated for him to follow. The pair slowly moved through the library, going towards the back, and it didn't take long for Bickslow to realize where they were heading.

In the corner of the fair sized library, between two large book cases and otherwise hidden unless you looked for her, was Claire Groh. Three stacks of books were near her on the floor, one book was open on her lap, and she was even wearing the same blanket she got when she first came to that world. The little penguins were slightly faded on the old blue blanket, and little patches of dirt was on the hem of it.

They both approached her slowly, and Bickslow crouched down in front of her, peering over at the book she was reading. Fried took to reading the titles of the books stacked around her.

"Feeling nostalgic?" Bickslow asked softly.

"Not really." She replied, and flipped a page.

"You said on your note that you were training with Laxus. What time did you leave this morning?" He asked, trying to keep his voice low and non-accusatory. When Claire didn't say anything, he looked back over at Fried, who was still reading the titles.

"What exactly are you researching?" Fried asked after a moment. "You have a wide assortment of books. I don't see a clear pattern."

She pulled up a magical flat screen in front of her, small letters blazing in front of her with her unique magic, and she typed on a floating keyboard to enter some data. Once she'd inputted a few sentences she cast a spell on the book she was reading and transferred it to the 'screen'.

"You've taken up Data Compression Magic. I'm impressed that you learned it so quickly… I don't know why you'd be so secretive about it with Laxus and Evergreen, though."

"What magic?" Bickslow asked.

"It's a way to store information and bring it up in different locations. It's very similar to Erza's requip magic, except instead of clothing, you store information. I'm guessing that the wide variety of books are so that she has a portable library with her for the S-Class trials."

"A portable library? So if for example there was a pop quiz on snakes when we're on the island, she could just bring it up using that magic?" Bickslow asked, and Fried nodded. "Why don't you do that?"

"It's extremely complex and new magic. It's arguably just as difficult, if not more so, than my rune and enchantment magic. I recommended she look into it, but I didn't expect she'd succeed in it so quickly. It can take years to learn properly."

"So… we just uncovered Claire's ace in the hole for the trials?"

"If that was the case, I'd think she would object or steer us in a different direction. We will be competing with each other, after all, and she knows better than to tell us all her strengths." Fried spoke, and the pair looked at her, waiting for her to say something.

"This isn't for the trials." She finally spoke.

"Then what's it for?" Bickslow asked, and when he received no answer, started understanding why Laxus and Evergreen were concerned.

"How'd you get passed the magic degradation problem?" Fried asked before Bickslow could ask another question. Without a word Claire pulled something up on her screen, using an organization process new to Fried, and she 'threw' a page at him, which stopped in front of him. "Interesting, I never thought to connect the two concepts. That solves the problem with your magic being unstable as well. I might use that to strengthen my long term runes. Since you said this isn't for the trials, would you mind if I looked at your magic? Word magic is very similar, and perhaps I could give you some pointers."

She looked up at him, and then back to the 'screen' in front of her, her cheeks heating up slightly. "Sure. I could use an extra set of eyes to double check my work."

4.

"You didn't send Checkers on any secret missions, right?" Bickslow asked the Guild Master, and joined his friends at the bar.

"No, why do you ask?" He replied, sitting cross-legged on the bar next to Laxus.

"Apparently she learned an entire field of magic, and when Fried asked her about it, she said it wasn't for the trials. He's talking to her about it now."

"What magic?" Laxus asked immediately.

"'Magic compression data'… or 'data compression magic'? Something like that. He recommended it to her a while back and apparently she took it to heart."

"But she's actually talking?" Evergreen asked.

"To Fried, yeah. He took an interest in what she was doing and now she's explaining her new magic to him."

"But they're going to be competing. Why is she exchanging magic knowledge with him?" Laxus asked. "Better yet why the hell didn't she tell us she was learning a new magic? Did she mention it to you guys?" Bickslow shook his head, but Evergreen was staring at the entrance to the mess hall, her eyes wide. The men turned to look at the door, seeing nothing, and looking back to the brunette. "Ever?"

"What?" She asked, looking startled.

"You okay?"

"Of course I am. Just a little tired, and annoyed at having my time wasted this morning." She redirected, and reached over to take a sip from her soda. Bickslow looked back to where she had been staring, then back to her, and shrugged.

"Did you guys already eat lunch?" The seith mage asked, changing the topic. He'd let his partner deal with his girlfriend for now.

"Yeah, Ever and I ate an hour ago." Laxus replied.

"Wait, has Claire eaten?"

"I don't think she's had lunch, at least."

"She called him a blind dumbass, so he's been scared of talking to her." Gajeel told him nearby with a grin, and the blond glared.

Bickslow smiled. "Problem solved. She probably forgot to eat breakfast this morning."

"What? Seriously?" Both Gajeel and Laxus said in unison.

"Chya. No wonder she called you a dumbass." He snickered, and yelled in surprise at the bolt of lightning knocking him off his stool.

"I can't believe I was fucking worried about her." Gajeel grumbled with his hand rubbing his face, and the Guild Master burst into laughter at the miserable expressions of the trio of young mages.

"Sometimes the simplest answers are the right one." Mirajane giggled nearby.

5.

Fried had been sitting next to Claire for close to two hours now. Bickslow had stopped by to bring them lunch, but when they started talking about things way over his head, he darted out of the library as soon as he was done. He didn't even pretend to understand it, and just listening to their babble made him feel like an idiot.

"So you accomplished this in just a few hours?" Fried asked again, and she nodded. A sigh escaped her lips as she sat back, resting the back of her head against the wall and looking up at the various floating pages in the air. It was actually a beautiful sight; Fried had helped her learn how to color coordinate her magic in the air, much the same way he did for his rune magic, so now it was a beautiful mix of hues ranging across the rainbow.

"The basics of it, yeah. Once I got the building blocks it was easy to set up. I've got ideas on how to improve it later, but some of them I expect will take days to set up, so I'm getting the ideas and general notes on format set up so that I can jump into them later when I have more time."

"You've got a lot of different projects lined up." He commented.

"I couldn't sleep last night, so I trained for a while and came here. I got into it and got on a roll, and didn't want to stop. Ever and Laxus were pissed when I canceled training."

"They seemed more concerned for your wellbeing than upset. I've known Laxus for a long time, and I have no doubt he would have supported this project of yours if you'd explained it."

"I love you guys, I really do…" She sighed. "but it sucks having to tell you guys where I am all the time, and I'm so tired of explaining myself. I'm never alone, I just..."

"We've all been feeling the strain of being around each other too much lately." Fried told her. "Bickslow is driving me insane. He can never stay on topic, gets side tracked easily, his 'babies' encourage his behavior with their squeaky little voices… I don't know how you put up with him."

"It's those stupid little quirks that keep me sane." She said with a fond smile. "One of these days I'm going to kick Evergreen's ass, and it will not be pretty. If I could beat up Laxus I would have by now."

"So if you were tired of explaining things to us, why explain them to me?"

"Sleep deprivation getting to me? That, or the fact you would actually understand it. What little I tried to tell the others went right over their heads and I wasn't at a good stopping place to go in depth with them."

"So it was an accident that I saw those notes on my magic in your new library?" Fried asked, turning to look at her. A guilty smile tugged at her lips, her magic still glittering and sparkling beautifully in front of them.. "You found a loophole in my enchantments, didn't you?"

"Maybe."

"So you… what? Just wanted to tell me that you knew, or to even the playing field by letting me see your magic since you knew about mine?" He asked, now extremely suspicious. The woman had been explaining this magic he knew very little about for over 2 hours, and given when he'd been told by the others and by her own anti-social actions, he hadn't suspected anything mischievous. But that glint in her eye told him that she did, or at least, was planning something.

"I have notes on everyone's magic from our team, and had even started notes on the other competing members in the S-Class Trials. Maybe I don't have anything on you."

"You didn't have near the amount on their magic as you did on mine." He told her, and scooted away, still eyeing her guilty yet amused expression. He didn't know what to make of it. "You're messing with me."

She shrugged. "Maybe I am."

"Or you really did find a loophole in my magic."

"Maybe I did. Certainly those outer layers of magic are as… nah, that was just a theory." She waved off, not missing how his eyes widened slightly. "Of course, there's the theory that I am just messing with you."

"Laxus told me that you scored higher than Levy when you retook the IQ test."

"I did, huh?" She asked, still grinning.

"But you know that."

"Maybe."

He looked back up at the beautiful rainbow of words and pages floating above them, contemplating the woman's strange words. "You are messing with me."

"Yes, but am I messing with you because I know a loophole in your magic, or because I want you to think I know?" She asked, and chuckled when the frustrated word mage finally stood up, his cheeks red. Claire made her data magic disappear.

"You forgot something very important, though." Fried said, and chuckled darkly.

"What's that?"

"I scored higher than you, and two can play the game you've started."

"Be my guest. If you find a way to use what I've told you to your advantage for the trials, all the better." She spoke, and upon her words, the green-haired mage gave her a quizzical look. "In fact, I hope you do, and then tell me how you did it after you get the title of S-Class."

"That's a big gamble for you."

"Maybe being S-Class isn't important to me."

"Uh-huh." Fried asked disbelievingly.

6.

"'didn't eat breakfast'." Gajeel scoffed as he ate dinner, shaking his head slowly. Laxus said nothing across the table from him, continuing to eat the sandwich that Gajeel had made him. "Worry about her all freaking morning…. 'Didn't eat breakfast'…"

"Well… what did we expect? That she was having an emotional breakdown and that she'd talk to us about it?" The blonde asked, and the iron mage grumbled incoherently. "Just because you confided in her doesn't mean that she'll do the same. If she actually was having a bad day, Bickslow is the one she'll turn to."

"Good point." He grumbled, and looked around his apartment, not for the first time. The iron mage's apartment looked like a bachelor's pad; a mattress without a frame on the floor of his living room, clothes scattered on the floor, one or two dim lights, the actual bedroom filled with iron. Somehow he needed to 'baby proof' the freaking place in the next couple months.

"'How to be a baby daddy: for idiots'." Laxus read, looking at one of the many books stacked on the counter. "You're actually doing research?"

"I'm not going to be a full-time dad, but I am going to be part of his life, and I am going to help Levy as much as humanly possible. I'm going to be paying for the nursery until she moves out in a couple of years, or less, and I'll be looking after the little sport when I'm in town between jobs."

"You're going to bring a baby into this piece of shit apartment?" Laxus asked, raising his eyebrows and looking around at the man's place. Neither of them were smiling at the idea. "This place is a death trap, even for adults. I cut my leg just going to the bathroom the other morning."

"And I'm sorry for that." Gajeel apologized for the hundredth time. "I could get a new apartment. Like… get rid of my shit for some human friendly shit." He said, and then chuckled, shaking his head.

"What are you laughing about?"

"A really stupid idea I had."

"What was it?"

"It's _really_ stupid. You don't want to know."

"Now I'm curious."

"Dude, it's really, really stupid. You'll probably hit me just for saying it."

"What if I promise not to do any form of violence to you, _if_ you tell me what you were thinking about?" Laxus asked, a small smirk tugging at his lips. He took the last bite of his sandwich, and then crossed his arms, leaning back.

"Fine… I was just… thinking that your place has a lot of human friendly shit. It was just a thought, I wasn't actually-"

"I don't think it's stupid." Laxus interrupted, and the iron mage did a double take of his boyfriend, who was looking thoughtfully at his apartment. "My place is definitely big enough, and we'd always planned on telling the guild eventually."

"I… seriously?"

"I mean, we'd have to lay down some ground rules, and you are going to clean up your shit. My house is _not_ going to turn into this filth."

"Dude, are you asking me to move in with you?" Gajeel asked, temporarily forgetting how to breathe.

"Between the trials and Levy's pregnancy, not to mention the holidays, do you really think you'll be able to find a new place, move in, get entirely new furniture, and babyproof it in time for the birth? I suggest that we wait until after the trials to announce our relationship, that way it won't detract from the trials."

"… seriously? You're asking me to move in with you? If you're joking, I can't tell, and this is a terrible joke."

"Stop being an idiot and accept already. Dumbass."

7.

Gajeel was walking on sunshine the next day.

His boyfriend had asked him to move in with him, a date was set to move in and announce to the guild their relationship, his baby mamma was happy, he was happy- everything was wonderful.

Although, as he looked up to the second floor of the guild hall, he had to change the last past. Not everyone was happy.

Claire was sitting at her usual table with Evergreen, likely waiting for the rest of their team to arrive, but the brunette was hysterical. She tried to keep her voice down, but every once in a while it got loud enough to get the attention of other guild members, including Gajeel. The fire dragon mage looked miserable, sitting at the table with one hand holding up her face and body slouched, taking the verbal abuse from the fairy woman. It was 11 AM, a little earlier than the usual arrival time for the Thunder Legion, so he guessed that something went wrong with training.

From what he could gather, Evergreen was mad about their teamwork. According to her, Claire was impulsive and uncooperative, and 'would never make to S-Class with that attitude'.

With nothing else to do for the time being, and a little entertained by watching them, he sat in his usual spot with his drink. After about 20 minutes of watching them fight and bicker, most of it on Evergreen's side, Claire finally stood up. The brunette stopped talking, blinking up at her in confusion, and simply sat there dumbstruck as the checker woman left mid-conversation.

He took a sip of his drink, chuckling at the young woman's reaction. _Yell at someone long enough and they're not going to take that shit anymore…._

"Mind if I join you?" Claire asked, having walked over to him. He nodded, and she sighed, taking a seat across from him.

"What'd you do to piss off fairy girl?" He asked with a smile.

"Everything humanly possible, evidently." She grumbled, and looked over to him. "You seem chipper."

He looked around, checking that no one was listening, and then leaned in. "Laxus asked me to move in with him." He'd been wanting to tell someone- anyone- all morning, but had been unable to for obvious reasons.

"Really? Laxus?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Weird, right? But I'm not complaining."

"Well, congrats. I'm happy for you guys." She said, feigning a smile. Judging by her lackluster reaction, and by what he'd seen moments ago, she was too tired to put much more energy into it. Not that it matter for him- he finally got to tell someone that his boyfriend asked him to move in with him.

"You put on a good show yesterday." Gajeel commented, and she looked up at him, not knowing what he meant. She was leaning back in her chair, trying to keep upright in her tired state.

"What do you mean?"

"I overheard part of your conversation with Fried. I hope you don't mind- I only heard the part where you totally blew his mind. He's been acting weird ever since."

"More like covering my ass. I'm just luckily he has no people skills." She explained, and brushed one of her hands through her hair.

"What do you mean?" Gajeel asked.

"When I realized just how useful my data compression magic could be for the trials, after Fried confirmed it basically, I realized that it was a mistake to explain it so in depth to him. And then on top of that, he found out that I knew how to get around his enchantments, which I actually didn't want him to know. So… I let him think I was messing with him. Now he doesn't know what I know, and he's doubting himself and his magic."

"Gi-hi, nice save." He snickered.

"I hope so. I just want the trials to be done with." She grumbled.

"Did you have breakfast this morning?" He asked, smile still plastered to his face.

"Yes. I'm starving for lunch, though. Evergreen's bitching is exhausting."

"How about we go out for an early lunch? My treat."

"I'm not supposed to leave without my team."

"Only because of dark wizard attacks. Remember whose been catching them?" Gajeel asked with a cocky smirk, and stood. "We'll let Mira know we're heading out, and we'll be back maybe before the rest of your team arrives. Plus, it'll be good to get out of the guild hall for a while."

"Can't argue with that." Claire said, and the iron mage held out a hand to help her up. She accepted, and after the pair informed Mira of where they were going, they headed out.

8.

Evergreen watched from her perch on the second floor as the two left the guild hall, her eyes narrowed into slits. _Ungrateful… little…_

It's not like she wanted to be stuck at the guild hall, either. Nonetheless alone, without her team, in a building full of people she didn't know that well. Sure she considered them family or whatever, but it's not like she actually enjoyed talking to them on a regular basis.

The guild hall smelled of alcohol and sweat, sounds of laughter and fighting were the constant background sound, and when she was with her team, it was nice. As she sat there alone, on the second floor of the guild hall, she felt isolated for the first time in a long while. One of the comforting aspects of her team was they were just as anti-social as she was, so she didn't have to worry about them ditching her to sit with someone else, or deal with this horribly uncomfortable feeling of being alone.

She hated that feeling.

She hadn't felt it in so long that it came back in full-force, reminding her of what it was like when she was a kid. What it was like before she joined the Thunder Legion.

Sitting in a room full of people who she considered friends, she might as well have been on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. The silence around her, the absent sound of her closest friend, brought back a memory that she'd tried so hard to forget.

That stone figure sat across from her, _smiling_ , and she wanted nothing more than to cry.

She stood up abruptly, deciding to find the one person still in the guild that she loved to be around.

9.

"… I had another reason for wanting to talk to you." Claire spoke after a while. The mages had been waiting in a restaurant, sitting a across from each other at a small table, waiting for their order to arrive. Gajeel kept smiling away and looking around the room, giving the occasional compliment to the waitress or other person passing by; while Claire stared at the window they sat against, gazing out at the water quietly.

"Oh?"

"I was hoping that you wouldn't tell Laxus about our… meeting, a few weeks ago. When we walked into each other and you were on your way out of town." She requested, her blue eyes meeting his red ones. His eyebrows piqued in curiosity, his metal piercings moving with his face.

"Why is that? Did I catch you doing something you weren't supposed to be doing?" He asked, watching the guilty grin tug at her lips.

"I haven't been sleeping lately, so I took up morning jogs."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Without my team knowing."

"If it's just jogging, why would they care?"

"Because everyone in my team, especially me, is supposed to tell each other where we are at all times, and in my case I'm never allowed to be alone. I've been taking different routes every morning, leave at different times, and sometimes don't go at all. I don't keep a clear schedules."

"So that no dark wizards can attack." He surmised, and she nodded. "Alright. I won't tell Laxus. How is that you get away from Bickslow, though? Doesn't he notice when you leave?"

"I usually just say that I'm going to the bathroom, and when he wakes up later, he doesn't remember that I never came back. He just figures that I wake up a little earlier than him."

"Wait, just how much sleep are you getting?" The iron mage asked.

"I dunno… go to bed at 11, sometimes later if there's a part at Fairy Tail… wake up at 2 AM most mornings. Go for a jog, come back, work out in the living room, eat breakfast, go to practice with Ever…" She shuddered. "And then hang out at the guild, then go home."

"So you're only getting 3 hours of sleep each night?"

"It varies… but I'd say that's the average."

"So you _were_ having a meltdown yesterday." Gajeel asked with a cocky smirk.

"Do you know if dragons are physically able to cry?" She asked.

"Don't change the subject. You had a nervous breakdown because you're not getting sleep and you're skipping your meals."

"Can you answer the stupid question?"

He paused, looking at her serious expression, and rolled his eyes. "I don't remember Metalicana crying, but it wouldn't surprise me if some species of dragons could and others couldn't."

"Whether it's a dragon thing or the parasite messed me up… I can't cry. For anything." She was gazing out the window again, at the slow moving river and boats floating along it.

"That explains why your meltdown didn't involve crying."

"Will you stop calling it a meltdown?"

"Nervous breakdown?"

"It… it wasn't either of those things."

"You snapped?" He asked, and after a moment, she gave a reluctant nod. Their food arrived, and both of them dug into their soup and pasta. "Mind if I make a suggestion?"

"Sure."

"Get some sleep, make sure you don't skip meals, tell Evergreen you're stressing out and need a few days break from training, and you should start feeling better in a few days. I know from experience that not getting enough sleep can seriously mess you up, and make things you're already dealing with ten times harder. You've already been closer to S-Rank than any other person in the trials, and taking a few days of breathing room isn't going to lessen your chances of winning."

"… hopefully Evergreen can stop screaming at me long enough for me to tell her that." She said, and took a bite of her soup. The iron mage chuckled.

"You're the one competing for S-Class, not her. Just tell her to fuck off."

10.

Elfman was confused.

"Don't tell me what to do, woman!" He yelled back at her retreating form; but Evergreen, the woman he'd secretly been dating, didn't turn to yell at him. She simply kept walking, her voluptuous hips swaying slightly from side to side with each step she took. When he realized that she wasn't going to stop, he groaned in frustration and stood up, following after her. They made an agreement to not talk at the guild hall unless they had to, so that they wouldn't confirm the suspicions of their manly comrades- and discretely asking him to follow her into the back of the guild hall, _alone_ , in the middle of the day was going to result in him getting shit from his friends for weeks.

Elfman followed after her, trying to ask what she was doing, but she remained silent. Step by step, elegant beyond words, while he clunked awkwardly behind her with his massive build.

"Come on, Ever- stop being so weird." He requested, looking down when they passed their colleagues and hoping that they didn't notice him. Evergreen finally stopped at a door, twisted the handle, checked inside of the room, and then nodded her head for him to follow her. Once they were safely inside the empty meeting room, in fact the same that they had tried to teach the safe sex course, the green-dressed woman took a seat on the long table. Suddenly recalling the event, and the rather inappropriate object she touched that day, his face instantly heated up.

"What's the matter, big guy?" She asked with a smile, and flipped her hair back, exposing her bare shoulders.

"Wh-what are we doing here?" He asked, looking away from her. On the board that hadn't been cleaned properly, he could still see the faint words 'safe sex' on the board, furthering his blush.

"Come here." She ordered.

"Wh-what?" He asked, eyes widening and accidentally chancing a glance at her. His heart was beating a mile a minute in his chest, and he thought it would burst at any moment.

"Come here." She said again, and although there was still that edge in her voice, it was a little softer that time. Her hands slid back on the table, just a little, and enough for her chest to become more obvious.

"I-I-I'm good o-o-over h-here." He said, eyes bulging as he tried to look at anything other than her.

"Elfman!" She yelled, and his body moved on its own to her. It was the tone of voice she used when she was serious, or at least seriously mad, and over the past half year he'd begun learning when he could safely disobey her, and when it was a terrible idea. At that moment, being in the same room with her, alone, in a meeting room that could be barged into at any moment was a bad idea. Not to mention the same room that they… tried to teach… how… you know….

Her small, soft hands grabbed his wrists and put his hands on her waist. _This isn't happening. What kind of cruel joke is this?_

"Kiss me."

 _Safe se… se… safe… se… kissing leads to… sa…_ Elfman's brain really couldn't process anything else she said at that point. His entire body was hyper aware of every movement she made, just how close they were, and how his hands were on a very intimate part of her body. _Kis… kissing… safe… sex safe… Ever… se…. kiss…_

And then something touched the front of his crotch, and he ran like hell.

11.

When Gajeel and Claire returned from lunch together, her team still wasn't back yet, but Evergreen was still sitting in the same spot she'd left her. She was quietly reading a book.

"Good luck." The iron mage said with a grin, and she grunted, making her way to the second floor. Talking to Gajeel had actually helped her tremendously, even though she really didn't disclose that much to him; she didn't need to. He was right about her sleep schedule, and she'd been so caught up in training, working out, preparing, the baby shower, her brothers- that she she'd been neglecting her body. Not getting sleep had been slowly eating away at her, and it explained why she'd been so on edge lately. _Well, it made it worse, at least._ She reminded herself.

"Hey Ever." Claire greeted, and sat down in her usual spot. The brunette didn't acknowledge her presence. "Look, I'm sorry that we're not a great team. I've been stressed out lately, and I think a couple days of catching up on sleep and stuff will make me easier to work with."

"Fine." She said simply.

The checker woman watched her, waiting for the fairy woman to burst into a yelling rage… but she didn't.

She just sat there.

Reading her book.

"Thanks for understanding." Claire said, and she nodded. The checker woman let out a small sigh of relief, thinking she was out of the woods, when she saw the small hand of her teammate move to bookmark her page and close the pages. _Uh-oh… here comes the yelling…._

"Can I ask for some girl advice?" She asked, seeming rather calm and collected.

"Uh… sure." _This is a trap._

"How did you get Bickslow to sleep with you?"

Claire was glad she wasn't eating or drinking anything, because she would have choked on it.

They sat there, unmoving, just staring at each other for several seconds.

"… uh… it was kind of… uh… two-way street." She spoke, and glanced around them, checking if anyone else was nearby to eavesdrop. No one else was on the second floor today. "I thought you were going to wait until marriage before you had sex?"

"I changed my mind." She said simply.

 _Trap… trap… what is she fishing for?_ "Since when?"

"Couple hours ago."

"… why?" She asked suspiciously.

Evergreen rolled her eyes. "Maybe I just got tired of waiting, and want to know why people are so crazy about it. Besides, if I wait for marriage, what happens if the guy I like is terrible in bed?"

"Did you… have you… acted, on this new revelation?" Claire asked curiously, leaning in closer and speaking softly.

She smiled.

"Did you… finish, it? Like, are you still a virgin, or-?"

"Yes, I'm still a virgin. He didn't… go for it. I think something is wrong with him." She said, looking over to the middle of the guild hall, and then back to Claire's poorly refrained grin.

"Tell me everything."

She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, do you want help getting boned or what?"

"Do you have to use such crude language? Talking to you is no better than Bickslow."

"Then do that, and he'll fill me in on the details."

Evergreen thought about it for a moment, and it wasn't long before she wore a matching grin and leaned in to explain the details of her earlier attempt. In all honesty, Claire usually didn't care for talking about sex with Evergreen, namely because the inexperienced mage had no idea what she was talking about when she brought it up. But this was too juicy. "Well, after you and Gajeel left… I took him to the empty meeting room on the other side of the guild hall."

"Wait, you tried to…" Claire tried to ask, but at the glare, she stopped. "I'm sorry, please continue."

"I took him to the room we tried to teach that safe sex seminar at, to, you know, give him the hint. I sat down on the table and told him to come over, using my feminine whiles to get him in the mood," Evergreen explained, stopping to glare when Claire bit her lip to keep back her laughter.

"Ignore me, please keep going."

"Anyway, he finally came over, and I told him to kiss me."

"Did he?"

"No, he didn't get it. So I slowly put my hand on his penis, so that he'd get it, and then he ran off. Can you believe it?"

"Did, you, uh… did you leave out any details? Like, having a conversation with him or… anything, leading up to it?"

"All men want is sex; I thought it went without saying. What kind of man walks out on a woman willing to have sex with them?"

"So, let me get this straight." Claire spoke, first taking a deep breath to calm down and get into 'serious Claire mode'. "You took him to an empty room in the guild hall, in the middle of the day, sat down, told him to kiss you, and when he didn't you touched his junk."

"No, that's a very crude interpretation-"

"But, like… you didn't ask or anything before you touched his junk."

"Well, no,"

"Had you guys done anything like that before?"

"We had kissed, but that's it. I wonder if he's gay."

Claire couldn't hold back her laughter anymore, even though she shouldn't be laughing quite that much at the girl's predicament. Her friend blushed madly, eyes wide, and repeatedly told her to shut up.

"Why are you laughing? He ran out like a baby in the middle of-"

"You- are-" She said between laughs, holding her stomach and resting her forehead on the table edge, continuing to laugh. "so-terrible-"

"What? How am I in the wrong?"

"So like... oh, man, I feel so bad for Elfman."

"Feel bad for him? Feel bad for me!"

"You just… boop." Claire said, and reached over to poke the woman's left breast, aiming for her nipple. Her hand was smacked away, but the checker woman kept laughing.

"That's sexual harassment!"

"Are you turned on?"

"What? No!"

"Darn, because I am." Bickslow said as he arrived, Fried and Laxus close behind. Clad in his navy blue outfit, he gave them a playful smirk as he made his way around to Claire's side. "Training went well, I see."

"That- that-" Evergreen stammered, her face unbelievably red as her friends sat down in their usual spots.

"We were having a very serious discussion about a future safe sex seminar she was going to try and lead again." Claire said, going back into 'serious Claire mode'. "I was making the point that tou-ching-" but as soon as she accidentally locked eyes with the unbelievably embarrassed woman, she cracked, falling into hysterics again. Bickslow had to hold her back to keep her from falling out of her seat, and while she held her stomach, she rested her forehead on the table again, body shaking with each laugh.

"What is she laughing about?" Fried asked, still suspicious of her from the previous day.

"We probably don't want to know." Laxus told him.

"I do." Bickslow said with a grin, and turned back to Ever.

"I, uh… just remembered…" She stammered, and jumped out of her seat and ran downstairs. As she did so, Bickslow watched, and noticed that Elfman's face got particularly red as she ran past.

12.

"Wait, don't tell me. Act it out." Bickslow said, later that night when they'd returned home.

"That's weird even for us."

"Please?" He pouted, lips trembling slightly as he tried not to laugh.

She smiled, looking away and trying not to fall into a giggling fit of laughter again. She'd been doing it ever since Ever told her what happened, and no matter what, she just couldn't stop. The image of Ever poking Elfman in the junk and him running away terrified just…

She started laughing again.

"Okay, we are definitely doing this. Okay, I'll be Elfman, you'll be Evergreen. Give me a setting, let's start from the top."

"Okay, uh… middle of the day, around 11 or 12, Elfman was in the middle of the mess hall eating and hanging out with his friend."

"Right, got it." He said, and wiggled in his seat on the couch, channeling his 'inner Elfman'. As she got up and walked away, he stood, pumping his fists into the air. "I'm a real man! I do manly things!"

Claire stood in the kitchen, channeling her 'inner Evergreen'. Straightening her shoulders, flipping back her invisible hair, she walked into the living room with her nose in the air. "Elfman," She spoke, sternly, and her boyfriend turned to her.

"What do you want, woman?"

"Don't argue, just come on." Claire said, grabbed his arm, much like she'd seen Ever to plenty of times, and dragged him to the bedroom. She had him stand by the door, and Bickslow played an awkward Elfman pretty well. Avoiding eye contact, looking around the room, shifting his weight and flexing his muscles on occasion. "Ever took him to the place they taught the safe sex seminar."

"Subtle," Bickslow commented, and tried to act extra awkward, looking around the room.

Claire took a seat on the bed, moving her head awkwardly to try and make it seem like she was flipping her hair, and batted her eyelashes at him. "Elfman, come here."

"…" He looked to her, trying to stay in character, and then rigidly walked over to her, trying to act like a nervous Elfman.

"Kiss me."

"Did he actually?"

"Nope." She said, and bit her lower lip.

"Then wha- woah!" He said, and jumped back at the unexpected sensation.

"He wouldn't kiss her so… boop." She said, and reached forward to poke his junk again.

"I… that felt so weird!" He said, holding his crotch and moving around. "There was no… leading up to it. She just went for it? Like that? With Elfman?"

"Yep."

"Did she at least lead up to it?"

"Without using words or touching him she apparently used her 'feminine wiles' to get him in the mood."

"I… okay, I can see how some guys are into that, but like… it's Elfman."

"I know."

"He's more of a virgin than Ever is. When the topic comes up in the baths, he gets all tongue tied and can't even say the word 'sex'. Well, he used it when saying 'safe sex', but he didn't know what it was when he said it. There was no leading up to it?"

"She said that 'all guys want sex, so it went without saying', or something to that extent."

"So she just… went for it?"

"Yup."

"… no leading up to it?"

"Not that I could get out of her."

"In the middle of the day, at the guild hall,"

"Yep."

"… to have sex for the first time."

"That is what she told me."

"… Evergreen."

"Yep."

"The one always saying that she's going to wait for marriage,"

"Yep."

"Took her secret boyfriend to an empty room, in the middle of the day where they both work, and tried to do the nasty with him. For the first time."

"That is correct."

"… so you touched her boob."

"To try and show her how weird it is to randomly touch a sensitive part of someone else's anatomy without permission or leading into it, and just expecting them to be turned on by it."

"… but is it really so weird?" Bickslow asked, leaning down and planting a kiss on her lips, and then reaching down to her crotch. When he lightly pressed against the squishy folds, however, both of them started laughing in the kiss, unable to stop.

"Okay, so uh, I actually need to have a serious conversation with you at some point tonight." She asked once her laughing slowed, Bickslow's face buried in her neck and his arms on either side of her. At some point he'd fallen to his knees in the laughter.

"About what?" He asked, and shifted so that his hands were on her waist. Still chuckling and smiling, he leaned back to look at her.

"Sleep stuff."

"What about it?"

"I was talking to Gajeel today, and my sleep schedule came up, and he pointed out that I'm sleep deprived. He thinks it's why I kind of snapped yesterday and hid in the library."

"How much sleep are you getting? You've been waking up before me, so I know it's less than 7 hours."

"On average, 3 hours of sleep each night. I wake up at around 2 AM and work out in the living room until you wake up."

"Wait, you've been doing that every morning? And 3 hours, seriously? When did this start?"

"It was less frequent before the tournament, and then it became a regular occurrence. I didn't really think that it was effecting me, but I can see how it has… Anyway I'm going to take a few days off from training to rest, and catch up on sleep."

"I'm surprised you're even functioning."

"My partial dragon anatomy makes me more durable and resilient than most people, so it's possible that I can go longer periods of time without sleep than most people, and not be affected."

"So why'd you stop getting sleep?"

"I… well, part of it, I'm not blaming you in the slightest…" She said, and leaned forward to nuzzle her cheek into his. Without having to say it, he realized what she was going to tell him.

"My nightmares." He muttered, and sighed, guilt washing over him.

"It is kind of hard to get back sleep after you wake up screaming bloody murder… I'm not mad or upset or anything, and I love you and I understand,"

"But it fucked up your sleep schedule."

"Kinda…"

"Did you realize that I was doing that?"

"I honestly didn't make the connection until a few seconds ago… you've stopped having nightmares as frequently recently, so when I wake up and you're not upset, I'm still awake anyway and just… can't go back to sleep."

He groaned, hating the idea that his nightmares caused such a backlash, and hid his face in the crook of her neck. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"I'm going to another meeting tomorrow."

"They seem to be helping a lot."

He sighed, thinking about their current predicament. His nightmares had mostly stopped at that point, although he did have them on occasion still, and he was still restless in his sleep most nights. It was no wonder she couldn't sleep in the same bed as him. "Tomorrow we'll stop by Porlyusica's and see if she has any sleeping meds for us. I'll sleep on the couch tonight so that I don't wake you up, and if you do wake up anyway, we'll have some nice herbal tea to make you sleepy again."

"You don't have to sleep on the couch, babe. You don't even fit on it."

He raised his head again, and reached up to cup the sides of her face, gently resting his forehead against hers. "I'll be sleeping on the couch, and if you get lonely we can have our babies sleep with you to keep you company. I love you and I want you to get a good night's rest."

13.

Bickslow creaked his eyes open, his body aching in pain from the uncomfortable position he'd been sleeping in, and he stared at the woman in front of him for a moment.

She was standing on her hands, her legs split in the air, and wearing her workout clothes. He had the urge to reach out and touch her lady parts, since it was just _right there_ and ripe for the taking, and although he didn't do it he smiled at the idea.

"Watchya doing?" The sound of his voice startled her, and she always fell over. "I'll go get the sleepy tea going." Bickslow said, wincing as he moved to stand, and made his way over to the kitchen. It was dark in their dimly lit apartment, and the only reason he could see so much of her was because of the nightlight plugged into the wall.

"I'm sorry."

"Go change back into pj's." The seith mage grumbled, and flinched when he turned on the light, rethinking the idea of having a nightlight in the kitchen. He got the teapot out and filled it with water, meanwhile he heard the soft patter of his girlfriend's feet move back into the bedroom.

14.

Makarov stood at the podium with a microphone in front of him and S-Ranked mages standing in a line on either side of him. The Guild Hall was packed with mages from the guild, the fullest it had been in a long time, and was so filled that some people had decided to sit in the rafters.

"Ugh, we should have sat up there." Bickslow said with a grimace, looking up at the snotty mages up there. Claire nudged his ribs with her elbow, and he grunted, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against him. At about 2 AM Claire had woken him up, and after a half hour of herbal tea and sleepy things, they'd both fallen back asleep in their bed. Unfortunately, she got up again several more times, and they'd had to repeat the process until they got a total of maybe 6 hours of interrupted sleep.

"All of you have worked very hard over the past few weeks to earn your spot in the S-Rank trials. Unfortunately, S-Rank isn't for everyone. I'd like to congratulate everyone…." As Makarov spoke, giving a rather lengthy speech, Bickslow moved Claire so that she was in front of him, and he could rest his head against hers. After a while, the guild master finally got close to announcing the participants, so Claire nudged him back awake. They separated, waking up slightly since both of them had dozed off, and looked up at the guild master expectantly.

"I'll start," The Guild Master spoke. "By listing off the mages who have already been confirmed to participate: Fried Justine, Gajeel Redfox, and Natsu Dragneel." A cheer came from Natsu, and Gray hit him over the head to make him shut up. "Although she was not technically confirmed, it's no surprise that Claire Groh also has made the list from competing in the same tournament. The other participants, the names you've all been waiting for," _Get on with it. I want to go home and nap._ Bickslow thought tiredly. "Gray Fullbuster, Kana Alberona, Bickslow Yoshino, and Juvia Lockser."

"What?! Over half of the Thunder Legion will be competing!?" Gray exclaimed.

Bickslow stared up at the Guild Master for a moment, dumbstruck and confused. _Did I hear that right?_

"The decision is final. Each of the participants I listed will be allowed one partner to help them through the trials, and our ship leaves on December 15th." He spoke, and upon the raised hand of the Groh sibling, he nodded to her. "Yes?"

"Are partners required? Could we technically go on our own?"

"Getting a little full of yourself, Claire?" Fried smirked nearby.

"I didn't say I was going to, I just like to know my options."

"A partner is not required to compete, but it is strongly recommended." Makarov answered her.

"I got all the partners I need." Bickslow said with a grin, his babies popping up behind him.

"Yeah, partners!" His babies echoed.

"This trial is going to be intense with those guys." Loke spoke next to Gray, who was visibly freaking out. During the Battle of Fairy Tail he'd learned all too well just how powerful Bickslow was, not to mention Fried's enchantments. "Don't worry dude, I'm sure we'll be fine."

"I may go without a partner as well." Fried spoke, a challenging look to Claire.

"… all the easier to take them out?" Loke said to his partner, a hopeful smile on his face.

15.

Evergreen entered the Guild Master's office. It was the first time she'd been inside since the stern lecturing she got for the Battle of Fairy Tail, and despite the clean and pristine atmosphere, it would always set her on edge. She closed the door behind her and walked up to the man's desk, suddenly feeling nervous about what she was going to ask him.

"Can I help you, Evergreen?"

"Why not me?" She asked abruptly, and he blinked up at her in confusion. "I mean, you chose everyone on my team for the trials except for me. Even Bickslow."

"I would think that Fried and Claire would be self-explanatory. Fried got the highest IQ score, fair and square, and Claire was the only one to meet the S-Class requirements for the tournament. If not for her sister intervening, I have no doubt she would have succeeded."

"So why Bickslow?"

"The only reason I never chose him before now is because I questioned his allegiance. No matter how powerful he was, I would never choose him for the trials if there was any doubt in my mind about his loyalties. After seeing him open up so much the past year; meeting his nephew, seeing how he acts around Claire, and his actions in general towards this guild, I have no doubt that he would stay with Fairy Tail if someone offered him a position at a dark guild."

"… you chose him because he has a nephew and a girlfriend?"

"No, not exactly." He responded, his eyebrows furrowing at the young woman. She was looking for a specific answer, but he wasn't sure what it was. "He is one of the most powerful mages in the guild, and I would have chosen him for the trials years ago if he'd shown any kindness to anyone other than his souls."

"So… why haven't you chosen me?"

"Well…" He tried to ponder her question, and think of the simplest way to explain it to her. Over the years he'd had to make this speech to countless mages, but no matter what, they were always hurt. "I don't think you're S-Rank material. None of the qualities I've seen in you are remarkable compared to the other mages at Fairy Tail, and I haven't seen you try very hard. I know you can hold your own since you're part of the Thunder legion, but otherwise I haven't seen you go out of your way to master a specific type of magic nor to strengthen yourself physically or mentally."

He explained, and she looked down at his desk, processing his words.

"Kana has shown to be exceptionally clever on the battlefield, using her cards appropriately for each scenario, and I've seen her grow into a powerful mage over the years. Gray pushes himself night and day, sparring with Natsu, and continuously finds new ways to challenge himself to get stronger. Juvia was S-Ranked in her previous guild and Erza supported her perceived strength. Bickslow uses a rare and lethal magic to systematically take out his opponents and uses his environment to his advantage."

"I use fairy and petrifaction magic to take out my enemies without needing to fight them. My magic and muscles may not be as big or strong, but I'm just as powerful in my own way."

"Prove to me that you're willing to go that extra mile over the next year, and maybe I'll choose you for the next S-Class Trials."


	30. Chapter 30

Author's Note: So, since I've written sooo many training/fighting scenes in this story… I kinda skimped on it in the S-Class Trials. I realize it's pretty mary sue to make my character so powerful, but I've tried to balance her out to make her a little less so, and so that she actually works for the title if (when) she gets it. Since I brought up her being intelligent in earlier chapters- which as a reminder the IQ test she took was of the majority of mages from her guild discluding the S-Rank mages, which when you consider how low Fairy Tail's standards are, it makes sense that she'd score high- I decided to make her a little pompous with that knowledge, hence why she holed herself up in the library and called Laxus a dimwit.

Walking Cliché 30

S-Class Trials

Since three members of the Thunder Legion were competing, it was no surprise that Evergreen was asked by two other participants to be their partner. Not only was it known that she was powerful just for being in the group, but she also had information on all of them, which gave whoever she teamed up with an added edge. Claire was fed up working with her, so she chose to partner with Kana. Juvia was the other person that requested her as a partner, but given the woman's obsessive personality, Evergreen decided that the drunk was a better partner.

"So… are we going to train at all?" Evergreen asked as she sat down near the drunk, both impressed and unnerved by the gallon of beer she was chugging like no tomorrow.

"For… what?"

"For the S-Class trials."

"Oh… that. I guess we should train or something, together."

"Great. What are you free to meet? Does 7 AM tomorrow work for you?"

"Uh… sure."

"I'll meet you here at 7 AM tomorrow, and then we can go somewhere? I have a gym that my team rents out for training, so we can use that."

"Sounds great. See you then." The brunette said, and went back to chugging. With a bright smile Evergreen skipped away, determined to win the S-Class trials for her partner. Then Makarov will surely pick her next year.

1.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?" Evergreen screamed at noon, furious with the tipsy woman entering the mess hall. Kana blinked, making a small 'uuuh' sound, and then took a swig from the bottle of wine in her hand. "You were supposed to be here 5 hours ago!"

"… I was? Why?"

"For training!"

"… we were supposed to meet here? Really?"

"Yes!"

"I thought we were meeting tonight? 7 PM?"

"I said 7 AM. Why the hell would anyone train so late in the day?"

"Why the hell would anyone train so early? I'd rather stab myself than get up that early." Kana said, and strolled over to her usual spot, grabbing a barrel of booze on her way. The fairy woman stammered, eyes wide, so angry and frustrated that she didn't know how to deal with the situation.

2.

Fried sat in one of Bickslow and his usual training spots… alone.

Laxus didn't want to train with him that day. The word mage suspected it involved his secret love affair, but it was only a hunch.

Bickslow was competing, so they couldn't work together. That news was rather unfortunate for Fried, since that not only meant that he wouldn't be fighting with his best friend, but finding someone to replace him would be near impossible. He had his quirks, sure, but ultimately he was a great combatant partner.

Evergreen had already been asked to work with someone else.

Claire was obviously out of the question. She'd somehow, much to his annoyance, weaseled her way into his head. He doubted the integrity of his enchantments now, double checked them (after his usual triple checking) several times, and even though he was sure that he got rid of the weak spot in his runes….

There was that possibility that he hadn't.

When he thought about too much, it drove him insane, and he had to force himself to stop thinking about it. Just because she scored higher than Levy, he still scored higher than both of them, and that's what counted. He was smarter, and that was that. Worrying about whether she had a secret weapon against him was pointless, because really, not even Levy or Evergreen were particularly good at getting passed his magic….

So that left him, alone, in a training field with no one to keep him company, and doubting whether he should get a new partner or not. He had stupidly announced to the guild that he would be using no partner, but as he sat there, he re-thought it. Both Bickslow and Claire had wandering souls, which were almost like partners, while he had no one.

He finally sighed, realizing that he would accomplish nothing where he was, and stood up from the large stone he'd been sitting on. Perhaps he'd freshen up on his word magic research in his home, and spend the day reading.

3.

"I got chosen for the trials~" Bickslow sang happily, not for the first time that evening. It had only been a day since he was chosen, and he couldn't stop beaming. To celebrate they had decided to go out to a semi-nice restaurant across town, and even dressed up a little for it.

"Yes you were." Claire chuckled, happy that he was so thrilled. Lately, little by little, people had started realizing just how strong he was. From the fan letter to the subtle looks he got from their colleagues, he'd been gaining confidence in his abilities and more comfortable at Fairy Tail. During the 'Training Week of Hell' he had shown off his physical prowess more than once, and he'd been more than a little cocky at the recognition he caught. Even a few girls giggled in his direction, and after confirmation with Natsu's heightened hearing that they were positive giggles, Bickslow felt a little taller that week.

"I still can't believe it."

"I can. You're amazing." 

"I mean, I half-expected him to not choose you for the trials in order to keep too many of us from competing, from the Thunder Legion that is, but then he chose me, and…" He smiled and wiggled in his seat, and took a sip of his wine to try and calm his nerves.

"I'm so glad that Evergreen is going to work with Kana."

"I still can't believe you did that." Bickslow said, still grinning. "'Do we have to have partners?'" He mimicked, quoting her from the previous day.

"I can't believe that Fried said he won't use a partner. I mean, we have our babies as backup,"

"He'll find someone. In fact I've been thinking of asking Lucy to work with me." He spoke, hiding behind his glass. She gave him a look, recalling their previous battles and how he would joke about her boobs almost falling from her shirt every time it came up in conversation. "At risk of losing my girlfriend I will consider a different partner."

She smiled.

"So you're not going to work with anyone? That's a pretty bold move, and it makes you a target."

"When am I not?" She asked, and he was about to say something, but decided better of it. "I thought about asking Carla or Pantherlily, if Gajeel isn't using him."

"You already have wings. Why another pair?"

"She's agile and if my magic fails, she can get me out of a bad situation. She'd be good back up, and I wouldn't have to worry about her too much."

"Carla isn't a fighter, though."

"Good point." She shrugged.

4.

Bickslow and Claire probably slacked off more than they should have before the trials. Between the occasional workout in the apartment, some light reading, and then the two times that Laxus hassled them about leaving the house… they spent most of their time cuddling and catching up on sleep.

To their credit, most of the other people competing had lost their gusto for the trials after it was announced, so they weren't the only ones. In fact they were better off than some with their limited training. Since the tournament was so intense, most of the mages at Fairy Tail had continued working their hardest to get into the S-Class trials, and the ones that did make it were tired by that point.

Kana and Evergreen weren't training at all. Fried spent most of his time strengthening his magic and researching the competition. Gray was training like crazy, as was Natsu. Gajeel kept up his usual routine, which included training, and had chosen Pantherlily as his partner. Juvia… was a mystery, but she was paired with Lisanna again.

The boat leaving for Tenrou Island loomed before the group, and no one boarded until the Guild Master arrived. Since Claire and Bickslow had gotten there a half hour early, they ended up waiting the longest.

"You okay, Checkers?" Bickslow asked, nudging his oddly quiet girlfriend. She just stared up at the ship, hands in her pockets, and looked a cross between terrified and lost in thought.

"Yeah… I was just thinking about the times I've spent on Tenrou Island."

"Liiike when we did it for the first time?" He whispered, and she smiled softly at the memory.

"That, too. I'm not sure if that's a good or awkward memory."

"It involves us being together, so I'd say it's a good one." He said, and took her hand in his, interlacing their fingers together. "It's going to suck if we end up fighting."

"I won't hold back if you won't."

"Maybe you should hold back a tiny bit." He whispered, and she playfully hit his arm, smiling. "Like that. If we fight, hit me like that."

"How have we been together for a year?"

"Technically a year minus three days… or it might be four… 7 years if you count the time skip." As he rambled, she took a drink from her steaming mug of coffee. When she first stood there, one year ago, she was terrified of fighting. Scared she was doing the wrong thing, worried about getting her ass kicked, nervous about whether leaving everyone in the dark was the right thing.

If I hadn't gone… I would have met Bacchus… maybe I could have saved him. She thought sorrowfully. Or I could have ended up just like him.

"When are you two going to give me grandchildren?" Makarov asked, interrupting their moment. They both turned to look at him, on that early morning of December, and grinned. Their babies flew over to him and lined up in a row, effectively blocked him from the entrance to the ship. Neither Bickslow or Claire were controlling them, so they were curious what they would do. "I meant…" The old man started to say, but after a few seconds of staring at the 5 totems that stared back with their painted faces, he chuckled.

"We're cute!" A few of them said in unison, and did little flips.

"Come on guys, let's leave the Guild Master alone." Bickslow said, and with some giggles they flew back to the couple. "So, can we go on the ship, or are we waiting for the rest of the group?"

"We'll wait." He said decisively, and carrying a similar looking thermas, sat down on the edge of the plank. He was dressed in a coat and long pants, and when he breathed white smoke floated into the air. Having no where else to sit and not wanting to sit on the dirty docks, the couple remained standing. "I assume it goes without saying that you two will fight professionally during the trials?"

"Of course." The said in unison.

5.

"How come Lucy isn't here!?" Natsu yelled, looking around for the blond mage. It was day 2 on the voyage to Tenrou Island, and much like last year, the majority of wizards were sweating and miserable.

This time if Natsu took a chuck out of her, however, Bickslow wouldn't be the one kicking his head in.

"Why do you think?" Loke asked, slightly amused by the fire man's overly theatrical response to Lucy's disappearance. "No one chose her as a partner, and she wasn't chosen as a potential S-Rank, thus she's not on the ship."

"Why didn't she get picked as someone's partner?!"

"She didn't ask." Loke shrugged.

"Why not?!"

"She's getting her first vacation from you guys in over a year. She's probably having the time of her life right now." The red head chuckled, imagining his dearest Lucy typing away at her story that she's been working on. Hearts appeared in his eyes, and he started daydreaming about the celestial mage.

"Lisanna!" Juvia cried out, running over to her teammate. The entire group looked over to the pair, their eyes widening at the sight. "Lisanna!" She yelled again, kneeling next to the now frozen mage. While most of the mages ran over to the fallen Strauss siblings, The Thunder Legion looked to the Guild Master first, noticing that he seemed oddly amused.

"What's wrong with Lisanna?" Claire asked the old man.

"The first round of the S-Class Trials have begun!" Makarov boomed, and everyone stopped and turned to him, their eyes wide in confusion. "When you look at something, it will cast a spell on you and knock you out of the trials. Lisanna was the first to be disqualified."

"What!? That's crazy!" Gray yelled. While the other wizards yelled and panicked, Bickslow and Claire had their souls look around the area for what the 'something' was that had affected the white-haired mage. It was easy enough to locate, and when they did, they smirked.

"Just looking at something is going to turn us into ice sculptures like Lisanna?!"

"You two found it, didn't you?" Fried asked, noticing their calm stature.

Claire pulled out a blindfold from her belt, which had numerous small pockets in it, and put the piece of black cloth around her head to cover her eyes. "Why do you have a blindfold?" Bickslow asked, a perverted grin tugging at his lips.

"Why are you wearing a visor?" She countered, pulling the cloth taught into a knot.

"What is the other part of this round? Or do we just avoid looking at the one thing?" Fried asked, keeping his eyes closed as he faced the Guild Master.

"Whoever destroys it, will get a prize." Makarov said with a smile.

"Ya know if we wait to destroy it, more people might get knocked out of the race." Bickslow told Claire, grinning.

"Does anyone know what the thing is?" Loke asked, and upon hearing something thump to the ground in front of him, opened his eyes. Natsu lay on the ground frozen. "Natsu is out of the trials."

"Claire and Bickslow have used their seith magic to locate the object, but are postponing until more people are frozen." Fried announced to the group, essentially making them the target for every other mage on the ship.

"Thanks a lot, Fried." The seith mage muttered.

"No fair!" Some of them yelled, and after a while of pestering, Bickslow finally ordered his babies to fire at the sun. The sky cracked, and the bubble around the ship disappeared.

"So what's my prize, Guild Master?" Bickslow asked, turning to look at the grinning old man. Makarov pulled out a poster from behind him, and the entire group deadpanned. In his hand was a life size picture of Mirajane in a bikini. Groans rang out from the group, drowning out the cries of Happy at his fallen comrade, and the seith mage turned to his girlfriend with a smile. Once her blindfold was off, she looked at the 'prize', and smiled at the silliness of it.

"Can we keep it?" He asked.

"Sure, and maybe we can get Mira to sign it later."

"I knew there was a reason why I loved you."

6.

"Round two will be much more interesting." The Guild Master announced, standing on a tree stump and looking at his 'children' with a sadistic glint in his eye. Unlike last year, instead of racing to the island from the ship, he had waited until they were already docked and on the island before telling them the details for the next round. They all hiked into the island together, and once they'd reached a small clearing next to a wide river of about 50 feet, the old man jumped on the stump and started to explain.

A map of the island was hanging next to him, and he had a stick in his hand to point to different sections of the island.

"Listen very carefully, because the rules for this round are much more complicated than the last." He spoke, and the group nodded, ready to bolt at a moment's notice. "A trail has been marked to this part of the island. Once you reach this part of the island, you will put magic paint on your hands or whatever other body part you wish to use for the next part. As soon as you touch the paint, you have 20 minutes until your time runs out."

"To do what?" Kana blurted.

"Once your time runs out, you will be marked with a number. The four lowest numbers will proceed to the next round- assuming that many people make it to the painting station."

"What determines the number?" Fried asked.

"Every time you mark someone with your paint, on their skin, you will lose one minute and one point. The person you touched will gain one minute and one point. You start with 20 minutes and 20 points when you touch the paint. The four wizards with the lowest points will continue to the next round. In addition to these rules, you must reach the painting station within 30 minutes, or else you're disqualified."

"So technically if we can slow down everyone else enough, we won't have to worry about the painting thing." Loke spoke in a low voice to Gray.

"Any questions?"

"Yeah," Claire spoke. "If you get to the painting station first, can you go back and tag the people that haven't gotten the paint yet? Or do you have to wait for them to reach the station?"

"You can only tag people that reach the station."

"Before we start this round, can we change outfits?" Evergreen asked awkwardly, and the entire group turned to look at her. Kana and Evergreen were in bikinis, and many of the guys were already snickering at the idea of having to touch them to win the battle.

"Gray, keep your clothes on!" Loke yelled, and the ice mage cursed, frantically trying to find his clothes on the ground.

"Guess we know who's going to win this." Bickslow snickered, referring to the fact that so little of his skin was visible. Only half of his face and hands were exposed. Aside from Fried, everyone else had at least their entire arms exposed.

"Once you cross this river, the trail of the painting station will be clearly marked. Your second round of the trials starts… now!" Makarov yelled, and in the blink of an eye, everyone was running to the river edge and casting their magic to fly across the river. Claire was slightly behind, making sure that everyone had cast their spells before she leaped into the air, using one of her secret weapons.

When she spoke to Warren a few weeks earlier about his telepathy magic, she had asked him to help her with an anti-illusion spell project she'd been working on. At the time it was created to cancel any illusion spell in the immediate area and was activated telepathically, since in an illusion she'd be unable to activate it any other way. Lucky for her, she realized that this could be used in a much more broader sense: a telepathy activated spell disruptor.

Everyone that had used magic to cross the river instantly fell, and while Claire was mid air, she cast the spell to bind Riley back to his vessel and carry her the rest of the way to the other side. "Sorry, guys." She laughed, running down the path. Channeling magic into her legs to make her even faster, and then refastening Riley to her belt, the combined effort got her to the painting station well before anyone else.

It shouldn't have surprised her where the painting station was. She should have known that the Guild Master would incorporate her 'older' brother's mostly destroyed castle into the trials somehow, since it was so impressive. Most of it seemed to have been cleaned up or even rebuilt, whether it was Bacchus or the Guild Master that did that she had no idea. Bacchus's thrown was the holder of the bowl of neon blue paint.

I wonder if the kitchen still works… and if the booze are still there…. Claire thought with a smile, but then shook her head. Get your head in the game.

Unfastening her wandering soul from her hip, she ordered him to keep watch a little ways down the path without his vessel. The soul did as she asked, leaving the vessel to the side of the path, and wandering down a ways to keep an eye out for her friends. I could just touch the paint and hide… but where would the fun in that be?

Mom, wizard alert!

That was fast.

Claire lit a very small fire lacrima, hid it under the throne in a place they wouldn't see it, and ran to hide behind a wall. Then, she waited.

Gray and Loke were the first ones there, which surprised her, since she would have thought that Juvia would make it there first. Not dwelling on it and instead relishing her awesome luck, eyeing the eye candy that was naked Gray, (Bickslow got his own prize at the last round) she waited for them to touch the paint before making her move.

"Hold on," Loke spoke, grabbing Gray's arm before he dipped his hands in.

"What?"

"Claire was way ahead of us and I didn't see her on our way here. She's up to something."

"Maybe she touched the paint and booked it, to slow down the others and avoid the paint fight."

"I don't think so… but we need to do that, anyway. Since you keep losing your clothes, we can't afford to get in the paint fight. Our best bet is to slow everyone else down."

"Let's take them down." Gray said with a smirk, and submerged his hands in the paint. Once she was sure that they'd both touched the paint, Claire used the fire under the chair to catch them in flames, burning up their magic to knock them out.

"Sorry boys," Claire said with a smirk, and knowing that the rest of the group weren't far behind, she touched the paint. The numbers '20:00' appeared on the back of her wrist and counting down, and when she crouched down to touch Gray's shoulder, she touched his shoulder. Instantly her number went from '20' to '19', and Gray's went up to '21'. She touched his abdomen, same result.

A blush and giddy smile tinted her cheeks, but she set aside her emotions and got to work. She covered his entire torso with the bright pink paint and a few on his thighs, for kicks, and once her timer reached zero, it was replaced by the number '1'.

Unable to recall any other objectives for the round, she stood up again as the magic paint disappeared from her hands. When she looked back at her handiwork on Gray, she realized that each person would get a different color of paint, and that everyone would realize that she had made those paint marks on them. Bright pink was my color. How embarrassing is that? For Gray, at least.

The ice mage woke up then, and seeing her standing there and staring up at her brother's handiwork, he quickly leaned forward and grabbed her exposed ankle.

"Sorry Gray, I already reached zero. You, on the other hand…." She grinned, and looked down at him. Loke was beginning to stir as well.

"Shit! We're at 40 minutes!?" Gray yelled, and jumped to his feet. "You knocked us out and… UUUGH we need to move! Everyone must be close by now!"

"His thighs? Really, Claire?" Loke asked her, giving her a knowing look. "What will Bickslow think of that?"

"You can ask him in about 30 seconds. My wandering soul just told me that he's almost here." She told him with a smirk, and his smile fell, about to say something to Gray. His eyes widened when he realized that the ice mage was already running and casting his ice make magic.

"Now then… where's that kitchen…?" She asked with a hum, and although she wanted to summon Riley to join her, needed him to keep an eye on the others. Once they got here they could end up destroying the building, and she couldn't let that happen until after she made her wonderful island drink. A voice in her head reasoned that taking it easy before the trials were done was probably not the best idea, but she'd already finished this round, and the Guild Master hadn't announced the next one yet. Unless there was a secret code… or something…

Whistling a tune and listening to Riley keeping her updated, she made her way to the back, where the still in tact (or rebuilt) kitchen was. She had no idea how her brother had made it so amazing, but it was, and she wasn't going to complain.

The lever on the wall was still there, and after grabbing a hollowed out coconut, pulled the lever. A long, hollowed out and cut in half bamboo like stick flowed with orange juice within seconds right into her drink. When she pulled another one, mango juice flowed in, and then she started opening cabinets to see if there was still the stash of booze. Once she found it, she pondered it, and then decided against making her drink alcoholic. Freshly squeezed orange and mango juice would be nice on its own.

Topping it with a little umbrella and straw, she made her way to a hammock on the second floor, which would be the perfect viewing area for the fight about to begin. Gray was trying his best to slow everyone else down, using ice walls and attacks to keep people back, but it was 7 against 2, and they were determined to get passed. Fried easily flew around his attacks and continued to the paint station with 18 minutes to spare, and Bickslow would have done the same, if Loke hadn't cleverly told Bickslow who made the hand prints on Gray's body when he was midair.

He's going to be pretty pissed… until he gets here and makes the same marks on Kana and Evergreen, that is. She thought amusedly, tempted to physically go to the squirmish down the path that Gray was creating since it sounded so much fun; but then she took another sip of her drink, and a warm, wonderful breeze gently caressing her skin convinced her to stay put.

"Have already completed this round?" Fried asked, looking up at her. She turned her head, peering down at him with a lazy grin.

"Yep. I knocked out Gray and Loke to take their points."

"You wouldn't have any interest in helping me, would you?"

"Not really, unless you made it worth my while. Once you're done with this round, there's a kitchen in the back that makes awesome drinks." She told him, and he rolled his eyes, already starting on his enchantments.

"It's too early to be relaxing, Claire."

"You say that, yet to my knowledge I have nothing to do except wait for you guys to finish this round." She said, watching his rune magic appear in his typical purple and green hues, and block any person from entering the vicinity.

Bickslow was the first to smash into it- flying full speed- followed by Gajeel and Pantherlily, who met similar fates.

"Mother fucker!" Gajeel yelled, standing back up and ramming his shoulder into the mostly invisible wall. Bickslow was so used to working with Fried and having the mage make exceptions for him, he had seen the enchantment, but stupidly thought that he'd be able to pass it like he always did. The seith mage sent his babies inside, since they could go passed the enchantments, and went straight for the paint. Lucky for him, he was able to dip his babies in the paint and then bring them back to him, allowing him to touch the paint with his hands.

As soon as he did, the paint in the bowl changed colors again.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Gajeel yelled again, and stepped back to start using his iron magic against it.

"Now to either go after Gray, or wait for the bikini babes…" Bickslow said with a perverted grin. Under normal circumstances he likely wouldn't be joking about actually 'touching' women in bikinis, but after getting hit by Gray's stupid ice make magic as a result of her touching a naked man other than him, he felt it was justified. Like Claire, he'd left one of his souls behind to watch the others, and the women in question were on their way there. Evergreen knew how to get around Fried's enchantments, so all he had to do was wait. Maybe he'd mix it up by tagging all three: Ever, Kana, and Gray.

The seith mage hid in the trees, waiting for the others to arrive.

"LOVE RIVAL!" Juvia screamed at the top of her lungs, and ran head long into the enchantment, her body turning to water and then coming back together. "HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY BELOVED GRAY!" She yelled, pointing at the fire woman. Now, Claire had been a little tempted to destroy Fried's enchantment because- well, it would make things interesting- but upon realizing that it was protecting her from Juvia, she thought better of it.

"First come, first serve." Claire shrugged, smiling and sipping away at her tropical drink. Fried was standing near the bowl of paint, his hands already covered in paint as he patiently waited. At this point 4 people had touched the paint, and if no one else did, then they would all pass.

Unfortunately for Gray, the bikini pair made it to the enchantment, and Evergreen immediately used her magic to undo it.

10 minutes to touch the paint without being disqualified.

Well, undo the enchantment for her and Kana. Gajeel yelled profanities at them as they entered, frustrated beyond hell that he couldn't get passed the stupid enchantment. The green-haired mage stood to the side, watching the pair with a smirk.

"Don't get cocky Fried, I fought and beat you once!" The card mage yelled and pointed determinedly, and both the fairy mage and drunkard dipped their hands in the paint.

Bickslow's baby smashed into Kana's stomach, effectively launching her out of the enchantment and into the seith mage's arms. He managed to get 15 points from her before she managed to escape his grasp, but then Loke got a few grabs as well while Gray went after Bickslow. The seith mage dodged the attacks and managed to touch his shoulder, bringing his time down to '0:00', and to be replaced by the number 4.

"Damn it!" Gajeel yelled amid his string of profanities, still attacking the strong enchantment.

Evergreen lay unconscious at Fried's feet.

"Shit!" Kana cursed as she dodged Loke and Gray by ducking back into the runes. She was up to 55 minutes, while the resident stripper was at 25 minutes.

"Hey Claire, where is this kitchen that you were speaking of?" Fried asked the young fire mage.

"See that wall about 10 feet behind the chair? It's behind that. The blue handle gives you water, orange one for orange juice, yellow for mango, and then there's a few others. Umbrellas are on the counter." She explained, and the green-haired mage nodded with a small smile, making his way to the back.

"LOVE RIVAL!" Juvia kept screaming over and over again.

"DAMN IT!" Gajeel yelled, still trying to get passed the enchantment, and knowing he was running out of time.

"We've only got 5 minutes left." Pantherlily informed him. Kana stuck her tongue out at the ice mage and tugged down her lower lid, safely behind the enchantment.

"You know, technically we're ahead of you. We've got a lower score than you do at this point." Loke told the brunette, and she paused, her eyes wide. "Claire, Fried, and Bickslow have already completed this round. We're competing for the 4th place, and we've got less points than you do. We could just sit back and relax until time runs out."

Gajeel looked around him, trying to figure out a way to get passed the enchantment.

How did Bickslow get passed it…? The iron mage pondered, and looked over at the seith mage. Like Claire, once he'd completed the round he took to relaxing in a tree stretched out with his hands behind his head. Gajeel smirked.

"Yoink!" Kana said, reaching her hand far enough outside the enchantment to touch Loke's hand. Unfortunately for her, Gray's reflexes were faster, and he managed to get two points were her, negating the one that she got. "Damn it!"

"What the-" Gray asked, feeling a strange tapping sensation on his back, and turned to see what it was. His eyes widened and he jumped back, knocking into his partner. Gajeel had managed to get 5 points before he even noticed, and the dragonslayer snickered in amusement. Lucky for him, the seith mage wasn't keeping a close eye on his souls, and he managed to swipe a small amount of paint to his fingertips.

"Are you kidding me!?" Kana yelled, watching the four mages begin to fight. The only one that hadn't touched the paint at that point was Juvia, and she was too busy screaming at Claire to care one way or another.

Once Gajeel's time ran out, after getting Gray and Loke 20 times, the round was pretty much over. The number '1' replaced his timer, and even if Gray or Kana managed to get the other person's points, it wouldn't be enough.

Fried had taken a hammock near Claire, and the pair had been watching the fight with interest while drinking their juice blends.

Once the round was officially over, a new message appeared on the throne, and all participants walked over to read it. Fried undid his enchantment to let them join them, and as he did so, the Guild Master appeared and replaced the bowl of paint. He was grinning at the group.

Evergreen woke up, and she was none too happy about losing the round.

Claire used her fire magic to knock Juvia out, to avoid an unnecessary fight.

"Who got the hot pink paint?" Makarov asked curiously, noticing that Gray was absolutely covered in it.

"Bickslow's girlfriend got a little handsy." Loke smirked, crossing his arms.

"So did Bickslow." She countered, looking over to Kana. The brunette blushed, looking down at herself. Neon green handprints covered her upper arms, waist, neck, and there was one handprint on her upper chest. Realizing how many times she'd been touched and by who, she shuddered.

"How did you knock me out so fast?" Evergreen huffed to the rune mage.

"I have my ways." He smirked.

"Fried, when you have an unconscious bikini babe, you're not supposed to keep your hands just on the arms." Bickslow told him, grinning.

"They do when they're gay." Evergreen said, her cheeks red.

"I didn't see any reason to make this round more uncomfortable than it had to be. Unlike you, I'm a professional." Fried said simply.

"Perverts." Kana stated, eyeing the seith and fire mage.

"What are your numbers?" Makarov asked, extremely amused with how his game ended up. He'd initially worried that it could get out of hand with the 'skin-on-skin' requirement, since it could get into the sexual harassment realm, but Gray's nakedness and Kana and Evergreen's bikinis proved that wearing little to no clothing in battle has its downsides. The Guild Master had taken their individual lack of clothing into consideration for this round. There are many wizards, especially dark ones, that use skin-on-skin contact to transfer poisons and paralyzers, so dodging them were a useful tool.

"One." Gajeel and Claire said in unison, holding up their wrists.

"Four."

"Five."

"... thirteen."

"... fifty-five."

"When will this stupid paint come off?" Gray asked, glaring down at his colorful skin. He really didn't mind Claire touching him for the round, since it technically was the only way to pass (and he'd be lying if he said he wouldn't have done the same in her position), but the bright pink paint was an eye sore. Not to mention Juvia touched him whenever she could, much to his annoyance, so he'd gotten used to women groping him.

Men touching him, on the other hand… Gajeel had left a giant purple hand print on his left butt cheek. Upon realizing the mark was there, Kana and Evergreen started giggling and everyone else snickered.

"24 hours." The Guild Master answered, still smiling.

The ice mage groaned. "Does any one have clothes I can borrow? Evergreen?"

"What's the next round?" Fried asked, and took a sip of his coconut drink.

"The next round won't start until tonight, so you can explore the island for the evening and prepare for it. You may go to any part of the island, and when the time comes, I'll inform each of you of the rules for the next round. Until then, have fun."

"And what do we do?" Kana asked.

"The losers will come with me back to base camp."

7.

"Fucking hell," Bickslow muttered, wringing out his guards. "Did you really have to drop all of us into that river? I lost two of my vessels and my guards aren't waterproof." He complained, unstrapping the soaking wet garments and hanging them on a branch. Even though they were technically enemies, the pair had decided to hang out and relax for a while.

Claire already knew the layout of the island particularly well, since she'd been trapped there with her brothers for over a week, and to make sure nothing significant had changed she sent Riley to wander and get an idea of the island, too. She took Bickslow to a secluded watering hole that she knew about. It was unlikely that they would be bothered there.

"Sorry, honey. It was too perfect not to do. I was a little disappointed that no one got swept up by the river and disqualified."

"Ever and Kana almost did, but Ever used her fairy wings at the last second to get them out. Gray froze it to try and keep us all there, but it only kept us from getting too far down the river. Speaking of Gray," He spoke, giving her a pointed look. The fire mage was laying on the ground, her feet in the water she warmed with her fire magic, and her hands behind her head. She grinned up at him, looking relaxed and calm. "His thighs? Really?"

"I thought it would be funny, and it's not like I couldn't have done worse. He was unconscious, after all." She reasoned, and then smiled. "Gajeel got that giant purple hand print on his ass."

Bickslow grunted, getting the last big guard on his abdomen.

"Are you actually upset?" She asked, and when he didn't look at her, she frowned. "I honestly did it to be silly, not because I was intentionally feeling him up. The magic paint fills in the blank for hand prints, too- there were places I just poked and it appeared as a full hand print."

"Uh-huh." He muttered, goosebumps rising along his damp skin when a cool breeze cooled his pale flesh. The fire woman watched, the corner of her lips tugging into a half smirk.

"Maybe when we get back, we can get our own paint and play this game again?" She asked; although he tried to hide it, she caught the excited look in his eye. He was unclasped the belt holding up his skirt, and hung it next to his guards.

"Are you going to ask Gray to join us?"

"Are you going to ask Kana or Mirajane?" She countered.

"You think they'd go for it?" He asked, finally looking over at her with a grin on his face. He had initially planned to try and appear 'mad' at her well into the next round and get payback for earlier, but there was no way he could keep acting mad with the mental image of the three sexy women wearing nothing but paint.

"If we offer Kana enough booze, she probably would. Mirajane might."

"Hee hee~" He snickered, cheeks pink as he continued the little fantasy in his mind. So long as he wasn't mad at her, Claire didn't really mind, and sighed as she closed her eyes to relax again. This island had a very unique scent to it, along with the usual foliage and dirt smells, and she quietly took in the tranquility of their moment. Rays of sunshine drifted through the giant plant leaves, and when the breeze brushed past, her body would be temporarily illuminated by that light.

8.

Once Bickslow's clothes had dried, which was a couple of hours, he left Claire to explore the island on his own. In the meantime the fire mage went back to the 'castle' to get more juice, then to base camp to get some food and chat with Gajeel, and then she decided to wander the island like the others.

Around midnight, all of them scattered through the island, a message appeared in front of the mages.

'Round 3: Avoid capture by any of the 4 S-Ranked mages on the island for the next 24 hours. Traps have been set up all around the island.'

A timer appeared on every one's wrists.

'The timer can be turned on/off by tapping it twice. Porlyusica is standing by.'

"Shit." Claire whispered, and crossed her arms. This is Bickslow's favorite game, and he's amazing at it. Not to mention Laxus has practice tracking with the man… shit. Looks like I'm going to be fighting a lot over the next 24 hours. Adding that 'Porlyusica is standing by' isn't very comforting. She was about to summon Riley to bind him, but stopped just in time. Shit. My fire magic is going to be an eye sore.

Riley, stay unbound and patrol the area surrounding me.

Night time was not her forte. Her only advantage was her heightened senses, which wouldn't be much help to her. She'd hoped to be facing off against her comrades for this round, especially against Fried, but it looked like that wouldn't be happening. The best chance any of them had was to avoid bringing attention to themselves and hide. Fighting amongst themselves would work against their best interests.

"Shit." She whispered again, and sighed. For 4 minutes she'd just been standing there, thinking about her options, in the middle of a forested section of the island. Her only comfort was that Fried wasn't good in this environment either; but she had no doubt that he could create an advanced enchantment to make himself invisible to the S-Ranked mages. Gajeel, from what she knew, wasn't as good as Bickslow in this situation but could blend into the shadows like no other.

Claire… wasn't good at hiding. She was a fire mage, and in the day time she could probably stay quiet enough to avoid detection, but no way at night. She could do what Bickslow does, which is use her wandering soul for transportation, but since her fire magic lights him up, it wasn't an option.

There was a small waterfall nearby that she could rid her scent, but for sight and sound, she was at a loss. She was cocky with her power, but she wasn't stupid enough to fight one of the S-Ranked mages without trying to avoid it. Mirajane and Guildarts would be the easiest to avoid, Laxus and Erza would be the worst to run into. Laxus was her brother but she had no doubt he would kick her ass if he found her.

Shit.

9.

Bickslow smiled when he read the message.

"Claire and Fried are fucked." He snickered, thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of the people involved with the round. Since the Guild Master had hinted that it would be dark when this round started, he'd done what he always did with his Hide-and-Seek games just in case, and he was glad he did.

Fried's enchantments would protect him to an extent, but ultimately, they really weren't good for things like this. It might buy him some time at most, which could come in handy; however, all of the S-Ranked mages knew how to bypass his enchantments, rendering them useless.

Claire was screwed for obvious reasons.

Gajeel… he actually had no idea. He didn't really talk to the guy that much.

The thought crossed his mind to help the S-Ranked mages find his friends, but since the trio stumbling around the forest were a great cover for him, he figured he'd just wait. The longer it took for them to be found, the easier it was for him to hide.

He'd thought that Claire was most likely to get S-Rank out of the group, but his chances of actually getting S-Rank just skyrocketed.

10.

Gajeel knew that he was good at moving in the shadows, and so was Pantherlily, but they weren't good enough to avoid getting caught by the S-Ranked mages. It was just a matter of time.

He thought about going to the caves he'd found on the other side of the island, but he was nowhere near there and it was the first place that they would look. Hiding under the cliffs was also an idea, but again, they would totally look there or already set traps there. Not to mention moving was risky with not only the S-Ranked traps all over the island, but Fried's as well. There was no way that that mage didn't set up enchantments all over the island.

"This doesn't look good." Pantherlily spoke. "Erza and Laxus are very powerful and perceptive."

"Claire isn't very good at this, either. If we pair up with her we might stand a chance in a fight."

"Her magic will be like a beacon in this darkness, though. If we did join forces and got in a fight with one S-Class mage, then the rest would flock to us." Pantherlily reasoned, and the iron mage nodded. "I say our best bet is to hide out in the caves on the other side of the island and wait it out."

"It's probably full of traps."

"Better that then facing a fight. It's our best chance."

11.

Fried preferred not to use profanity, but if there was ever a moment to use it, it was then.

He had set up his enchantments all over the island, and had used a new system he'd been working on to create them. They were 'blank slates' essentially, waiting for instruction on their rules he needed to write for them, and now that he knew the rules for the round he could set them.

Some of the enchantments weren't connected, and were simply markers to inform him when people passed through them.

He felt a little guilty as he updated the new rules to his traps, and wrote his enchantments to light up like a beacon and trap anyone that happened into them. Whether S-Class or his fellow competitors, it worked to his advantage.

Once that was done, he walked over to a hollowed out tree he could hide in with ample coverage, and set an enchantment to rid his scent. It was the best he could do, since trampling through the forest would undoubtedly increase the chance of him getting caught. If anyone happened too close, he would sneak off to another section of forest and hide again.

12.

The S-Class mages waited at base camp for a few minutes before starting their search.

"Mirajane and I will be checking the traps for the first few hours, and then sleep for the night and search in the daytime." Guildarts spoke, re-explaining their plan and making sure everyone knew their jobs. "You two will, well… have fun." He said, looking to Laxus and Erza. He couldn't be happier that they weren't around when he took the S-Class Trials, because he had no doubt they would have caught him. This round was easy pickings; between Erza's sharp wit and Laxus's heightened senses, the participants were screwed.

"At around 2 AM, want to start taking shifts?" Laxus asked Erza.

"Let's see how it goes. We may not get past an hour." She said with a confident smirk.

"Don't underestimate Bickslow. This is his favorite training game, and I've never been able to find him, even with daylight."

"Sounds like an interesting challenge."

"Looks like Fried is making our job easier." Mirajane giggled, pointing in a direction. The group turned to look at where she was pointing, and their eyes landed on the column of enchantment blinking 'FOUND' in large letters.

"Sucks for them." Guildarts laughed. "Who wants to grab the poor bastard?"

"It's probably Gajeel. He's the only one that doesn't know how to avoid those traps." Laxus chuckled.

"I'll go get him." Erza volunteered, and jumped into a sprint, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

"Your team seems to have an advantage." Makarov commented.

"They're strong." Laxus affirmed.

13.

What are you doing, mom? Riley asked telepathically, watching as the woman poked at Fried's enchantment and summoned her own data compression magic. Her words burned and glowed before her, and her wandering soul watched in awe at the colors and confusing movements she made.

You'll see. If this works, Fried is going to hate me. She grinned. I may not have the advantage in this environment, so I'll just make my own advantage.

14.

Gajeel hated leaving Pantherlily behind. The poor bastard was going to have to fight one of the S-Class mages on his own, but like he'd said, it didn't matter if he was caught. The iron mage was the one that needed to survive the night.

And boy, did he run like hell.

He ran as fast as he could to get as much distance as possible, and was relieved when he happened across the river from earlier that evening. It would make his scent more difficult to track, and gave him the opportunity to get far without his scent lingering.

Just before he bent his knees to launch himself into the water head first, a giant monster emerged from it, causing him to abruptly stop, causing his heel to slip on the muddy ground and make him fall. It roared, loud, and the sea creature extended one of its tentacles towards him. He rolled to the side to avoid getting grabbed, and then booked it up river.

15.

Bickslow watched Claire curiously from the shadows.

She'd accidentally happened across his hiding spot, although she had no idea he was there. He made sure to keep his souls at bay when she arrived, since she could sense them, and as a result he was stuck until she moved. If the S-Rank mages got too close he would escape regardless of her discovering he was so close, but he wanted to avoid anyone (including her) detecting him unless it was necessary.

Her magic was bright, and in the darkness, it stuck out like a sore thumb. He was ready to bolt if she attracted the attention of anyone, but for the time being, he watched her intently from his hiding spot. Initially when Fried told him that she had found a way around his enchantments, he just figured that the woman was playing mind games with him; however, there was no way that she'd openly use her fire magic unless there was a good reason, and she was parked right next to the word mage's rune trap, doing something to it.

Maybe it wasn't a bluff… what in the world are you doing, my love? He wondered, smiling. The rainbow colored words were beautiful to watch, and her movements hypnotic.

Even from there, he could hear someone trampling loudly through the woods; likely Gajeel. If Gajeel had gotten caught by the enchantment then he'd be done for, which means that Pantherlily was the one that got caught. It was possible that one of the S-Ranked mages had been caught, and one of his souls would check on it to confirm his theory soon enough.

A roar rang out into the night sky, disrupting the dead silent atmosphere.

16.

Fried's magic informed him that Pantherlily had been caught.

The sound of a monster roaring into the night had caused him to jump in surprise, and he had to take a calming breath to sooth his nerves. Neither roar nor his activated trap were anywhere near him, so for the moment, he was safe.

It was deadly quiet, and every little tiny sound caught his attention. Darkness encased his vision, as he could see nothing else from his hiding spot.

His heart beat painfully inside his chest.

Another calm breath.

He closed his eyes.

17.

Laxus walked through the dark forest, taking his time on the well traveled path. He was tempted to go after Gajeel, but considering how clumsy the iron mage was being, it was just a matter of time before he fell into one of the many traps on the island. So he took his leisurely time, keeping an eye and nose out for any fresh scents; Fried would likely be holed up somewhere surrounded by enchantments, so if he found his relatively fresh scent, he could find the general area he'd be hiding without much of a sweat. Like Ever, he knew how to get around his enchantments with a special pen.

Besides, Erza was the one excited for this. She was running around the island like crazy, and was already headed towards the noise that his boyfriend was causing. The requip mage may not have 'heightened senses' like him and the others, but she should never be underestimated.

He was looking forward to watching his sister fight Erza. Being quiet or subtle wasn't his sister's style, so she likely wouldn't pass this round. Pity, since he put so much time and energy into training her.

Bickslow attaining S-Class would be awesome. The idea caused the dragonslayer to smile, happy for his long time friend.

18.

Gajeel ducked just in time, dodging the swing of none other than Erza Scarlet's sword. He jumped to the edge of a small clearing that he'd entered, finding himself facing one of the most powerful mages of Fairy Tail. Laxus, he would at least stand a chance against. "Bring it." He growled, readying his magic.

"I'm sorry Gajeel, but you won't be making it passed this round." The red head told him, smirking in the near darkness. Only the stars and crescent moon lit them in the night, and Gajeel hoped to use it to his advantage.

Their fight didn't last long, and within minutes the iron mage was on his back, staring up at the sword Erza held at his throat. Even with his dragon scales, she was an expert at weaponry, and had managed to break through his defense. Her sword glinted in the moonlight.

This is it… so much for S-Class… He sighed, closing his eyes in defeat. "I gi-"

Suddenly the island became engulfed in light and fire, and the booming sound of a voice caused everyone on the island to jump in alarm. "IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII, I'M HOOKED ON A FEELING!" Vocals boomed into the air and the sound vibrations shook the ground beneath them, triggering many traps on the island as a result. Every single enchantment Fried had created was now a column of hellfire reaching for the sky, and the one currently housing him did something unique.

'FRIED IS HERE' Flashed on the outside of his hideout, along with the image of the pixelated smiley faces that also resided on Claire's head. 'CLAIRE IS A BAD ASS' Flashed below Fried's name.

When Erza looked back down at Gajeel, hands over her ears at the loud song still playing, she discovered that he was gone.

19.

The sound of Bickslow falling off of his branch caused the woman to turn, surprised by the sound. She instantly stood, making her rainbow magic disappear, and investigated the sound.

"Hey, honey. Like the music?" Claire asked him with a grin.

On her world she had never learned how to make viruses, or how to 'hack' things, but she understood the concept of it. She had prepared a virus with her data compression magic, which essentially let her magic slowly seep into the word mage's network of enchantments, and worked as a trojan horse until it was spread through all of the enchantments. Fried's enchantments always had the capability to play music, but he'd either never thought of or saw the use in doing so, and she exploited the hell out of it.

She wasn't quiet and her magic was an eye sore; so she used Fried in order to make everyone else deaf and visible.

Bickslow held his ears in his hands, trying to block out some of the sound.

20.

Laxus held his ears to block out some of the sound, his heart still racing from the obnoxiously loud music; despite the fact that it was way too loud, he couldn't help smirking. His sister totally screwed over Fried, and he wondered if the word mage would ever get over the blow to his ego.

He made his way to the words signaling where the man was, taking his time.

21.

Five hours later...

"Fried, STOP THIS INFERNAL RACKET!" Makarov screamed at the young man. Originally when Fried had been caught, he told them that at max the music would play for a few hours until her magic ran out.

It played all night.

All. Night.

"WEEEEE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIEEEENDS…. AND WEEE'LL KEEP ON-"

"I can't, without her magic infecting mine." Fried grumbled, bags under his blood shot eyes. He'd been analyzing his 'infected' runes for well over an hour now, and whenever he tried to fix whatever the hell Claire had done, her hellfire magic would attack him. It wasn't even a complex 'virus', and anyone's magic other than hers he would have been able to regain control over his runes.

"Make it stoooop!" Gajeel groaned nearby. He was sitting cross-legged, hands over his ears, and groaned as he leaned forward and banged his head on the hard ground.

And then it did.

The song ended, and there were a few seconds of silence.

"Thank god." Makarov whispered. "Thank you, Fried."

"I, uh… I didn't do anything." The green-haired mage informed him. "And her magic is still active."

"I don't care, so long as it's stopped." Gajeel grumbled, and took a deep breath, enjoying the silence.

Then some strange sounds vibrated in the ground.

"Aaaah, sh, push it," A voice whispered, and everyone groaned.

"Someone find her already!" Makarov yelled at his S-Class mages, who all scratched their heads. Three of them were present, as they'd started taking turns patrolling the island, and so far they'd had zero luck locating her.

22.

"You are so evil." Bickslow smiled as he approached her. She looked up from her spot, grinning at his arrival. They were on the upper most highest branches of the Tenrou Tree, and she had escaped there during the confusion of 5 hours earlier. Equipped with her ear plugs, and giving a pair to Bickslow when he threatened to turn her in if she didn't, she had spent the night in a hammock she had tied up in the branches.

To her knowledge, there were no traps up there, and even if there were she hadn't stumbled across them. Her spot was secluded, easy to escape from, and Riley kept an eye out while she got shut eye.

"And don't worry, no one saw me. Mira is in the caves and everyone else is at base camp, pissed off at you."

"Are we the only ones left?"

"Yep. Only eighteen and a half hours to go." He told her. Nighttime was a challenge, but daytime when all of the mages could actually see what they were doing was just as bad. They would be a little sloppy from the constant noise and lack of sleep, but knowing them, it also meant that they would be more determined.

It wasn't sunrise quite yet; the morning hues indicating the sun would soon rise were filling the sky, and it was just a matter of time before the first slivers of the hot star would appear on the horizon.

"Sounds like things just got difficult." Bickslow said, frowning and looking off into the distance, listening to his wandering souls.

"Why?"

"They're letting the losers help in the search."

"As if the S-Ranked mages weren't difficult enough." Claire commented.

"Shit… that means I'm stuck up here for a while." Bickslow cursed, peering carefully between two heavy branches at the ground. He had originally hoped to come up here for a little while, visit, and then go back down before sunrise.

It wasn't a huge loss, since even if they were briefly caught, he could easily escape and hide again. Claire wouldn't be so lucky.

Although, as he looked down at the island below them, adding so many people to the search was going to make it extremely difficult to stay hidden. On the other hand, he could use their trampling through the island to his advantage, and Claire as a scapegoat if push came to shove….

23.

It was suspicious that no one bothered to check the tree.

4 in the afternoon, and no one had thought to check the top of the Tenrou Tree. Claire slept for most of that time, and Bickslow took a very brief nap, not daring to sleep for more than a half hour. Whether they just didn't think of checking the tree, or they thought they would have seen them go up there if it was the case, it had Bickslow worried.

For all they knew, they'd accidentally walked into a trap without realizing it, which is why they didn't bother checking.

Laxus had struck the top of the tree with his lightning at around 2 PM, but that was the closest anyone came to finding them. Bickslow barely held back a yelp at the sudden attack and almost flew out of his hiding place, but when the tree wasn't struck a second time, he stayed still.

The seith mage pondered the predicament quietly, staring off into space and laying a little lower down the branches than Claire was. Why haven't they been checking this tree? He asked himself for the millionth time, eyeing his surroundings.

A bird cawed in the distance, and he turned, looking out into the sky. His eyes widened.

Shit. The bird was flying towards him, and the giant red feathered creature cawed loudly into the air again, getting closer. Bickslow summoned two of his babies, and as the giant creature landed on a somewhat open and flat surface within the tree, it's insanely large and sharp looking beak lunged at him. He dodged the first lunge, and then the second, as the giant 10-foot wide bird trudged into the bramble of branches to get to him. To his annoyance he was forced out of the tree, and he tried to race to the ground to avoid detection, but Laxus's lightning was too fast.

Claire was high enough in the leaves, and quiet enough, that bird paid her no mind. Avoiding any movement whatsoever, she had Riley relay Bickslow's unfortunate knock out, hoping that she wouldn't meet the same fate.

Figuring (and hoping) that no one else would bother to check the tree with the vigilant bird inside, not to mention they all doubted that the pair would hide together, Claire fell back to sleep with Riley on watch.

Below, her playlist looped. When she'd created the 'virus' she honestly didn't think it would work that well, considering Fried's vast amount of experience and knowledge, and the songs were limited. This was the third time that her playlist looped.

"I can't stop this feelin… deep inside of me~"

A round of groans resounded from the island.

24.

Only one hour, four minutes, and twenty seconds were left.

Darkness had befallen the island, and all the S-Class mages and losers were searching for her. Her (or Fried's) enchantments were still brighter than a bonfire, burning away, and blasting music like a massive speaker. The bird in the tree had been quiet for the most part, occasionally searching the high branches for other unwanted visitors, but came up empty winged every time.

That is, until Claire checked her wrist for the time, and the magic timer's light caught the attention of her fellow tree dweller. The light went out, and she went back to waiting patiently, but the bird's attention had been caught.

The red feathered creature peered up at her for a moment, staring up at the branches and cocking its head to the side. It was a particularly dense part of the tree, and maybe it simply saw a twinkle of star light through the leaves. To make sure, the bird lunged forward with its sharp beak, hitting something soft and fleshy with its hard lips. A startled cry met her ears.

A loud caw pierced the night sky as the creature fell from her hammock, and the bird angrily pecked at the intruder as it fell and tumbled, breaking the branches and twigs. Claire launched herself into the night sky, and hardened her skin with her magic to protect herself from the projectile attacks she knew would come.

"Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechan!" Evergreen yelled into the night, her bright attack landing square on Claire's body. It didn't cause any damage, but if anyone had been confused as to where she'd been falling from the tree, now they weren't.

The fire woman fell, hurtling towards the island, and she braced herself for the landing. Cold wind whipped around her exposed skin, and her firey form landed like an asteroid on the island. She used the momentum of her landing to cause a radial effect with her fire magic, knocking out anyone within a quarter of a mile.

"Impressive." Guildarts spoke nearby. Or my attack wasn't strong enough to do shit…. "I didn't think you'd be able to stay in that tree so long with the bird. He's a pretty territorial guy."

She pushed herself to her feet, and glanced around, trying to place herself on the island. There was a trail nearby, and if she remembered correctly, she was on the east side of the island.

"Only one more hour and you would have made it."

"I would love to stay and chat, but, uh… later." She said, making a peace sign at him and then bolting down the path. He sent his attack after her, but she used Riley to dodge it, and then kept running at full speed.

Just like Gajeel, it was a matter of time before they found her at this point; didn't mean she wasn't going to try and make it. Technically she just had to outrun and dodge the most powerful people in the guild for an hour… at night… you can outrun Laxus, just stay positive and keep going.

Evergreen attacked her with her Fairy Machine gun attack again, and she jumped into air, kicked off of Riley, and punched the fairy woman in the face, using her wandering soul to get her back on the path afterwards. To her unfortunate luck, only seconds after getting back on the path, Laxus used his lightning magic to appear right in front of her. Stopping wasn't an option at that speed, and he'd appeared in front of her too fast for her to do anything other than harden her body with her magic. He punched her, sending her flying backwards, used his teleportation magic to appear behind her, launched her in the air, and started doing a pinball style attack. She zoomed through the sky at lightning speed getting hit at all angles, and eventually she created another crater in the ground with her body, skidding to a halt on a clearing across the island.

He had separated her from Riley, which sucked.

"You're not going easy on her. Good." Erza spoke, and Claire inwardly cursed as she jumped to her feet, getting in a defensive position.

"Sorry Checkers." Gajeel chuckled nearby. "I was rooting for ya."

Erza, Gajeel, Laxus, and Lisanna all stood near each other and ready to attack. Erza requipped into another set of armor.

Laxus appeared in front of her, ready to hit her again-

What would our parents think?

She didn't harden her magic to brace for the attack.

His fist met her torso, and she felt her ribs cracking at the force, along with her body flying across the clearing, landing next to one of the enchantments. Gripping her abdomen, she kneeled hunched over and coughed up spit and blood.

Meanwhile, she used her hidden free hand to pull up some songs from her data compression magic, and put them into the enchantment.

"She didn't guard herself against the attack. I hurt her pretty bad." Laxus told the red head, although when he looked down at his hand, realized that he didn't get out entirely unscathed either. Hitting her had singed both of his hands pretty bad, and the flesh was raw and bleeding.

"Don't lower your guard." Erza instructed with a smirk. "Claire Groh, stand so that we may fight."

"Alright…" She said, still hunched over with her head on the ground. "Give me a second… just need to send a text to my bff Jill…"

All of them held their heads in pain at the sudden increase of volume and the utterly terrible sound produced by the enchantment; multiple songs blasted from the enchantments all over the island at once. Claire pulled herself up, despite the sound, and ran to a nearby tree. She used her magic to torch it, suck in the magic, and then hit it so that the ashes would spread through the area.

Then she bolted down the path, hoping that she'd have a decent amount of luck to save her.

56 minutes left.

25.

Laxus found his sister with ease. In fact, she wasn't even hiding- she was sitting in the middle of a pathway, looking exhausted and pale. There was a small drop of blood on the corner of her mouth.

She had evidently turned down the fire on the enchantments so that they weren't quite so bright, but they still provided a small amount of light. Not that the lightning mage needed it with his incredibly good night vision, but it had helped in the search.

She was sitting in the middle of one of the enchantments. It was possible that she was running so fast that she stumbled into it, or perhaps was using it to protect herself; either way, he had her. "I cracked your ribs, idiot. That bleeding probably means that I caused internal damage."

"I FOUND HER!" Natsu yelled in the distance, and the lightning mage looked up, listening to the crazy dragonslayer. Idiot.

"NO, SHE'S OVER HERE!" Someone else yelled.

"NO, SHE'S DEFINITELY HERE!" Natsu yelled at them.

Laxus looked back at the enchantment, at his sister, and reached down to pick up a rock. He tossed it inside, and it simply went through her. Projection magic? Since when does she know that? The dragonslayer scratched his head, listening to the multiple 'found her!'s echoing through the island.

The multiple songs playing at once finally turned into one, and he sighed in relief.

"I was tired of my lady… we'd been together too long~" Rubert Holmes voice sang through the 'speakers'. Laxus looked back to the projection, chuckling at the woman's smirk.

26.

20 minutes left.

So far so good.

Breathing was difficult, and she mentally scolded herself for letting Laxus hit her like that. Dumb luck got her out of that situation. She hid in a concave rocky structure towards the center of the island, small streams of water and plantlife hanging from the entrance.

She'd let the thought of her parents psych her out at one of the worst possible moments, and now, all she could do was hide and hope that her plan would work. If any of the S-Ranked mages found her she'd be unable to defend herself, and she was already doubting whether she'd be able to stay conscious that long. Only one hit from Laxus critically wounded her.

What would our parents think of you getting punched in the gut by your own brother? A smile graced her lips and she coughed up more blood into her hand, then went back to sitting mostly upright with her hands on her knees. She was sending a projection of herself through all of the enchantments, which she honestly didn't think would work until she heard the multiple yells and cries of her comrades claiming to have found her.

What would mom and dad think about me joining a wizard guild and fighting for my survival? Or starting fights with my friends, just because I'm drunk or in a bad mood? Dad died for Laxus- would he have wanted him to spend his life fighting in near-death situations for money?

She tried to take the usual deep breath to calm down, but the stabbing pain in her side kept her from doing so.

A twig snapped nearby.

"Ice make lance!" Without looking at him she made her fire magic attack him, draining his magic fast enough to knock him out again. Her gaze moved to the Zodiac Spirit in the shadows, who was back in his suit and tie attire.

"I don't want to get knocked out again. I'll be nice." Loke told her, and ducked into the small concave entrance, taking a seat on a nearby rock. "Even if I yelled out, it's doubtful that they would hear me. Besides, the S-Ranked wizards are supposed to catch you, not me. I have no qualms with you reaching S-Class."

She let him join her, but tried to act like he wasn't there, since she was 'on camera'.

"When I heard that you had gotten strong, I admit, I didn't really believe it. When I hear your name I think of that girl I met a little over a year ago, asking questions about a book she was writing. Her magic was strong, but she wasn't a fighter."

"A lot changed." She spoke, and then coughed into her hand.

"You've been coughing up blood for a while now. Want me to take a look at your injury?"

"No." She said simply, and tapped her wrist to illuminate how much time was left: 19 minutes. Tapping it again, it disappeared. "Laxus hit me pretty bad."

"I saw you bouncing around the sky earlier. It was a cool show, but it must have hurt like hell."

"No. I guarded against it, and didn't feel a thing. I stupidly let my guard down after that, and I'm pretty sure he cracked my ribs."

"How do you guard against something like Laxus?"

"Training with him helps."

"So does being his sister."

"He didn't go easy on me, if that's what you're inferring. If anything he hit harder because he knew I could handle it. If he finds me in the next 20 minutes, he'll kick my ass whether I'm coughing up blood or not." She told him, and coughed into her hand again, feeling the blood continue to pool in her lungs. "Hopefully I last that long. If I pass out, can you get me to Porlyusica?"

"Yeah, of course." He nodded.

"Thanks."

The next 18 minutes were tense; her heart beat rapidly in anticipation, her ears sharp, and eyes trained ahead of her. Loke stayed quiet for the most part, watching carefully for any signs of her condition getting too bad.

"So why'd you drop your guard?" He asked after a while. She glanced at his honey colored eyes, feeling oddly reminiscent of the first time she met him, and looked forward again.

"I thought about my parents. It was stupid."

"What happened to your parents? I've only heard snippets about you and your family over the past year. Lucy is more likely to tell me about your babies than your parents."

"They died." She said simply.

"I'm sorry to hear that. It must be hard-"

"Can we not talk about that?" She interrupted, and an awkward pause followed.

"Of course. Sorry."

Once it got close to time, Claire tapped her wrist again, watching the final countdown. Her heart was pounding in her chest, hands shaking, and she coughed into her hand again. 59, 58, 57, 56, 55, 54, 53, 52, 51….

"There might be another round after this, but if there's not…" Loke whispered excitedly. Gray was still unconscious nearby.

She couldn't suppress the smile.

30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25….

Why would my parents be proud of me hiding and betraying my friends to get to S-Rank?

The smile faltered.

20, 19, 18…

You've been in Fairy Tail for a year, and you're getting something that people have worked years for. Gray has been in Fairy Tail since he was a kid, and he's no doubt been wanting it longer. Bickslow rightfully should have won this round, but he got caught because he came to see me… Fried only failed because I ratted him out… Gray failed because I stole his points….

A wave of guilt and sadness washed over her like a bucket of cold water, and all she could do was sit there, staring into the black.

"What are you so sad for? You just won!" Loke said with a smile, curious as to why she wasn't smiling anymore. A message appeared in front of her.

'Congratulations! You have earned the title of 'S-Class'! Return to base camp to celebrate!'

She didn't read the message, and instead was lost in her own thoughts. The 'camera' turned off without her realizing it, and she turned off the music without thinking- she moved automatically, shutting down her control over Fried's enchantments, and then sat there.

Darkness.

"Claire?"

Silence.

23 hours of listening to her music, feeling the vibrations through the entire island, and the silence that followed it was almost deafening. The entire island stilled, shadows overcoming it like a blanket and silence smothering them. It would take a while to get used to.

"Hey, snap out of it. We need to get back to base camp and get that wound taken care of." Loke spoke, standing up and cursing when his head hit the low ceiling.

"Uuugh…" Gray groaned, now waking up and holding his head. "Loke?"

"Hey, Gray. Round is over, Claire got S-Class."

"... really?" The ice mage asked, sitting up and looking at the two in the darkness, barely able to make them out. "Congrats, I guess. You really kicked my ass today." He laughed.

"Apparently Laxus hit her pretty hard, and she's pretty out of it. We're all supposed to meet back up at base camp."

By the time they'd made it back to base camp, almost everyone had beaten then there. A round of cheers resulted from her arrival, and she noticed that drinks were being made and passed around. In the corner was Porlyusica tending to Evergreen's broken nose, and even though Claire felt sad, she couldn't help but feel a little good that she got to do that.

"If you ever fight with someone like that as an adult, I'll be very disappointed in you. I'll have failed as a parent." Her dad told her after she'd bloodied her sister's face, not for the first time. The circumstances were different, but as it was, the words killed any joy she had over punching Ever in the face. Which was unfortunate, because she'd likely never get the chance again.

Loke had guided her to a mat without her realizing it, and told her to sit down. He told people that she was a little out of it from the fight with Laxus earlier, and everyone nodded and understood.

"You took a lot of hits back there. I look forward to fighting you someday." Erza told her, and she looked up at her, feeling like she was in a daze. "Congrats on making it to S-Class, Claire." She spoke, and handed her a glass of champagne.

"That hit could have killed you, idiot." Laxus glared, taking a seat next to her.

"Way to be a supportive brother, man. She won." Gajeel told him, patting his shoulder. "Lighten up a little."

Claire took the glass, and took a sip. She let out a cry of pain at the fingers that poked her pained ribs, having not realized that Porlyusica was next to her. "Your response time is slow."

"She's been coughing up blood." Laxus told her.

"Take your shirt off so that I can see how bad the damage is." The healer told her, and Claire complied after asking her brother to hold her glass. It wasn't uncommon to see her in a sports bra, so it didn't faze the other wizards. "What the hell did you get hit with? A truck?"

"Me." Laxus told her, and handed back the tall glass. The checker woman made a whining sound when the healer pressed against part of her abdomen. The place that Laxus had hit her, and the surrounding area, were dark reds, purples, greens, and black. "Since she knows how to block against strong attacks, I didn't hold back my punches."

"Haha, Claire got injured. Now have some cake." Bickslow spoke, shoving Gajeel out of the way so that he could take a seat neat to her. He had a small plate of cake in his hands. "Good, someone already got you the booze."

"I thought we would celebrate back at the guild hall?" Claire asked, confused by the happy chatter of her friends, drinks, and apparently cake.

"We'll celebrate there, too. Try this cake." Bickslow told her, cutting a small bite with his fork, and then bringing it to her lips. She opened her mouth and bit into it, flinching when Porlyusica did something to her, but managed to taste and gulp down the tasty food.

"It's good."

"Did you hit your head at all?" The healer asked, suddenly in her face and pulling at her eyelids.

"Not particularly hard… I don't think…"

"Claire, you're going to have to tell me how you messed up my enchantments." Fried spoke as he approached her, blending with the group of people around her. "It was quite impressive. Annoying, but impressive."

"Congrats on winning, Claire! I'm going to bed!" Several of the wizards began saying, and retiring to the various tents in the area.

"Remember everyone, we're heading back to Magnolia at 6 AM sharp!" Erza reminded them, happily eating her own strawberry cake she had brought.

"Who did you end up fighting with?" Makarov asked as he joined the group circling the new S-Class mage.

"Laxus." Gajeel informed him.

"I see he didn't go easy on you." The old man chuckled. "Congratulations on finishing the Trials, Claire." He spoke, holding out his hand. She reached up to shake it, surprised by how small and feeble his wrinkly appendage felt in hers. It was strong, but there was a tremor that she didn't miss.

"Thank you, Guild Master." She spoke, still feeling like she was in a daze. It felt like everything was blurring past her in a rush.

"How's your ribs?" Evergreen asked as she walked over, and Claire let go of the man's hand.

"How's your face?" She countered, although not feeling the insult. Even without the extra sarcastic edge, the woman's face reddened, and she huffed.

"It's fine, no thanks to you."

Before she knew it, she was lying in a tent with Bickslow, being cuddled up to by the near naked man. He was in boxers, otherwise naked, and felt nice against what little exposed skin she had. Her entire abdomen and chest were covered in bandages, and she also wore only her underwear to bed.

He warmed her cool skin, soft caresses with his finger tips up and down her arm.

"You okay?" He whispered, and kissed her cheek. "You've been pretty out of it all night. Porlyusica said that you probably hit your head, but the meds should make you okay by tomorrow… but, like, is there something bothering you?"

"I didn't think that I'd win." She muttered, staring up at the dark folds of their tent.

"Why not?"

"I don't deserve it."

"Honey, if you didn't deserve it, you wouldn't have won. Makarov would have made sure of that." He whispered, and traced little tiny circles on her cheek with his nose. Her stunning blue eyes met his green ones, and they watched each other for a moment. "Get some sleep, and you'll feel better in the morning."

She shifted her head to face the top of the tent again, feeling her boyfriend nuzzle and cuddle into her side, careful to avoid her injury.

27.

Claire's parents were hippies.

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, home of the weird and weird hippies. Margaret and Rain grew their own food, got into the middle eastern religious craze, had matching 'om' tattoos that most Portlanders had. Her mother had dreadlocks for most of her childhood, and so did her husband, until shortly after they married when they shaved their heads.

They believed in 'peace', 'love', and 'harmony', and had trouble disciplining their children. They tried to raise them without rules, or the ones they had, they rarely enforced.

Carl was their first born and by far their favorite. He was the perfect child: intelligent, free-spirited, kind, gentle, and loving. He was that annoying asshole that did everything right and was perfect in every conceivable way. His only flaw, if he had any, was that he was a bookworm and would rather read a good book than socialize.

Kelsey, their second born, wasn't quite what they expected. As any hippie parents, they loved her no matter what, but it worried them that she was so superficial. Instead of herbals and loving her fellow man, she loved cosmetics and the traditional idea of marriage. She always hated the idea of 'living like a hippie', and through her rebellious years, showed it every way she could.

Carol and Claire were a whole new mess of problems. They were violent with each other, Carol was obsessed with the idea of finding her 'soul mate' and was extremely interested in the opposite sex at a young age, and Claire liked fire too much.

Corey was much more like his older brother, until he reached around 8 years old and became obsessed with video games and TV. So long as he didn't start fires like his older sister, or if he did then constructive ones in boy scouts, they were fine with him. Of course they worried about the violent images in his games and imposed rules he managed to get around, but overall he was a good kid.

Margaret loved children, and most of all loved to have sound in the house. When Carol and Claire moved out it felt all too quiet for her, so she decided to have another kid. Rain hoped he would be the last one.

Kale Riley Groh was their last child together, and had only been with him for 2 months before they were ripped from their world. Rain died to get him to safety before his body failed him, and Margaret was so distraught over the loss of her family that she killed herself.

They weren't perfect. Her parents were airheads that believed the government was purposely poisoning the food supply and that milk was one of the worst things you could consume. Her siblings were a mix of down to earth and eccentric.

Every Christmas they'd come together for a family dinner and presents exchange.

Claire couldn't stop thinking about them, no matter how much she tried. She lay on the deck of her guild's ship, eyes closed as she soaked up the rays, and she replayed images and sounds of her family from before she came to this world.

Distracting herself with conversation didn't help. She'd stupidly left the headphones Laxus gave her at home, so she couldn't listen to that. There was a book on word magic she brought, but she didn't feel like reading. She could use her data compression magic to work on her projects, but that would ignite questions from Fried that she didn't feel like answering.

"How hard did you hit your head?" Laxus asked as he sat next to her, poking her shoulder. His hands were bandages up from fighting her.

"I dunno." She muttered, not really paying attention to him.

"I'm sorry if what I said made you upset. It just… freaked me out when you didn't use your magic to block at all for that hit. I really could have killed you."

"It takes more than one hit to kill me." She told him, still not opening her eyes.

"So, uh… do you have any plans for Christmas? It's going to be the day before Christmas Eve when we get back, and I was thinking, uh… of announcing my partner at it, and inviting the team and a few other friends for dinner."

"Dinner at your place, Christmas day?" She confirmed, peaking one of her eyes at him. He looked a lot more awkward than she thought he would.

"Yeah."

"Bicks might have plans with his nephew, so I'll get back to you the morning of. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Totally."

"What do you want for a Christmas present?"

"You don't have to get me anything."

"Surprise Christmas present, coming up. No guarantee that you'll like it."

"Have you done Christmas shopping yet?"

"No, I completely forgot about it."

"Neither have I… want to go to the market when we get back?"

"Sure."

"... cool. Good chat." He said, patted her shoulder, and then got up to start asking other people if they could attend his Christmas dinner. Christmas with my new family…. Most of the guest list was on the ship, chatting away as they lounged comfortably (or miserably) under the harsh rays of sun and non-existent wind.

This… this is my new… family….

"Checkers lady!" Kana yelled as she emerged from the ship, carrying two bottles of alcohol with her. As the ship swayed she moved with it, her upper arm knocking into the door frame. "Have a drink with me!"

"I'm trying to cut down on drinking." Claire replied, chuckling as she determinedly made her way over despite the swaying. She had no doubt most of that was due to her own head start on drinking.

"You haven't had any alcohol?" Porlyusica asked, surprised. Claire had honestly forgotten that she was there, since she was so… quiet.

"No. Well, the glass of champagne last night, but otherwise I haven't had anything." Claire explained, but the brunette was determined to plop next to her with the two bottles of booze, staring down the laying woman.

"I've literally given you a doctor's order to drink alcohol, and you're not doing it?"

"I don't want to become dependant on it."

"How much pain are you in?"

"I dunno. I've built up a pretty good tolerance to pai- OW! That doesn't mean you can touch it!" The fire woman yelled, glaring at the card mage and swiping her hand away, and then adding another hit to her arm.

"How is it that your brother is the only one to actually land a hit? How'd you manage to get away from the other two S-Rank mages?" Kana asked, and went to poke her very tender ribs again, but Claire swiped her hand away.

"He's the only one that could catch me. I ran into Guildarts and Erza, but I booked it before they could attack. Laxus used his stupid teleportation to get me. Stop trying to poke it!"

"You said that you have a high tolerance for pain. I was testing it."

"It doesn't need to be tested. When people have near lethal injuries you don't poke at them because you feel like it."

"Pffft, it's not near lethal. Laxus wouldn't hit you that hard just for the S-Class trials."

"He would if he thought his sister was blocking properly." Laxus said as he came back over, and narrowed his eyes down at the checker woman. He stood next to her, scowling, and his arms crossed.

"I'm sorry for not blocking like I should have. Kana needs a drinking buddy, you should drink with her."

"Kana, do you have plans for Christmas?" He asked the brunette, and she squinted up at him. The sun behind his head made it difficult to look at him directly.

"Uuh… getting drunk and laid. Or just the first one. Why?"

"Christmas dinner at my place. I already invited your dad." The blonde told her, and in the background, her father grinned and waved at her excitedly.

"There's going to be booze, right?"

"Wouldn't be Christmas without it." Laxus smirked.

"What time?"

"My place, 6 PM. Christmas day."

"Alright, I'll be there."

"Maybe you should write that down," Ever spoke as she walked over, taking a seat next to Claire. She sat in her zebra striped bikini and fan in her hand, waving cool air on her slightly damp skin. "Since you have a habit of forgetting important things like that."

"I won't forget… but the writing stuff down thing is a good idea. Anyone got a pen?"

"Why am I suddenly the meeting spot for this?" Claire asked, glaring up at the people around her. When they just gave her a blank, 'why the hell not?' look, she finally propped herself up on her elbows and grabbed one of the bottles Kana had brought over.

"Woohoo!" The card mage cheered, and as Claire grabbed the raspberry flavored vodka she went for the tequila, and took a large swig of it. Putting the cap back on, Claire lay back down with her hand under her head, and sighed. Someone brought a pen over to to the card mage, and she promptly wrote down the details for the dinner plans.

"Hey, I'm invited too, right?!" Natsu yelled as he ran over.

"You would burn my house down without a second thought." Laxus glared.

"Would not! Dinner at Laxus house on Christmas!"

"Oi, you can't just invite people to my house."

"Why not?" Natsu asked, blinking up at him with his infamous blank look, only to be struck by lightning and knocked out.

My new family, ladies and gentlemen. Claire thought dimly, making no move to have another drink even as Kana chugged her own bottle. … speaking of whom… where's Bixy? And Riley, for that matter?


	31. Chapter 31

**Author's note:** Thank you everyone for all of the reviews, follows, and favorites!

 **Walking Cliché Chapter 31**

 _Christmas Special_

Laxus and Claire walked around the holiday market, doing their last minute shopping. They'd just gotten back to Magnolia two hours earlier at noon, and had another 3 hours until the shops would start closing down. The rest of their team was shopping in different parts of the city; Ever and Fried on the east side, Bickslow and his babies… well, were shopping somewhere else. Laxus and Claire were in the north part of the holiday market: an expansive network of small booths and shops extending across nearly all of Magnolia. Christmas themed perfumes, pine, and spilled peppermint schnapps filled the hectic air adding to the holiday craze.

"Can you even afford all of that?" Laxus asked as she paid for her gifts. "How many people are you even shopping for?"

"I'm staying in budget. Quite a few people. How many people are you shopping for?"

"Like… 6 people, maybe? Our team, Gajeel…"

"You're not getting anything for your grandpa?"

"Why would I?"

"Because he's your grandfather. At least get him a card." She told him, and put the Christmas gifts in her already full shopping bag. The lightning mage rolled his eyes as they moved along the path of bustling shoppers frantically getting last minute gifts.

"Why would I do that? I'm not a gift giver, and he knows that."

"He's getting on in his years, Laxus. Get your grandfather a freaking $3 Christmas card." She said, giving him a pointed look as they maneuvered through the crowd of people.

"We have an unspoken rule of not getting each other anything on Christmas. We're not sentimental like that."

"The hell are you talking about?" She asked, oblivious to the stern look of a nearby mother with two children nearby. "Your grandfather is extremely sentimental. He's baby crazy and still has the dolls he made you when you were a toddler. And yes, he told me that you played with dolls as a kid." She added, not missing the embarrassed blush on his cheeks. "Fine, don't listen to your only sane relative giving you advice. What do I care?"

"'Sane' is a debateable word to describe you."

"How about I get your grandfather a card and you co-sign it with me? Will that work?" She asked, trying to compromise.

"Fine." He grumbled, tired of the argument.

After stopping by a few more shops, Laxus walked her home, and they were surprised by how packed her apartment was. Their entire team was there having a drink and chatting about something, and when the siblings walked in, Evergreen's face lit up. Both S-Class mages groaned, knowing that wasn't a good sign.

"There's a Christmas Party/Celebration of Claire getting S-Class party at the Guild Hall tonight. We need to do dress shopping for it." Ever informed her. The guys suppressed their laughter for Claire's misery, all of them just glad it wasn't them getting dragged into it.

"Ugh, let me go drop these off in the bedroom first." She told her, and made her way to the bedroom.

"Did you get anything for me?" Bickslow asked with a grin.

"Don't go snooping in my shopping bags while I'm gone." Claire told him, and he snickered, his eyes glinting in mischief. Once the fire mage emerged from the bedroom, she closed the door behind her, and then tossed a small Christmas wrapped object to him.

"Oooh~" He said excitedly, holding the the cylindrical object in his hands and then shaking it. "M&M's?"

"Have fun shopping. I'm going to go home and-" Laxus spoke, but before he could turn to leave, the small hand of Ever grabbed his shoulder.

"I never said it was just Claire and I doing clothes shopping. She may have won S-Class, but we all need to look our best, and to my knowledge none of us have Christmas clothes."

"Wait, what?" Bickslow asked, looking up from his present with wide eyes. The fire mage smiled as she walked over to him, snaking her arms around him from behind and resting her chin on his shoulder. He was sitting in one of their high chairs to the side of the living space.

"With all these shopping trips I'm out of money." Fried shrugged. "And I spent all of my extra cash on presents, so-"

"Since it's an image thing for the group, we'll use our team funds for it." Ever reasoned with a grin.

"You're just justifying using mutual funds to pay for your wardrobe." Bickslow accused.

"No, this is an actual image thing, and it does benefit the group to look our best. Besides, that money is just sitting there, and this is what it's for- making us a better team."

"So that we have matching clothes on Christmas." Fried clarified.

At this point there was no use in arguing with her. Her mind was set, and when it came to Ever, debating with her about things like this didn't work. They were going to be matching for Christmas, and that was that.

1.

"So, I know I was originally against this, buuuut…" Bickslow spoke, taking a step closer to his girlfriend and wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Yes, my butt looks good in this dress. Hands to yourself until the night is over, honey." She told him, pushing him away and firmly taking his wandering hand into hers. They were on the edge of the crowd forming in the mess hall, and people were congratulating her every few minutes on making it to S-Class. All of the guys on her team were wearing 'Christmas themed' suits, which were crimson red pants and blazer with a holiday tie. Bickslow wore antlers, Fried wore a bow tie, and Laxus wore a basic candy-striped tie with small green stripes.

Claire and Ever wore matching dresses, which was a poor decision on Ever's part but nobody would tell her that. It was a similar style dress to the last one that she'd loaned to Claire, but the fabric was a little softer, bright red, and the collar and hem had a puffy white fur lining. Claire wore a leather necklace with a bell on it around her neck, and had wanted to wear matching antlers to Bickslow, but Ever insisted that she have a large red and green flower on her ear instead.

Those participating in the trials hadn't had much time to prepare, but the rest of the guild did and had planned the party. The entire mess hall was decorated with Christmas themed objects, typical snacks and eggnog on tables scattered through the building, and Gajeel was working the bar with a new Fairy Tail mage, making holiday themed drinks.

"Quickie in the back?" The seith mage asked hopefully, grinning at her.

"Honey," She said sternly, giving him a look. He just grinned back at her, and they had a brief staring contest. "We only have to be here for a few hours. Go… do something, if you can't control yourself."

He made a small pout, and she rolled her eyes.

"I just made S-Class and everyone is staring at us. I'm nervous enough as it is, can you please stop pressuring me?"

"Fine, fine, I'm sorry. I'll go get us drinks, what do you want?"

"Eggnog, I guess."

"I'll go see what Gajeel can whip up for us." He said, before she could argue for him to make it non-alcoholic. _Why do you people make it so difficult to give up drinking?_

"Hey Claire, congrats on making it to S-Class." Wakaba and Macao said as they walked over to her hurriedly, and two other male mages joined them.

"How awesome is it that you got to S-Class?"

"How does it feel to be with the elite?"

"I, uh… it's pretty awesome, I guess." She said with an awkward smile, suddenly finding herself surrounded by guys. Before they could get another word in, her babies flew in front of her and hovered, staring at them. "These are my babies. Babies, meet random guys."

"B-babies?" One of them stuttered.

"We're not actually her babies. We're just dead souls that her boyfriend controls." One of them explained, and they froze, clamming up.

"I used to be like you, once. When I had a body. And then I hit on Claire… you're not trying to hit on her, are you?" Another soul asked, floating up to Macao's face. The group instantly ran, and the fire mage chuckled.

"That was a little extreme, guys. Thanks for getting me the breathing room, though." She told them, and they turned back to her.

"Mommy is taken." They simply said, and flew to her, humming into her skin.

"Ow, ow, not there," She winced, carefully moving Pippi from her injured belly.

"Sowwy."

Evergreen glared up at the white-haired man across the room, hands on her hips. "It's a simple question."

"No, it's a trap question." He replied, and then cringed, closing his eyes as he realized that that was the wrong thing to say. _I was supposed to think that, not say it outloud… and then come up with a non-wrong answer that was savvy and would get me out of this._

"Who looks better in the dress?" She asked again, waiting expectantly.

"Say it's Ever." Bickslow coughed behind him as he walked by, and then smiled at his teammate as he continued walking back to his girlfriend with drinks in his hands.

"Ever does- I mean, you do, of course." Elfman said quickly. He felt uncomfortable and weird in his current predicament; his sisters had forced him into a suit and tie, which he hated how constricting it was, Ever was acting super weird around him _and in public_ no less, and every time Evergreen talked to him in the guild hall his sisters would giggle and point at him. Ever since she pulled him into the meeting room in the middle of the day that one time, everyone had been particularly brutal in the teasing, like they had nothing better to do. He tried to do jobs out of town to avoid her; but he couldn't stay out of town for Christmas since it was a family holiday.

"Are you lying?"

"Of course not. A man never lies."

"Then why do you look nervous?"

"I'm a man, I don't get nervous."

"Why are you sweating?"

"Because this suit is too damn tight!" He roared, and finally flexed his muscles, causing his suit to rip at the seams and stretch across his bulging muscles. The string holding the fabric together snapped, some of the buttons flew off, and at the loosened feeling he sighed in relief, letting his arms hang at his sides. _So much better._

"Elfman!" Mirajane yelled, and at the sound, his eyes widened.

"A real man knows when to run!" He yelled, and bolted for the exit, his S-Class mage sister hot on his tail.

"Poor guy." Gajeel chuckled as the frightened man ran past the bar. Laxus gave the take over mage a sympathetic stare, wondering if Claire would ever do that to him if he did something like that. _Of course she would. It's not even a question._ "You nervous for tomorrow?"

"Are you?" Laxus countered. He'd been sitting at the bar with the man for most of the past hour, drinking and trying to not kill Bickslow with his lightning magic. _Handsy little_... .

"Terrified might be a more apt word."

"Of what? You afraid someone's going to throw a punch?"

"Of course not. It's just… Levy being so, you know… and then people finding out about you-know-what… I've still got people pissed off at me for that."

"No one is going to care. They'll be surprised, but they're not going to care once they get over it. Loosen up, barkeep." The blond said with a smirk, and reached over to slap his arm.

"Maybe we should wait."

"No. Tomorrow is perfect, and I've already started telling people that I'll be making the announcement. Besides, Claire will be there, and she'll be able to keep things civil."

"Speaking of which…" The iron mage spoke, absently cleaning one of the glasses with a dishrag. "Are you okay? You were pretty freaked when you saw how bad you hit her."

"I'm annoyed, but otherwise fine. I just wish she'd tell me why the hell she didn't block." He spoke, and narrowed his eyes at the checker woman across the room. She was currently laughing at something Bickslow said. "I wasn't holding back when I fought her- I could have killed her."

"But you didn't, and she's fine. So stop worrying about it so much."

"What if she does that again when she does S-Ranked jobs on her own?" He asked, subconsciously flexing his hand. The memory of hitting her was still all too fresh, of how her fragile ribs snapped against his knuckles, muscles melded with the shape of his fingers as he pushed, and organs moved beneath the force of his attack. Laxus shuddered, hating that gross feeling that washed over him, and the subsequent guilt of almost killing his last remaining relative. Well, the only one he liked, anyway.

"You're being an overprotective brother again. She's fine."

"I would feel better if she'd tell me what she did wrong."

"Once she's better you two can do all the secret training to get her back to full strength, and soon enough she'll be able to kick your ass, and you'll feel like an idiot for worrying about her."

The blonde grunted, not taking his advice, and the iron mage chuckled. Someone requested another drink, so he got busy making it.

"This will be her first Christmas without her family, won't it?" Gajeel asked as he mixed the liquids, and Laxus looked up, something finally clicking in his head.

"Yeah, it is. This is the first time she'll be celebrating the holidays without them." He spoke, and turned back to his sister, who was still laughing about whatever her boyfriend said, her babies hovering around her.

"You got her a present, right?" Gajeel asked, and Laxus rolled his eyes.

"Of course I did. I suck at presents, but I'm not that bad."

"You wouldn't even buy your grandfather a Christmas card." He said with a smirk, and the blonde glared.

"Laxus?" Lisanna spoke as she approached him, and the lightning mage swiveled in his chair slightly to face her. "Can you and your sister get ready for the ceremony? It's going to start soon."

He nodded without a word, and finished off his 'Christmas drink' before standing. Giving a nod to Gajeel, he then walked over to his sister across the room. "Beat it." Laxus said none too kindly to Claire's boyfriend.

"You're not the boss of me." Bickslow retorted, and stuck his tongue out at him while his babies echoed his words.

"Yes I am."

"... oh yeah. Bye." He said quickly, and after a quick kiss to Claire's cheek, hurried to another part of the room to busy himself with. Upon seeing Evergreen as a target, he grinned, and made his way over to her.

"Ceremony is going to start soon." Laxus informed her, and she nodded, taking another sip from her frothy beverage.

"Should I be nervous?"

"No. He'll just say that you did great, officially announce that you're S-Class, and then move on to gift exchanges." He explained with a shrug.

2.

The ceremony was short and sweet. All of the S-Class mages got on stage with Makarov, he officially announced Claire's new rank along with a fancy gold medal for her, and as Laxus said, went on to presents. Gift exchanges at Fairy Tail were pretty minimal, as most of the actual gifts were given outside of work, and the minor gifts to the people present were kind of not really close enough to give presents to, so it was mostly card exchanges.

There was a massive pine tree on one side of the room where people had been placing gifts, and slowly the pile started disappearing. It had been building for the last week or so, since right before the S-Class Trials, and some of the larger gifts had turned into a guessing game for the mages. Some years they did a secret santa for the yearly party, but none of the planners had thought of it until it was too late.

"Oh, how thoughtful!" Makarov beamed, looking at the card that Michael, Bickslow's nephew, at made him. It had little drawings of dolls on it that they'd made, a little drawing of the guild master, and other squiggles he couldn't make out. When he opened it, it said 'Merry Chritmast!', and he chuckled at the misspelling. "I'm sorry that I didn't get a card for him. Tell him thank you for me?"

"Will do." Bickslow said with a grin. "There's another card from Claire, Laxus and I, but Claire hasn't gotten to you yet." He explained, looking around for the woman in red. She was running around the guild hall getting presents to people, pulling them out of her large bag, and he suddenly wondered how she'd managed to wrap all of them in just a few hours. He also wondered why she'd gotten so many gifts for people that she didn't know that well.

"It appears that she's really gotten into the holiday spirit." Makarov chuckled. "This is her first year celebrating with the guild, isn't it?"

"Oh… shit." Bickslow muttered, shoulders slumping and his hand slapped against his forehead. "That explains why she's been so mopey. It's her first Christmas without her family."

Makarov's gaze softened, and he nodded quietly, looking over at the laughing and slightly rushed mage. "Getting S-Rank and not having them here to celebrate with her must be difficult." As Claire rushed around, the occasional friend would stop her and give her a hug, thanking her for the gift and apologizing for not getting her one, more pleasantries, and then she'd be on her way again. It was amazing that she didn't fall in her massively high heels.

"I thought she was just nervous from the S-Class Trials, or hit her head like Porlyusica said."

"Keep an eye on her for the next few days." The Guild Master told him, and the seith mage nodded, sighing as he held his face and leaned back, brushing his fingers through his combed blue hair. His antlers jingled when they hit the ground.

"You dropped your antlers." Wendy giggled, and the two men looked down, having not heard her arrive. She held up the antlers to him, and he thanked her as he accepted them. "Are you two going to Laxus's party tomorrow?"

They both nodded. "Just how many people are going to it?" Bickslow asked, still feeling bad about his girlfriend, but deciding to talk to her later about it when they weren't surrounded by people.

"A lot. Once people heard that he'll be announcing his secret girlfriend at it, the guest list got really big. Who do you guys think it is?" She asked with an innocent smile, her eyes sparkling cutely against the lights in the room.

"Mirajane, I hope." The old man chuckled.

"Did he actually say the secret lover was a girl?" Bickslow asked, and timed the question perfectly while the Guild Master took a drink. Without fail he spit up everything in his mouth, luckily not hitting anyone walking by, and the seith mage grinned.

"Don't even joke about that! Of course it's a girl!" Makarov yelled, his face red.

"Why would he date a boy if he's a boy?" Wendy asked innocently.

"Some people don't care about gender when it comes to love. Most people date the opposite gender, but there's a lot of people that date the same gender. Guys dating guys, girls dating girls… when it comes to love, it doesn't matter." Bickslow explained, trying to keep it as PG as possible. Both of his male teammates were evidently into men, so he'd made peace with the idea long ago. Being dragged to gay bars by his girlfriend only made him more comfortable with the topic.

"Then why is the Guild Master mad?"

"No grandson of mine dates men, and I disapprove of that insinuation, young man." Makarov glared up at the seith mage, and a cold shiver went up Bickslow's spine. He hadn't seen him that upset at him since the Battle of Fairy Tail. Or maybe the time he accidentally spilled his drink on his new shirt….

"Woah, take it easy; I'm not saying he likes dudes, I was just making it a hypothetical. I have no idea who his secret partner is, I was just throwing it out there because he's been using gender neutral terms every time he talks about them." He said quickly, holding his free hand up in surrender. _Who knew the old man was a closet homophobe? One of his best friends is Bob, the cross-dressing flaming homosexual and leader of Blue Pegasus, or as some people called it, 'Hot Guy Central'._ "He's my best friend."

"Be careful with your words in the future, boy." Makarov seethed, and with that, Bickslow hastened his escape gently nudging Wendy to do the same.

"Why was the Guild Master so upset?" She asked when they were far enough away.

"I don't really know why, but some people aren't comfortable with the topic. He probably had a little too much to drink." He added at the end, and she giggled. After guiding her back to her team, he made his way over to the bar where Laxus was nursing a beer and watching over the pile of presents accumulating near him. "So, uh, did you know that your grandpa is homophobic?"

Gajeel looked up from what he was doing, and Laxus raised an eyebrow at the man.

"Like, I made a harmless comment about you not confirming your secret partner was a girl, and he flipped."

"He's best friends with Bob, though." Laxus spoke.

"That's why it's so weird."

"Are you sure he's homophobic? Maybe you just misunderstood?"

"He said 'No grandson of mine dates men, and I disapprove of that insinuation, young man.'" Bickslow spoke with his best Makarov voice. "Look, I didn't want to stir up any trouble, I just thought you might want to know. Whatever gender your date is, I don't care as long as I get to find out who it is." The seith mage said with a grin, and then patted the lightning mage's shoulder. "Happy Holidays, dude."

Laxus nodded as he walked away, feeling his partner's eyes on him.

"Still think no one is going to care?" Gajeel asked in a hushed voice as he continued cleaning glasses.

"Wouldn't be the first thing I've done to disappoint the old man." He shrugged.

Bickslow approached the red-dressed woman, taking a sip from his drink. She was looking around in every direction, like she was searching for something, and turning around in her spot with a present in her hand.

"Who are you looking for?"

"That one person with the weird spelled name." She said, continuing to look around.

"That's not specific, honey. You actually got a present for someone whose name you can't even pronounce?"

"I didn't say I couldn't pronounce it, it's just spelled weird." She told him, and he rolled his eyes, his bells jingling as his head moved. "It's the last gift."

"Who is it for?"

"The guy with the weird spelled name."

"So it's a guy, that's a step forward."

"Well here, you read it. It's so weird I don't even want to try and pronounce it." She said, finally shoving the small sparkling box into his chest. He sighed in annoyance and reached up with his free hand, taking the gift, and then turning it so that he could read the label.

'Bixlow'

"You spelled my name wrong."

"Merry Christmas." She said with a smile, and slung the large empty bag on her shoulder.

"More chocolate?"

"Is that bad?" She asked, her smile faltering slightly. He chuckled and stepped forward, wrapping his arm around her and placing a kiss on her cheek since her forehead was out of range.

"It's wonderful."

"I figure that real presents will be opened tomorrow, or on Christmas, whenever we feel like. I thought you might like having warm-up presents until then." She explained, taking a step back and beaming at him.

"You're trying to bribe me into not peaking at the huge bag of presents in your closet at home."

"Is it working?"

"Depends on the chocolate." He said with an eye wiggle, and started slowly opening the shiney and rather sparkly wrapping paper. Once enough of the box was visible to reveal the kind of chocolate, he grinned. "You are the best girlfriend ever."

"So will you stay out of the closet tonight?"

"Yes ma'am." He told her, and leaned in for a short kiss on the lips.

Over by the bar, Gajeel was looking at the massive pile of presents for Laxus, when his face fell. "Some of these are for me, idiot." He grumbled, going through the pile. Laxus looked over, sipping at his drink, and watching as the man excitedly went through the gifts and started sorting through them.

"How many presents did you get?" The lightning mage asked curiously, chuckling at how quickly he tossed Laxus's presents to the side, some of them falling off the bar as he tried to find his own gifts.

"Three so far."

"Who are they from?"

"Claire and Levy."

"I'm surprised that Claire didn't give you your presents at the party." Laxus commented. "She got you quite a few things, surprisingly."

"I'm not complaining." Gajeel said, and once he'd sorted through all of them, looked down at his five gifts. One of them was from Levy, judging by its wrapping an obvious book, two others were from Claire, one was from Pantherlily, and the last one wasn't signed. "Should I open them now?"

"Why the hell not? Everyone else is." The blond told him, withholding his smile.

"Which one should I open first?"

"How about Levy's? I wonder what book she got you." He suggested, and the iron mage shrugged, looking around for any customers first before tearing into the present. Not surprisingly, it was a parenting book filled with notes and highlighted sections. Gajeel held up the card, smiling softly, and then opening it. ' _Baby daddy! This is your last free holiday, hope you enjoy it! I highlighted and marked the most important things in this book. Please read it! Happy holidays, Gajeel! -Levy'_

"That was nice of her."

"Did you get her a gift?"

"She asked me not to… so I just got her a card." Gajeel shrugged, and set the book to the side, moving on to the two small boxes from Claire. Ripping into the shinier one, he opened it, popping out the lid to the box. He held his hand out to catch whatever was inside, and had to shake it a few times for the object to come out. It was a rolled up piece of fabric, and when he unraveled it, held up a tiny onesie. ' _My dad kicks ass!'_ in epic, large black and red letters were written across it. Gajeel smiled, happy to finally see something for his kid that wasn't light blue, pink, or yellow.

"You actually like that?"

"I fucking love it."

"Then you're going to love the other crap she got you."

"Don't spoil it, dude! And this is awesome!" Gajeel laughed, still holding up the tiny little outfit.

"Get on to your other gifts, already." Laxus chuckled, watching as the masculine mage carefully folded the outfit up again, and then set it on Levy's book. He moved onto the other gift from her, tearing the paper to reach inside. To his surprise, it was a small book attached to a keychain, only 2"x2" wide. ' _SHIT what do I do?! -helpful guide for first time parents.'_ He skimmed through it, chuckling at the little images. Most of them were pretty basic things that idiots would know how to do, but some of them were less obvious, like what to do if your kid accidentally ate a piece of plastic, if he spiked a fever, etc.

"Just what I need- more books."

"I told her that, but she figured that you needed a portable one, since you probably wouldn't remember 90% of the things you read. She got one for Levy, too."

"I'll need all the help I can get, I guess." Gajeel shrugged.

"The rest of your presents will probably be at the party. She went overboard shopping for you."

"That was nice of her."

"Most of it is parenting stuff. She figured that you could use it, since most of the baby shower stuff went to Levy."

"Yeah…" Gajeel muttered, staring off into space, and then frowning. He was going to be doing a lot of moving, preparing, and freaking out over the next month until his kid was born.

"You should open the anonymous box." Laxus said, trying to act subtle as he sipped at his drink. The iron mage smirked, and went to pick it up. It was small, just barely larger than the small book, and he shook it next to his ear. "Just open the damn thing."

"Hold your horses, Sparky." He chuckled, and the blond rolled his eyes, deciding to busy himself with looking around the building. When the sound of crinkling paper met his ears, he turned back to Gajeel, grunting when the man slowly and carefully opened the present, being careful not to rip the paper. After several seconds of meticulous unfolding, he opened the small velvet box. "Cuff links?" He said, surprised.

"Maybe someone noticed that your cuff links are ugly as shit." Laxus muttered, taking another sip of his drink and looking away.

"Should I be insulted or glad that I have new ones, now?" He asked, moving his new jewelry in the light, getting a good look at it from multiple angles. Despite his outward indifference to it, he was actually remarkably happy at the gift. He'd half-expected his boyfriend to get him chocolate and condoms and call it a night, which for Laxus, was as romantic as he got. Flowers was the farthest he'd gone into the realm of romance.

"Maybe a little of both."

3.

Claire woke up to the smell of pancakes, bacon, eggs, whipped cream, and chocolate.

Reluctant to actually wake up, she stayed in bed, wrapped up in numerous warm blankets and soft fluffy pillows. She'd vaguely recalled Bickslow sneaking out of bed earlier that morning, but in her tired and sleepy state, hadn't really cared. Waking up was not something she wanted, so she tried to go back into her sleepy, fuzzy, warm dreams of fire.

Her and Bickslow's clothes from the previous evening had been carefully picked up, folded, and set on the dresser. Their babies were strangely absent from her, and she could hear them in the kitchen with her boyfriend.

 _I don't wanna be awake…_ She thought with a small groan. Being awake meant being conscious and aware, and neither of those things were what she wanted. This was her first Christmas Eve without her family.

 _Sleep… do… now…_

The door to their bedroom creaked open, and the overwhelming smell of breakfast filled the room. _No… sleep…_

She heard the sound of a tray being passed to their babies, and then something heavy moving the mattress. A small whining sound left her throat. _Sleeeeeep…._

Soft lips met her ear, and she tried to pull the blanket up to cover more of her head. Bickslow chuckled, moving to kiss the exposed part of her head, and then move his face down, gently pulling down the blanket as he did so. He fluttered her with a myriad of kisses, chuckling at the annoyed sounds that she made, and was relentless in his assault. He rolled her over, continuing her kisses and throwing his leg over her, so that his body kept her from rolling back to her side.

"I made us breakfast."

"Kisses and breakfast!" Their babies giggled.

"Nnng…" She pouted, and finally looked up at him with a sigh. He was grinning at her, noses touching, and gently moved his face back and forth. "It's a holiday. We're allowed to sleep in."

He pressed his lips against hers again, paused on her lips, and then pulled away again. "Breakfast?"

Her stomach grumbled beneath him, and he chuckled. "Fine, breakfast." He pecked her lips again and sat back up, jumping out of bed and grabbing the tray of food. Careful not to spill the two glasses of orange juice and the two fairly large plates of food, he slowly got back on the bed, and set it on her lap once she'd sat up. "After breakfast, let's do presents."

"That's why you're waking me up so early?"

"It's not _that_ early… but yes. Pretty please?"

"Fine, whatever. Food." She muttered tiredly, and he grinned, starting their breakfast.

Not a moment after the last bite of pancake entered her mouth, did Bickslow have his babies scoop up their dishes and carry it into the kitchen. She was still holding the fork.

"Why are you in such a rush?" She asked curiously, suddenly suspicious of his overly happy and excited nature. Bickslow tended to act pretty childish when it came to presents, as she'd come to realize, but she didn't expect him to be this excited about it.

"Preseeeents."

"Presents, presents!" Their babies echoed behind him. The seith mage grabbed the fork from her hand and put it on Peppe, who took it into the kitchen. Bickslow jumped out of bed, trying to restrain some of his enthusiasm, and held out his hand to help her up. Once she was standing, he got her pj's and handed them to her, since she was naked. Still not awake, she pulled on the clothes, and then followed him into the living room where their pristine pyramid of presents were stacked. Riley hovered near it, having kept guard while they slept.

"For the record, we're supposed to be opening presents tomorrow morning." She told him, letting him guide her to the couch. He ran back into the kitchen, she yawned tiredly into her hand, and he reemerged with a cold mug of water and Eastern Gonzoa tea bag inside. Beginning to warm it with her hands and breath, she watched her boyfriend curiously as he sat down in front of the pile, looking through the brightly colored wrapping paper. When he found what he was looking for, he pulled out it, and pointedly set it on the coffee table. It was a very large box, a little over three feet tall and two feet wide.

"You're opening that one last."

Her curiosity was piqued. "Why?"

"Because. Open this one first, this one second, this one third…." He started listing off, putting all of the presents in a very specific order. Claire watched quietly, honestly confused and surprised by the time and energy he put into it. Compared to last time they exchanged presents, which was for their birthdays, this was… a lot. "I'm also making up for our one year of dating anniversary, and then the other one month, two month, whatevers."

"Why did you go all out, sweetie?" She asked with a smile. "I'm not against you buying me stuff, I'm just… surprised."

"I never really had anyone to buy stuff for." He said with a shrug, and then carefully moving one of the boxes to be perfectly symmetrical with another one. "And for birthday stuff, you bought me a ton of stuff... so I wanted to make today great." Bickslow said, and still sitting by the organized pile, looked over at her tired form. By the look in his eyes, she realized what he actually meant. "This is our first Christmas together, and… your first Christmas without your family. So I wanted it to be special."

Her heart swelled, and if she could cry, she would have. Setting the mug of steaming liquid on the table, she kneeled next to him and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you." This family- Bickslow and their babies- was the one family she loved more than anything. Sure she missed her family, but she never truly felt like she fit in- not like now.

"I love you, babe." He whispered, returning the hug.

"We love mommy, too!" Their babies cheered, and came in to make it a group hug.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, we have gift giving to commence!" Bickslow said excitedly, and unwrapping one of his arms to reach over to the first gift, handing it to her. He kept an arm around her and placed a kiss on her temple, the grin never falling from his face. As she gulped down her suddenly dry throat, she started unwrapping the brightly covered box, and he reached over to the pile to get his own gift.

It took almost an hour to get through all of the presents- all of them except for one, at least.

By that time the entire living room floor was covered in crumpled up wrapping paper and carelessly tossed boxes. Bickslow reached over and grabbed the massive present, placed it in front of her, and smiled.

"Is it a giant teddy bear?" She asked, eyeing the box.

"You'll just have to open it to find out." He said with a shrug. He had purposely made it difficult to open, and it took her some time to get through the duct tape and overly tough construction paper. When she finally made it inside the box, she pulled out… a giant stuffed bunny rabbit. Claire held it at arms length, holding it above the box, and Bickslow kicked the cardboard object out of the way.

She gave him a quizzical glance, and he merely grinned back, not giving her any clues. _There has to be something about this I'm not getting…._ Plopping back down in her previous seat, she set the bunny down in front of her, staring at it. It was a simple, giant, 3 foot stuffed rabbit with painfully bright red fur. Cartoony flames covered its legs, it had ridiculously large teeth, white paws with something shiny on one of them….

Reaching her hand out, she turned the paw, realizing that it had a ring on it.

"Is this rabbit proposing to me?" Claire asked, blinking at it. Bickslow now reached over, took it out of the bunny's paw, and held it up to her.

"Will you spend the rest of our lives together in marriage? Will you marry me, Claire Riley Groh?"

"Yes." She whispered immediately, a giddy grin tugging at her lips. "Yes."

4.

"What if your grandfather tries to kill me?" Gajeel asked, looking up from the cook book. "What if we accidentally kill someone by giving them food they're allergic to?"

"He's an old man. Even if he tried, I would defend you. No boyfriend of mine is getting beat up by my grandfather."

"He's one of the Ten Wizard Saints."

"I've beaten people that hold that title. Remember Jura?" Laxus asked, but the iron mage still groaned, worried about the next evening. They were both in Laxus's kitchen, reading 'Christmas cooking!' with other recipe books around them, trying to figure out what food to make the next day. Since nothing would be open tomorrow, they had to get all of the supplies that day.

Laxus was clad in pajama pants and a loose t-shirt, while his boyfriend was in his typical black and crimson red boxers. It was a hassle just to get him to wear that around his house, since his teammates would occasionally stop by announced, and if they caught them together he didn't want Gajeel to be _completely_ naked.

"Besides, my actual family likes you, and if you're not confident in my abilities to protect you, then consider that she can help me fight my grandfather if it comes to it."

"She wouldn't do that. She sees him as a frail old man." Gajeel told him, and Laxus rolled his eyes.

"What are you actually worried about? Everyone already hates you for getting Levy pregnant, finding out that you're sleeping with the most powerful mage in the guild can only help your status."

"And lower yours."

"I can handle myself, don't worry about me."

"How many people are coming to the dinner again?" Gajeel asked, and the blonde rolled his eyes, pulling out the guest list from under one of the books. As his blue eyes perused the list, the iron mage waited anxiously for him to answer.

"... 30."

"How the hell are 30 people supposed to fit in your dining room?" Gajeel barked, and the lightning mage scratched his head, contemplating it. Natsu had told so many people about it, and then they guilted him into getting invited with their stupid sob stories. 'My family is dead, but I guess I'll spend Christmas at home… alone...' _How the hell did Fairy Tail attract so many damn orphans?_

"Maybe we can have the dinner outside?"

"In winter? For a Christmas dinner?"

"Well they're sure as hell not going to fit in my dining room." Laxus said, still looking at the list and trying to figure out if there was anyone he could bump from it. _Orphan… orphan… team…. relative… orphan… Kana has a dad and Guildarts has a daughter, I can bump them. Strauss siblings have each other…._

"I thought being gay meant that we were good at this crap?"

"Yes, Gajeel, as soon as your dick enters the ass of another man, it bestows upon you fine decorating and party planning powers."

"You don't have to be a sarcastic asshole about it. What if we get Claire to help? She's good at this crap."

"I don't want to interrupt her on Christmas Eve."

"Well, apparently we have to plan an outdoor Christmas dinner, get furniture for it, cover, outdoor decorations…"

"Most of that we can take from the guild hall."

"Wouldn't someone… like… notice?"

"So?"

"... what about Evergreen? Or Lucy? Or Wendy? Erza?"

"Are you just listing the names of random women now?"

"Yeah. Wait, Fried is good at planning."

"... go get my sister." Laxus caved.

"Okay," Gajeel said, and started to leave the room, but then stopped when he realized Laxus wasn't following. "You coming?"

"It's my sister's first 'alone time' with Bickslow in over a week. No way in hell I'm going within hearing range of those two."

5.

Gajeel bit back a smile.

Silence charms were awesome, but little known fact; if you didn't recast them regularly, they faded, allowing sound to get through. He stood there, hearing the grunts and pants of Claire and her boyfriend, debating whether to interrupt or come back later. If he could tell if they were close to being done or not….

"Bickslow!" Claire's very distinct voice moaned, and Gajeel's teeth broke skin as he tried his damnest not to laugh. He instead reached his hand up and knocked on the door, chuckling softly. The sound of something falling on the ground, and then cursing, and then one of them falling to the ground met his ears, and he chuckled, looking down the empty hallway.

"It's me, Gajeel. You guys might want to recast those silence charms." The iron mage announced, still trying to hold back the guilty smile as he looked anywhere but at the door, hearing the couple inside curse and fumble loudly. After a few seconds, the sound of the lock coming undone caught his attention, and Claire's red face smiled at him. She was wearing a bedsheet to cover herself.

"What do you need?" She asked, managing to keep a straight face. Something shiny caught his eye, and he looked at her hand, seeing the ring.

"Congrats."

She smiled and giggled, looking away, and then locking eyes with him again.

"Laxus and I have no idea how to plan a Christmas Party. Apparently 30 people are showing up."

"Why the hell did you offer to host a party if you didn't know how to do it?"

"Well when we thought it was going to be around 10 people indoors, we were confident it would work out. And then Laxus kept inviting more and more people, and now we don't have enough room."

"So… what? You think I have a magic spell to make rooms bigger?"

"No, we're going to have it outside in his backyard. If you weren't busy later, we were hoping you could help us figure out an outdoor, Christmas dinner."

"Seriously? A backyard Christmas-"

"Oh my god, are you the secret boyfriend!?" Bickslow asked excitedly as he came out from behind the door, using Claire's body to cover himself as he looked at the iron mage. His cheeks were still flustered, and a moment ago he'd been annoyed and pissed off at being interrupted, but this would totally more than completely make up for it.

"Uh… if you let us borrow your girlfriend later in the day, I'll tell you."

"Your expression tells all. How long have you two been dating? Am I the first to know?"

"Obviously not, honey." Claire said, and the man lightly slapped her arm.

"You knew Laxus was sleeping Gajeel and you didn't tell me?!"

"They asked me not to." She said with a roll of her eyes. "And why am I the first person people come to with planning party crap?"

"... because other people do, and then you're amazing and awesome and wonderful and help them, and prove that you're awesome amazing and-" Gajeel spoke, trying to compliment her as many times as he could. Flattery worked wonders on people, and it worked on Laxus more than once, so he hoped his sister was just the same.

"I'll help you guys give me the deets." Bickslow grinned.

"What do you guys have planned so far?"

"Turkey and ham." Gajeel said, and Claire pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I thought gay guys were supposed to be good at hosting parties? Already dropping the ball?" Bickslow joked, and Gajeel mock laughed.

"What time is it now?" Claire asked, and the man behind her moved to look at the clock on the wall.

"Noon."

"What time do stores start closing?"

"Like… 4, probably."

"Wait here, I'll make a quick list of things for you to get before they close." Claire huffed, and turned, walking past Bickslow who moved out of her way. She had to tug at the bed sheet to keep it around her.

Bickslow stood there nude, not really bothering to cover himself. He'd been in the communal baths with Gajeel enough times to not really care, and besides, he wanted to know about his leader's love life. "So you and Laxus?"

6.

"You invited all of Team Natsu? Are you insane?" Claire asked, looking up from the long list of invited guests. Laxus shrugged, and then the metal object on her hand caught his eye. "Kana, Guildarts… Juvia? Seriously?"

"Did Bicks propose?" He asked, and she looked up, pausing at the change in topic; and then she grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"This morning."

"Congrats."

"Thanks. Now why the hell did you invite Juvia?"

"How the hell have you two kept this secret!?" Bickslow yelled from the dining room. While the seith mage had been interrogating Gajeel for information, Claire had agreed to help Laxus figure out everything he needed to do for the party. Basically he just needed her to tell him what to do, and he said he'd do the rest of the work.

"Why the hell did you offer to host a Christmas dinner?" Claire asked for the second time since she got there.

"We thought it was a good idea at the time… and then the guest list got a little out of hand…"

"Ya think?"

"Well, most of them are orphans, and I've been working with them for years… they're family…" He muttered, looking away.

"That probably only want to be here tomorrow because of free food and gossip about your love life."

"It's _Christmas._ " He reasoned, and with an added sad, forlorn stare, she made an aggravated sound and went back to the guest list.

"Strauss siblings… Ever, Fried… us… Makarov… at least you were smart enough to not invite Levy." She muttered, and he rolled his eyes, reaching for his glass of wine. In their shopping frenzy they'd gotten more than enough for tomorrow. "Goldmine? Really?"

"I saw him at the party yesterday, and after learning that my grandfather might be homophobic, I figured that having one of his friends there would be a good idea."

"Wait, Makarov homophobic?" She asked, looking up from the list. "But… he's besties with Bob."

"According to Bickslow, he freaked at even the idea of me being gay. It's possible that it was a fluke, or Bicks just misunderstood, so I invited Goldmine on the safe side."

"... huh." She muttered, and after a moment, shook her head and went back to the list.

"Porlyusica? Laxus, _why_?"

7.

No one really expected it to be an outdoor event. There was a place for Christmas presents and jackets inside, and the back patio was lit with so many torches and heating rocks that it was actually quite warm. They had a cover at the ready in case it started snowing.

The Thunder Legion wore their new, Christmas clothes again. Most of the guests were much more festive than two days earlier, wearing santa hats, bells, and more white fur. Some of the women wore outfits that were slightly skimpier than usual, and the guys were a bit more casual.

Gray was a little _too_ casual.

"Gray, this is a Christmas party. Keep your clothes on." Claire told the sprawled out mage. The ice mage had arrived, promptly threw his clothes off, and then sat on one of the lawn chairs with his hands behind his head.

"What?!" He yelled, looking down at himself, and then frantically looking around for his clothes.

"Here." She said, holding them out to them. When he'd thrown them off she figured he did it without realizing it, and after altering them a little, planned to give them back.

"Thanks." He muttered, getting his clothes back on.

"Anytime." She said with a smile, and took a sip of her sparkling cider.

"Are these the decorations from the guild?" Kana asked, looking up at the lightning mage. The entire backyard had been altered for the occasion; holiday lights, mistletoe in some places, little snowmen and holiday-themed gnomes they bought at the last minute, and other little odds and ends they could scramble together. Since Laxus didn't own any tables big enough for the party, and Claire predicted that people would bring dates, they stole a couple of the long tables from the mess hall in the middle of the night.

"... nope." Laxus said simply, and took another sip of his wine.

"What the hell is this white sticky crap on me!?" Gray yelled, and stifled laughs and giggles rang around him, causing him to blush in embarrassment.

"Glue." Claire answered, hiding her smile behind her glass.

"Why!?"

"So you'd keep your clothes on." She said, and he tugged at his clothing, realizing that it was stuck. The hem of his green shirt was glued to his waist, and pants were glued to the same area.

"Claire, why the hell did you do that?" Kana asked, still standing next to the blonde. "He was great eye candy."

"There's plenty of regular candy on the table inside." Claire replied easily, chuckling as Gray squirmed awkwardly at the weird sensation. He continued pulling and poking at the hardened glue, making sounds as he did so.

"You were more fun on the island." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"Gray-samaa! What do you think of Juvia's dress?!" The blue-haired mage asked with hearts in her eyes. Everyone with a drink either choked or spit out the liquid in their mouths, not expecting such a revealing outfit on her. She was clad in a red and white-furred dress like Claire and Ever, but it had large geometric shapes cut out so it was barely covering more skin than a bikini.

"I'm a little distracted because SOMEONE put glue on MY CLOTHES!" Gray yelled at the checker woman, completely ignoring the skimpy dress on their resident water mage, despite her just falling short of climbing him. "You wanna fight!?"

"You think you can win?" She snorted, grinning at his red face. Before he could do anything, Laxus came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You are a guest at my house. Keep your damn clothes on and don't pick a fight with my little sister." He seethed, and the ice mage froze, beginning to sweat.

"Y-y-yes sir." He stuttered, stopping his fidgeting with his clothes.

"If you really want to get the glue off, I have glue remover." Claire offered.

"Nope. Gray is going to be a good boy and if he stays that way, then he'll get glue remover at the end of the night." Laxus spoke.

"Y-y-y-yes sir." Gray stuttered, and when the lightning mage removed his hand, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Ha ha, what'd you do to piss off Laxus?" Natsu asked, and bit into the plate of food he'd gotten. Since there were so many people attending the dinner, they'd decided to put all the food on the table and let people eat whenever they felt like it, given how untimely Fairy Tail mages typically were. Some of them waited for more people to arrive, but Natsu dug in without a second thought.

"Gray, what do you think of Juvia's dress?" Juvia asked again, and the ice mage looked down, finally noticing her.

"... it, uh… doesn't leave much to the imagination." He answered, and upon realizing that she was already off in one of her weird fantasies again, walked off to get some grub.

"So when are you going to tell us who the mystery girl is?" Kana asked Laxus.

"I figured after gramps got here…" He spoke, looking around the party. Guests were still filing in, late, and the old man wasn't one of them.

Claire walked over to stand with Evergreen for a while, realizing that she was alone. Elfman and his sisters hadn't arrived yet, and she seemed anxious for her 'secret' boyfriend to arrive. She hadn't really socialized with the others yet, and whether that was because of nerves or she simply didn't want to, Claire was unsure. "Waiting for someone in particular?" The checker woman asked, startling the young brunette out of her thoughts.

Ever had dressed up for the Fairy Tail Christmas party, but she had outdone herself this time, since she had ample time to prepare. Her hair was curled beautifully, make-up complimenting her features perfectly, exotic yet Christmas themed jewelry sparkling magnificently, and the dress that didn't quite match her frame. Evergreen was a very curvy woman with sought after features; however, the dress she had chose fit Claire more than it did her, and it became all too obvious when they stood side by side. It was cut for a much slimmer and well built frame, and so when Evergreen wore it, her curves tugged the fabric a little too taught and made it look off. Her team had tried to warn her about it, but she didn't listen, adamant that she knew what she was doing. "Not really."

"Why not socialize a little? Or maybe eat some of the food?" Claire suggested. "Most of it was made at the last minute, but it's surprisingly good. The turkey and ham are awesome."

"Why, so that I can look fat in this dress when Elfman gets here?" Ever snapped. "Not everyone just has things handed to her on a silver platter. Some of us actually have to work for things, and don't have the perfect life, like you."

"Is that what you really think of me?" Claire asked, hurt by her words. The fairy woman had yelled, insulted, and berated her plenty of times before, but it didn't hurt quite like this. She'd always figured that that was just per personality, or at least that's what Bickslow made her believe. Ever was a lot of things... and a close friend was one of them.

"You were in Fairy Tail for less than two months when you were chosen for the S-Class Trials for the first time. Some of us have been working for that chance for years."

"If you were that dedicated, why didn't you take advantage of training with Laxus?"

"Fried got his leg shattered in three places from just one workout with you two. You really think I would have stood a chance?"

"I would train with you at a slower pace, if you wanted. When I came to this world-" If Ever hadn't cut her off, she would have continued to say that she had never worked out before, so she knew what it was like to start from scratch and would be happy to help.

"Boohoo, you're from another world. All of us have sob stories, get over yours." Ever spoke, and then walked to another part of the yard, away from her.

"Great chat." Claire muttered, and took another sip of her sparkling cider. Her injury hurt like hell, and she had started the evening planning to avoid alcohol, but after that conversation she was thinking of changing her mind. Trying to figure out why she'd snapped like that, she realized that it was the suggestion that she eat something that set her off. _Maybe she needs to eat a damn sandwich…_

Gajeel was nervous as hell.

He was jittery, jumpy, and even sweating a little. When he noticed Claire was alone, he practically ran to her, happy to have someone to talk to.

"You look like someone just kicked your puppy." He said, and she looked over at him.

"You look like you just got back from your puppy's funeral." She retorted.

"That… you made that really dark." He told her.

"Not drinking is hard when your teammates say bitchy things." She whined, pouting slightly.

"Evergreen, again?" He asked, and she nodded. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone do so much yelling. What did you to do her, kill her puppy?"

"She seems to think so." Claire muttered, looking over at the brunette. She shifted her weight, glad to be standing on solid ground and not the grass (as she discovered was terrible in high heels), and discovered that the iron mage was holding out his glass of wine to her. "Thank you." She said, and gulped down a third of it.

"Why are you cutting back, anyway? It seems like a terrible time to do it."

"Why do you think?" She asked, and tried to hand it back, but he shook his head and took her sparkling cider instead. "The pain I can deal with. It's the emotional crap that's difficult, and since using alcohol to deal with emotional issues is bad and what made Bacchus an alcoholic, I want to avoid it as much as possible."

"Get through the holidays first, let your body heal a bit, and enjoy the spotlight for a while. After that quit alcohol all you want, when you don't have to be around people 24/7 and you can have sex to deal with your emotional crap, instead of booze." He told her, smirking at the end while her face heated up in embarrassment. "Ah, Bickslow, you're so great, uh, uh," He said in a fake moan and high-pitched voice, and she started hitting his arm with her free hand.

"You-are-terrible-" She stammered while hitting him, and he just laughed, thoroughly entertained. It was nice to have someone else be the butt of a sex joke, for once.

"If that's not enough motivation, think about that sparkly thing on your hand."

She instantly smiled, her face still red as she looked at the ring, and hit his arm one more time. "How are you so good at giving advice?"

"Can't decorate for shit, but I'm a good bartender. Listening to people bitch and moan and then give advice they don't take is part of my job."

"So that's why you're encouraging me to drink." She chuckled.

"Thank you for the onesie, by the way. I love it."

"LAXUUUS!" Kana yelled in the host's ear. "YOUR GR-" She paused as he pushed her away. "YOUR GRANDFATHER IS HERE!"

"I see that." Laxus spat. "Everyone, can see that." He seethed, and Makarov chuckled as he entered the patio from the back door. Many people greeted the guild master politely, and in Natsu's case while chewing a massive bite of food, happy at the Guild Master's arrival. Goldmine was close behind.

"You said you'd tell us who your secret lover was when your grandpa got here!" While Kana yelled at him, he made a mental note to never invite her to any other party he had.

"Can someone keep her away from the alcohol?" He asked, looking around.

"No way!"

"LAXUUUUUUS!" Natsu yelled in his ear, and out of reflex, punched him in the face. Laxus blinked down at the now unconscious mage.

"Who's ready to hear the big announcement of who Laxus is dating?" Erza asked the party, and everyone raised their hands. Someone turned the music down, and then the expectant eyes looked up at the blonde, causing a round of nerves in him to light up unexpectedly. He froze, for the first time in his life, and there was an awkward silence.

Gajeel took a deep breath and then strode over to him, wrapping an arm around his waist and Laxus's arm moving instinctively around his shoulders. "Surprise." He said, suddenly wishing they'd thought to set up cameras to get their friends' reactions.

Several plates dropped to the ground, luckily made of paper, and there was a round of gasps and wide, disbelieving eyes.

"I'm happy for ya, bro." Claire spoke up in the back, tired of the intense silence. Her brother finally snapped out of his daze, nodding to her, and relaxing a little.

"Same here, dude! Congrats on finding love and stuff!" Bickslow joined, and moved to stand next to his fiance. The air seemed to relax a little, until Makarov finally spoke.

"Is this a joke?" Makarov asked, his voice low and his face growing dark.

"Nope." Laxus said simply.

"You're dating… _Gajeel_?" He spoke, and said the man's name as if he was the dirt beneath his feet. The iron mage shifted uncomfortably, looking away from the hateful stare. "Since when are you _gay_?"

"I'm bi. What does it matter?"

"No grandson of mine dates a _man_."

"Makarov, what's the big deal? If he's happy, it shouldn't matter, right?" Goldmine asked with a grin, and patted his old friend on the back.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" The Guild Master asked the blonde, his low voice cutting through the air like a knife. The mages around him inched away.

"I love a guy." He shrugged. "If you don't like it, you know the way out."

"You've done a lot of messed up things in your life, Laxus…." Makarov trailed off, and in the back Fried disappeared into the house. "Dating a member of Fairy Tail: a guy no less…"

"Guess I'm just full of disappointments."

"Yes. You are." Makarov turned on heel and stormed out of the party; the people in his way quickly jumped to the side to avoid his wrath, and after a moment of indecision, Goldmine followed after him.

"Anyone else is welcome to leave." Laxus informed him, but the majority of them were still trying to wrap their heads around the idea of Gajeel being on his arm, nonetheless how to respond to it. Claire snuck over to the sound system and turned up the volume, trying to make the dinner party back to its previous hum, and it worked. Everyone started talking at once to each other, asking questions and guessing about Laxus's relationship, along with his grandfather's reaction.

Claire and Bickslow made their way over to the happy couple, who separated almost as soon as people started talking again. They shook their limbs, feeling tense after the announcement. "Good job." The fire mage told them.

"That was a disaster." Gajeel told her.

"Could have been worse." She shrugged.

"How could that have been worse?" Laxus asked, trying to calm down over the confrontation. It felt unnerving to have so many eyes on him; he really didn't think that it would be that bad to 'come out'.

"For one, you could have lost your cool, but you didn't. He reacted better than our parents when I brought a girl home, that's for sure."

"Brought a girl home? What?" Gajeel asked.

"She dated girls before she met me." Bickslow said with a proud grin.

"What did our parents do?" Laxus asked.

"Flipped their shit, kicked me out, and my girlfriend was so distraught that she dumped me. Bacchus gave me a high five; it was a little bonding moment for us."

"How do you have so many weird stories?" Gajeel asked.

"Moral of the story: you guys did good, so relax because the toughest part is over and enjoy your Christmas party." She told them, and the small group exchanged hugs before wandering around to be social again. Bickslow ended up getting caught in conversation with a group, and upon noticing that Porlyusica was alone and off to the side of the party, she made her way over to her. "Hey, how's it going? Enjoying the party?"

The pink-haired woman looked at her, glared, and then looked away, the usual scowl on her face.

"So, are you just awkward or do you hate my guts? Because if it's the awkward thing, I can totally get behind that; you wouldn't believe the unbelievable awkward conversations I've had in the last few months alone."

"… I don't hate you, per say."

"Awesome, that is a step towards a direction I can get behind." Claire said enthusiastically, and the healer looked at her, slowly raising an eyebrow at her. "See? I'm awesome at awkward. So, why'd you come to the party? Are you and Laxus secretly good pals?"

"… Makarov suggested that I come, and I've known Laxus since he was a young boy."

"So were you surprised by his reaction?"

"A little. Makarov is fine with homosexuality, but when it comes to family, it's a little different. I think it's an inherent defect in masculinity within our culture."

"Ya know, my own parents did the same thing. Never understood it."

"In some cultures, homosexuals are treated extremely poorly, so some men and women that witness that overreact when they see it in their children, under the fear that the same thing will happen to them."

"… huh. So instead of being a good parent and supporting them, they freak out at their kid thinking that someone else will hurt them for being gay."

"More or less."

"People are weird."

"Do you understand why I dislike humans so much?"

"Yeah. A lot of humans suck." Claire agreed, and took a sip of her drink as she people watched, observing the party taking place. Porlyusica wasn't the most pleasant of people to get along with, as she frequently made negative comments about the human race, but Claire could understand and relate to it more often than not. Setting aside the closer people in her life that she loved and adored, there were terrible people in the world, and she had seen some of them first hand. When she came to the world the parasite had messed with her physiology and when it was taken out, her dormant dragon instincts kicked in. Like the healer, she didn't always feel human, even though she physically was one.

"How is… your injury?"

"I've had worse." Claire said automatically, and upon remembering who she was talking to, worked in her head to rephrase her answer. "It's about the same: hurts like hell to breathe. How long did you say it'll take to heal?"

"Laxus wasn't exaggerating when he said he could have killed you. You had a lot of internal damage with that hit."

"Would you put it on par with the harpoon almost hitting my heart?"

"Yes." She replied, and Claire's body stiffened, not expecting that. "You're generally not affected by his lightning, but when he combined it into his attack, it caused significant damage."

"I've gotten stabbed so many times I lost count… and a single punch is just as bad?"

"With a stab wound, it's easy to go in and take out the damaged areas. When there's no skin breached, it's more difficult to asses and heal. Have you forgotten that it's always the tissue and muscle that take the longest to heal, not the actual lacerations?"

"So… 2 weeks?" Claire asked with a hopeful smile.

"4 if you're lucky."

"I usually am. Do you dream about your air magic?" Claire asked, changing topics. The pink-haired woman paused, calculating, and thinking about the question. "I've always dreamed about fire since as long as I can remember, it's possible that Carol did, and I was wondering if you do."

"I use sky magic and healing magic."

"My apologies."

"… and yes. I do. I've theorized that when it comes to dragons and their counterparts, they're linked in a small way between worlds, and so we get their dreams along with their characteristics."

"Interesting; I can totally see that. Thank you for confirming my theory."

"You're welcome." She said curtly.

"So, uh… you seeing anyone?" Claire ventured, and the woman turned to give her usual glare. "Is it a 'you don't like humans thing', just not into it, guys suck, girls suck-"

"I have no interest in the dating."

"Any particular reason?"

She sighed, appearing annoyed as she always did. "I tried dating men in my younger years. They were pigs."

"Did you try switching to ladies?"

"Why would I?"

"I dunno. It's what I did when my first boyfriend played me for sex and dumped me. Women definitely have their upsides when it comes to dating."

"… I'm fine the way I am."

"Good for you. If you're happy, that's awesome."

"You're rather chatty this evening." She suddenly asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. "How much have you had to drink?"

"Enough to make me very chatty, evidently." Claire said with a grin. "In all seriousness, not very much. You've been rather chatty yourself; we had an entire conversation that wasn't entirely centered around my stab or punch wounds." She said rather proudly, and the healer rolled her eyes, walking away. "If anyone else randomly walked away without saying goodbye, I might be offended." She said to the retreating form, and to her complete amazement, she actually held her hand up in a half-assed wave.

A little too happy at getting Porlyusica to open up to her, she decided to join a group of women gossiping about Laxus and Gajeel. "Who do you think is bottom?" Someone asked, and Claire immediately high-tailed it to another group, only to discover that the majority of circles talking about her brother were of similar discussions.

Realizing that Gajeel was standing awkwardly near the buffet table, and Laxus was elsewhere, she made her way over to the lone mage. It doubled as a way for her to load up on food, since she hadn't eaten for a while. "Sup, dude? What's it like being openly dating my bro?" She asked, and the man grunted, continuing to pile various foods onto his plate.

"I thought it was bad when news about Levy getting pregnant spread. If one more person asks if I'm bottom, I'm going to start throwing punches."

She shuddered, and went for the hummus and flat bread.

"Are you enjoying the party?"

"I just had a conversation with Porlyusica that wasn't entirely about me getting stabbed or punched. It was awesome."

"Was she hammered?"

"… probably. She didn't look like it, though."

"Speaking of which, did she say how long you're busted up for?" He asked, and stood to stand near the table with her, munching away at the food he'd help make. Honestly, after the stares and accidentally overhearing countless conversations regarding his private life, he wanted to focus on anything else. Food, boyfriend's sister- anything.

"She said 4 weeks if I'm lucky; she even compared it to the harpoon that almost hit my heart."

"Man can throw a punch." Gajeel commented.

"No kidding, it's no wonder he's pissed at me. Where the hell is he, anyway?" Claire asked, realizing that she hadn't seen him for a while now.

"I think he went to the kitchen for something."

"Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine… once the Guild Master gets over the initial shock, I'm sure that he'll apologize to Laxus."

"… Makarov? Apologize?"

Gajeel pondered it for a moment, but after hearing another round of giggles, shuddered and went back to eating.

8.

"Do you guys want help cleaning up?" Claire asked at the end of the night, standing by the backdoor as the two men went in and out with supplies. After the 'big announcement', the majority of people either chatted animatedly about the two or went home, and once it reached 11 PM, Laxus was fed up so he kicked everyone out. He'd tried to get Ever and Fried to stay, since it was customary for the Thunder Legion to spend at least some of Christmas together, but both of them had headed out sometime before then.

"You've done more than enough, and you're injured. Go home, it's Christmas." Laxus told her on his way inside with a bowl of salad.

"What about me? Sure you don't want my help? It would make carrying stuff a lot easier…" Bickslow asked, standing by the table with his babies floating around him.

"Help, help!" The babies echoed, and Laxus paused in the kitchen, realizing that with Bickslow's help it actually would be like 5 extra bodies carrying stuff into the house….

"Fine, just don't drop anything." Laxus told him, and the seith mage grinned.

"Go drink and hang out on the couch or something." Gajeel said as he passed by her, and shoved a bottle of wine in her hand before heading inside with an armful of random things from the table. Feeling rather useless, Claire shrugged and made her way inside, dodging the traffic on that particular route and made her way to her brother's living room.

She had been to her brother's house several times by that point, as she practically lived there for a few weeks when the dark mage attacks started. Now, with all the Christmas decorations, it almost felt like a completely different room. A medium-sized Christmas tree with bountiful decorations lit up the room from the corner, giving the room serene mood lighting, and a little dancing gingerbread man on one of the night stands provided soft orchestra music.

It smelled of pine, and cookies, and everything that the holiday should smell like. They'd been baking and cooking all day that the entire house smelled like it.

Claire walked over to one of the two large couches and sat down, her body sinking into the feathery cushions. She reached over to set the bottle of wine and glass on the nightstand next to her, next to the dancing gingerbread man, and then moved to take her shoes off. On her world she never cared for heels, but she guessed that her increased tolerance for pain allowed her to wear them without the pain aspect, and then training with wandering souls forced her to get particularly good balance. Laying down with her head on the pillow, pressure relieving from her wound, she stared at the Christmas tree.

This holiday was never one that she was particularly fond of. Her mother loved it more than anyone- even though they weren't Christian and it was 'technically' a Christian holiday, depending on who you talked to- and the rest of her family joined in the spirit to make her happy. She'd insist on themed outfits, vegan substitutes for classic Christmas food, presents for everyone….

Who were now gone.

At her last Christmas with them, her mom announced that she was going to have another child, her sister Kelsey announced that she and her husband were trying to have kids, and… everything else was pretty normal that year. Two years earlier Claire had tried to bring a female date to dinner, to which resulted in yelling and getting kicked out, so the following years were pretty awkward in that respect. They didn't ban her from the house or anything, they just… never talked about it again.

At least she hadn't been as bad as Carol, who once brought a stripper to dinner. That was fun.

Lost in her memories, Claire didn't realized that they'd finished until a hand made its way to her head, softly petting her hair. Laxus sometimes did this as a little, affectionate, brotherly gesture, and she'd grown to appreciate it. For such a large and terrifying man, he had his moments, and she loved to see when he'd show off his sensitive side, if only because it contrasted his character so much.

"Should we open presents?" Bickslow asked, walking up behind the couch and leaning his elbows on it.

"Why not?" Gajeel said with a shrug, and plopped himself down on the other couch.

"Usually we open presents with Fried and Ever… but they headed out early…" Laxus commented, and stood up, leaving his sister and walking over to the couch with his boyfriend.

"I understand why Fried left, but I wonder why Ever did…" Bickslow pondered, and then reached over to pet his girlfriend's hair. _So soft._

"She's been acting extra weird lately." Claire commented.

"You can actually tell when her bitching is more or less weird?" Gajeel asked, and Laxus nudged his ribs with his elbow.

"Ever is Ever. What do you think is up with her?" Bickslow asked his girlfriend.

"I dunno. I suggested that she eat some of the food and she accused me of wanting her to be fat."

"Boy troubles, maybe?"

"I dunno."

"Should we just not open the presents from those two?" Gajeel suggested.

"Ever already opened my present to her, so I'm going to open any that she gave me… I'm curious about what she got me…" Claire spoke. With the brunette, it was usually a hit and miss. Claire guessed that her gifts were either snarky and terrible or amazing.

Bickslow walked around the table and started sorting through the presents, getting the gifts to each other out and to the appropriate person. Gajeel had the most number of presents, although most of them were of smaller size and then one medium sized box. "More onesies?" The iron mage joked, picking up one of the boxes and shaking it a little to hear what was inside.

"You didn't only get him baby stuff, did you?" The seith mage asked, twisting his body to look at her.

"He's going to be a dad in a month or less and most of the baby stuff from the shower went to Levy. He needs baby stuff and Christmas is the best time to get it." She explained. "Besides, some of the things I kept the receipts for and gave to Laxus so that if he does dislike the gifts, he can return them for other baby things."

"So instead of buying _him_ stuff, you bought his baby stuff?"

"Stop hatin' on my presents, dude!" Gajeel yelled a little too loudly, and then snickered when Laxus hit his shoulder. Since all of the presents had been dispersed, Claire reluctantly sat up, and they all started opening presents. There weren't actually that many, since Laxus got one gift for everyone , Bickslow co-signed on Gajeel's gifts, and then Claire got a gift from everyone except Bickslow.

Not surprisingly, the iron mage was likely the most excited about his gifts, or at least was the most vocal about it. He held up the sarcastic and humorous clothes, one in particular catching his attention. A large t-shirt for him saying 'I make adorable babies' and then a little onesie saying 'adorable baby'.

"These are going to make taking care of the little puking and pooping machine so much easier. Thank you, Claire."

"You're welcome. Thanks for the matching coffee mug and shot glass." She said, grinning and holding up the two. Both of them were in the shape of pill bottles, and Gajeel had gone in with a sharpie and wrote her name on them. He'd also gotten her a nice bottle of vodka.

"Ooooh, nice tequila. Thanks Laxus." Bickslow thanked as he admired the slick bottle in his hands. It was customary for the two to get alcohol for each other on Christmas, since neither had any idea what to get the other, and they both had drinking in common.

"Thanks for the Scotch." Laxus returned, and went to opening Claire's gift.

"Thank you for the headphones, bro." She said with a grin, turning the strange pads in her hands. Considering how she'd basically stolen his, it wasn't a huge surprise that he'd gotten her her own. The only reason why she hadn't at that point was because they were expensive and not as easily accessible.

Claire peered over at her brother, who was staring at the frame on his lap with an expression she couldn't quite place.

"One of the downsides to the way we came to this world is that we couldn't take a photo album… so I asked Rufus to help me out, and he did an amazing job. It's not exact, but it's pretty close."

"Are those your parents?" Gajeel asked, scooting over to get a better look at it.

"I wanna see." Bickslow stated, and carefully set his bottle down before jumping over to them.

"There's another one just below it, with the entire family. I thought about adding our aunts and uncles, but I was eating up enough of Rufus's time as it was trying to describe everyone, so I stuck to immediate family." Claire explained further. The first drawing, framed and beautiful, was of Laxus as a baby with his parents holding him. Their mom was looking down at baby Laxus, smiling and holding him in a Native American styled blanket, with her deep brown chestnut eyes glistening against the light. Their dad was also looking down at their son lovingly, looking slightly more pale than his wife and thinner, with balding short hair. The most prominent feature about him was his eyes, which both Laxus and Claire had inherited.

Before wrapping it, she had stared at it for some time, and had actually been tempted to keep the family portrait. She'd asked Rufus to make it a little over a month ago, making sure that Laxus was gone for the day before working with him on it, and it was the only present that she'd really put thought into and planned.

"Thanks." Laxus whispered, still entranced by the pictures. While he stayed preoccupied with the one of his parents, Bickslow took the family one out to look at, snickering.

"Is that you?" He asked, pointing at a woman in the photo and angling it for Claire to see. She nodded. "You're actually a blonde?"

"No way." Gajeel gasped, taking the photo from him. "You're secretly _blonde_? You're a blondie?"

"Laxus and I got our dad's genes on that one. Everyone else in our family is brunette with brown eyes."

"Doesn't Bacchus have red eyes?" Laxus asked, still staring at his baby self and his parents.

"They were brown before he came to this world. He said that they shifted color slightly in his first few days on this world; I physically changed too, so I think it's a reaction to this environment."

"Is that the slutty sister?" Bickslow asked, pointing to another person on the family portrait. Laxus hit his shoulder, effectively knocking him over and almost smash some of the left over presents. "Hey! According to Claire she was. Her words not mine."

"The girl with the dreadlocks was the slutty one. She was… 'very open to connecting with other people by means of the human body in its natural form'." Claire explained, and Bickslow grinned as he went back to looking at the photo. The next half hour continued in that fashion, sharing stories, talking about the party, and exchanging gifts.

Even though it was her first Christmas with a new family, that warm bubbly feeling made it the best Christmas she'd ever had.


	32. Chapter 32

**Author's note (2018):** Thank you for all the reviews, follows, and faves!

 **Author's Note (from when I originally wrote this):** This Chapter hurt my head.

So, I end up rambling a bit to try and explain part of Claire's past, and also ended up commenting on culture in Portland in general.

For the record, in regards to Claire's appearance, I would be mad jealous of her looks. I thought it would be interesting to try and see things from her perspective in today's culture.

Other note: I really hate writing scenes straight from the anime, so sorry if I don't get this quite right with the Tartaros story arc. Since the anime hasn't finished the story arc (at the time I wrote this) I had to go online and read spoilers so that I could finish it… again, I altered things… and stuff… and tried to incorporate some of what I introduced earlier to the plot, but it may have come off as a bit convoluted. I'll try and fix it up later to make more sense if it doesn't…. sorries.

 **Walking Cliché Chapter 32**

 _Tartaros_

"How's it going, blondie?" Gajeel asked when she approached the bar, and Claire rolled her eyes. It was when Mirajane gasped in delight when she flinched, knowing that she would never hear the end of it.

"You're actually blond? Like Laxus?" Mirajane asked, looking up from the strawberry smoothie she was making with an excited grin on her lips.

"What? No. Shut up. Mojito." She stammered, turning back to the iron mage.

"She's totally blond- same shade as Laxus's hair." Gajeel snickered.

" _Sorcerer Weekly_ is probably going to do an issue on our guild's S-Class mages soon. You should un-dye your hair for the group photo- it'll be so cute!"

"No." The checker woman glared.

"But you look so cute in the photo with your little blond braids."

"What photo?" Mira asked.

"None of your business photo."

"For Christmas, she had Rufus do a family photo as a gift for Laxus. It's a drawing of their entire family before they came to this world."

"And Claire is blond? What does Laxus look like?"

"Laxus was 2 months old, and Claire is _very_ blond."

"Where is the photo?"

"Hey! That was a touching family moment between my bro and I on Christmas. Stop making that face." Claire spoke, staring down the white-haired mage grinning at her like she'd just received her life long dream. She was so enamored by the idea of seeing Laxus's family, she forgot that she was blending a smoothie.

"Laxus has been a dear friend of mine for a long time now. I'm sure that he'd be happy to show it to me." Mirajane giggled, and finally turned the blender off.

"One Mojito coming up for the _blond_." Gajeel said with a smirk.

"Laxus should get a new boyfriend. You suck."

"That's why he loves me."

"What? I- dude! Do you have any idea how much alcohol it'll take to get that image out of my head!?"

"A Laxus style Mojito?" He asked, and she pondered it.

"Probably, actually. Maybe mix in a little strawberry flavored something?"

1.

"Why are you looking at the S-Rank board?" Laxus asked, sitting down next to her on the table. She was sipping at her drink and observing the flyers currently posted, meanwhile their team was scattered through the guild hall doing their own thing.

"Makarov said he'd let us do jobs in January if I made S-Class, so I'm looking for January jobs."

"You're still injured."

"I figure a week is ample time of drinking and rest, so that I can hike and move for long periods of time. I'll just avoid confrontations and fighting."

"There's no reason to push yourself too soon."

"Your boyfriend is telling everyone I'm blond. I don't want to be in the guild hall more than I have to be."

He chuckled. "Being blond isn't so bad."

"I look like a freaking cherub with the stupid blond hair and blue eyes. I had Rufus make me look slightly more masculine in the photo."

"A cherub, huh?" He asked with a grin, and she looked over, glaring at the mischievous glint in his eye.

"Laxus…"

2.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" A round of squeals and shouts erupted from the bar, and Claire glanced over curiously, wondering what all the ruckus was about. Her day had been pretty uneventful at that point, with the brief yelling at Gajeel and chat with Laxus, and otherwise she had no plans but to hang out and drink. She'd wanted to stay home that day, but Bickslow wanted to hang out with Ever and catch up with her.

"Claire looks just like Laxus!" Mirajane squealed the loudest, and Claire's eyes widened. _He didn't…_

She locked eyes with the smug look of her brother, who was standing to the side of the group with his arms crossed and looking pleased with himself. Gajeel was laughing hysterically nearby, saying how he 'didn't think he'd actually do it' between laughs.

" _You_ look like _me_. I came before you." Claire glared at the blond, whose smirk merely widened and his shoulders shook from silent laughter. "You don't get nice things for Christmas next year." She seethed, and went back to her drink, trying to ignore the screams and squeals from downstairs. If only her stupid body wouldn't purr whenever she listened to music, and thus aggravate her wound, she'd drown out the sounds with her new headphones tucked away in her backpack. _You better be making a fucking breakthrough with Ever, Bixy._

"Bacchus as a 10 year old! That's fucking gold!" Kana laughed boisterously, no doubt planning to use it against her drinking rival next they met.

3.

"Since when do you not like ice cream?" Bickslow blinked in surprise, standing in line with the brunette at a local ice cream parlor. After stopping by the guild hall, he and Ever had decided to do what they used to do when they first met: get ice cream down the street. It was cheesy and corny, but Bickslow loved those things, and the fairy woman claimed that it was an oddly charming quality about him; and then he'd say something perverted and stupid, starting up their childish bickering.

"I'm on a new diet."

"Well… I think there's coconut ice cream?"

She rolled her eyes. "You can get ice cream, I'm not."

"Do you want to go somewhere else? The Italian place next door is pretty nice. If they don't have anything conducive to your diet, I'm sure they'd be willing to make something just for you."

"… fine. Sure." Ever finally conceded, and Bickslow nodded, exiting the line they'd been standing in for several minutes. He really had been looking forward to their new cheesecake flavored ice cream, so he'd just have to convince Fried to go with him later. He held the door open for her as they left, and they made their way over to the pasta smelling restaurant. The line wasn't nearly as long and they got a table almost immediately.

It was between lunch and dinner, so business was slow, and only a few people were scattered through the fairly large restaurant. One of them was a mage from Fairy Tail that they weren't very acquainted with, so Bickslow gave a short friendly wave before sitting down.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Evergreen asked as she opened the menu, perusing the food they had to offer.

"I just thought we'd chat about stuff. We haven't hung out in a while."

"We've been hanging out a lot at the guild."

"Yeah, but not one on one. You seem extra stressed when you hang out with Claire, and she said that you've been a bit… high-strung, when you're alone." _High-strung sounds better than bitchy, right?_

"So you're hanging out with me because Claire told you to."

"No, it was my idea. Stop twisting my words to sound bad." He said, and stuck his tongue out at her. "You've been doing that a lot lately."

She bit the corner of her lower lip, still looking through the menu. "I think I'm going to get a salad."

"So what's this new diet you're on? Are you just cutting out sugar?" Bickslow asked, deciding to go with her change in topic. It felt oddly reminiscent of his meals with Michael, back when he had a major crush on Claire and he had to avoid talking about her to prevent a meltdown.

"Sugar, carbs, lowering my intake of calories. That kind of stuff."

"Are you trying to lose weight?" He asked, being wary to pick his words carefully. This wasn't the first time that Evergreen had randomly gone on a diet, and it likely wasn't the last, but he couldn't help feeling that it was different somehow. Usually she focused on the nutritional aspect of a good diet and then forced her team to join her, and although it never lasted more than a week, it was likely Fried and Laxus's favorite quality about her as a teammate. She would work out the details- nutritional crap that bored Bickslow to death- and figure out a meal plan for them.

"Yes."

"… why?"

"Why do you think?"

"… I think you look fine the way you are." He told her; she picked up her menu again, pretending to read it while holding back a smile. "I got you to smile~" He said in a sing-song voice.

"Shut up." Ever said, unable to hold back the grin.

4.

 _Stupid… fucking… injury… Laxus…_ She thought angrily as she made her way to the library. _Next year you're getting coal for Christmas._

The library was empty as usual, much to her relief. She sighed, taking another sip of her drink, and walked around to find a nice place to settle for a few hours. The new beanbag chairs she'd requested had been added, but when she finally located them on the opposite side of the room, she discovered that they weren't empty.

Fried glanced up at her from the book on his lap, silent.

She stood there for a moment, and they just stared. Silent. For close to two minutes.

"So, uh… enjoying the new chairs?"

"Yes. I was surprised at how much comfier they are compared to the other seats in the library."

"I asked for a cool bungee chair, too, but it doesn't look like they went for it."

"Too bad." He said simply.

"… mind some company? Laxus is showing off embarrassing family photos, and I need someplace to hide."

"Not at all, take a seat." Fried spoke, a small smile on his face. He had bags under his eyes, and she wondered if he'd gotten any sleep since the announcement last night.

"I'm going to look around for a book first."

5.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY HAIR!?" Claire screamed at the top of her lungs, staring into the mirror with wide eyes. Two minutes ago it looked fine- black and white, checkerboard smiley faces in their usual positions, half-inch long strands of hair- and now… now….

The sound of Bickslow laughing came from behind her, and she turned, glaring at him.

"Scissors! Now!" She screeched.

"No way! Oh my god, I can totally see the cherub thing! You're-you're adorable!"

"I'll use the knives in the kitchen."

"No!" He immediately screamed, and in his hurry to stop her, tackled her to the ground behind the couch. "Blonde Claire is hot!"

She groaned in both pain and annoyance, trying to alleviate some of the pressure from her abdomen. Hearing her gasp for breath, he moved slightly so that he sat on her legs, and watched her carefully.

Namely those beautiful, short blond locks of hair on her head.

"What the hell did you do to my hair!?" She struggled, pressing her forehead against the carpet and growling at him. _I'm supposed to be doing a photoshoot with the other S-Class mages in an hour you pompous, traitorous, motherfucking-_

"I replaced your normal shampoo with hair magic cancelling shampoo. Anti-hair dye, basically."

"Why the hell is it so long?!"

"The magic hair product you used stunted your hair growth and kept it black and white. When I took that out, it returned to what it would look like if you hadn't been using it at all for the past year."

"Bickslow… you are sleeping on the couch for the next year!"

"Worth it." He said with a smile, and then reached over to twirl one of the many curly locks of hair. It was blond, just like Laxus's, but it was around 6 inches in length and it made her look like a doll. "So, so worth it."

"I need to cut it and dye it before the photoshoot."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yes, I do. Now get the hell off of my before I burn your dick off."

A knock came from the door, and he grinned. "Laxus, help!" He cried out, just before she could twist and kick him in the side of the face, and jump to the kitchen. The door burst open and in a flash the lightning mage had her arm pinned behind her back, front pressed against the refrigerator.

"It's me, you idiot!" She gasped, wincing at the following pain. _Bickslow you are so dead._

"… are you…?" Laxus spoke, releasing her arm with a smile.

"Nooo…" Gajeel gasped.

"Did you dye your hair?" Fried asked. She turned, slowly, and glaring at Bickslow on the ground, who was still smiling. She had already dressed up in the new outfit Evergreen had bought her, a black and dark red form-fitting dress with striped stockings, which happened to match what the other S-Class mages were going to wear… and now she was blond. Blond and blue eyed.

"… anyone got any scissors? I've got less than an hour to cut and dye it again, since my asshole boyfriend switched out my shampoo." She seethed, staring daggers at him.

"But… you look like a supermodel now." Gajeel muttered slack jawed, and she redirected the glare to him, but he just grinned.

"Having blond hair turns me into a supermodel?"

"Apparently."

"Stop staring. I need hair dye and scissors." She said, and when all of them just kept staring like idiots, she started opening drawers to try and find them.

"Why? You look awesome." Gajeel told her, still grinning. She shoved them out of the way as she continued their search, since the three men were crowding the small space.

"Fine, I'll use a goddamn butcher knife if I have to."

"But… it's so _cute_." Laxus said, and put his hand in front of his mouth as he snorted, trying to hold back the laughter. When she went to reach for the knife rack he stepped in front of it, effectively blocking her path. Claire stopped, put her hands on her hips, and looking between the four men in the apartment. All of them were smiling and giggling- except for Fried.

"Fried, will you help me get my hair cut and died before the photoshoot?"

"What's in it for me?"

"A project I've been working on combining data compression magic and your rune magic that would allow us to cast your extremely complex runes anywhere at anytime." She explained, and the green-haired mage pondered it for a moment. _It's a good as hell of an excuse to face against Laxus…._

"Don't do it, man! My girlfriend's a hot blonde, now!"

"With the temper of a red head." Gajeel snorted, watching her face get progressively redder and consequently just make her more 'cute'.

"Fried?" Claire asked again, giving him a pleading look. Which, considering her new hairstyle, actually made it more effective.

"I'll go to the store and get the hair dye. Black and white, correct?" Fried announced. _New favorite._

"Yep. You're a life saver."

"Don't do it, man. I'll give you all the gummy bears from the store down the street." Bickslow told him, running around to stop him- his babies helped block the exit. The door frame was splintered and broken on one side from Laxus breaking in.

"… when did I ever give you the impression that I like gummy bears?" Fried asked the man, giving him a deadpan look. He was tired, and really, fighting with Claire would be interesting but energy consuming.

"… wishful thinking?"

"This might be cute if it wasn't right before a god damn photoshoot." Claire seethed, leaned down to take one of her shoes off, and then chucked it at Bickslow's head. Laxus caught it midair, much to her dismay.

"There's no need for violence… little sister." Laxus said, trying to hold back his laugh.

"You're like a little toy doll." Gajeel said, stepping forward and trying to pinch her cheeks, only to have his hand swiped away.

"I thought you said I look like a supermodel?"

"Models can look like dolls."

"Alright, compromise: someone cancel the stupid photoshoot and I'll cut and dye my hair in a couple of days."

"Nope. Today's the only day the photographer can come in." Laxus told her. "Come on, it doesn't look that bad."

"Bickslow, get out of Fried's way."

"No way!" He yelled, and his babies repeated the phrase.

"You realize that if we don't, then we're going to fight, and it's going to undoubtedly destroy _our_ apartment?" She asked him, and he contemplated the notion, and then grinned again.

"Worth it. I'm already sleeping on the couch for a month."

"You're not going to have a couch if two S-Class mages fight in here. I'm also still considering the threat to burn your you-know-what off."

"Ya know, under normal circumstances that would be terrifying… but you look so adorable right now, I really can't take you seriously."

"I just want to put little wings on you-" Gajeel said, trying to touch her face or hair again and getting smacked away. She leaned down to take her other shoe off, throwing it to the side, and then holding her hand up to her hair. As she predicted it didn't burn, and she made an aggravated sound as she stormed into the living room, her actions providing more than enough distraction for Fried to escape.

"I- hey! Where'd he go?!" Bickslow yelled.

"Fried escaped!" His babies echoed.

Claire took a seat on the couch, and the guys followed suit. If Fried and Bickslow fought, Fried could handle himself- and hopefully he thinks to get scissors, too. Gajeel stood behind the couch and started playing with her hair, snickering with his stupid 'gi-hi' sound; Bickslow sat down next to her, grinning with his face only inches from hers; Laxus simply stood across the room with his arms crossed, already dressed for the event. His hair was slicked back, stylized red and black suit fitting his form perfectly as if it was custom made.

"You look nice." Laxus complimented.

"So do you." She grumbled.

"Why doesn't your hair curl like this?" Gajeel asked the standing man, continuing to play with Claire's hair.

"I dunno."

"It's so _bouncy_." Gajeel snickered.

Bickslow took his visor off and set it on the ground, allowing him to nuzzle her cheek with his nose. "Please keep the blond hair?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No; and I thought you liked my checker hair?"

"Well yeah, until I found out you were a blond bombshell."

"Bombshell, bombshell!" Their babies repeated.

"Gajeel, stop messing with her hair. It's getting creepy." Laxus told his boyfriend, who snickered once again and went to stand next to him. At the opportunity, Bickslow rubbed part of his face on her soft hair.

"It's so soft and wonderful."

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

"Claire, I got the supplies," Fried announced as he returned, and Claire immediately jumped to her feet, purposely head-bumping her boyfriend in the process. "And scissors."

"You're a life savor." She said with a grin, and he handed her the grocery bag so she could get started in the bathroom. Small 'aaw' sounds resounded from the living room, and her first order of business was dying her hair, so she wouldn't have to look at it.

It took a moment for the dye to settle in, and she accidentally caught a glance at herself in the mirror.

Cheeks red, soft make up on, cute little pout, locks of blond hair framing her high cheek bones and slightly pronounced jaw, her smooth black and red dress hugging her frame at all the right places and her near perfect tan….

And then the mirror cracked under the force of her knuckles breaking into it, and the pieces looking back at her fell into the sink. She covered her arm with magic to prevent it from cutting herself further, and once the majority of glass had fallen, she turned on the cold water. Her knuckles had small pieces of glass in them now, and as the blood flowed down the drain, she worked on getting the slivers out.

Her hands were shaking.

The insecurities long forgotten, self loathing for her body came back tenfold, and she suddenly remembered why she cut her hair in the first place.

' _Well, if you're going to post bikini pics of yourself on facebook every week, of course someone is going to only date you for your looks.'_

' _Boohoo, Miss Popularity didn't have the perfect boyfriend everyone thought.'_

' _With your looks you could get another guy in 2 minutes. Stop whining.'_

' _White, blond, blue-eyed, straight, middle class woman in American society. Yeah, you have problems.'_

That was her 'friends' in high school when she made a facebook post about her boyfriend leaving her. How they dated for half a year, and after they had sex, he dumped her. She posted about her heartbreak and instead of comforting her, they just told her that she looked pretty so she should get over it. Later when she looked through the breakup posts of her other friends, not one of them had posts bringing up their appearance. In fact, the more of a minority they were, the more sympathy they got- even if they were the ones that dumped the other person.

She had been raised to believe that being true to yourself was what mattered, and that that's what people truly cared about. That if she was honest, open, and loving, people would care about her. To an extent she'd learned that that wasn't true at a very young age when her parents sent her to a mental institution, where she'd learned that acting 'normal' kept you out of that place, but in high school she learned the social repercussions of the opposite.

Claire wasn't a minority; she wasn't even average, so people didn't care what she thought. When she was younger she would use it to her advantage to get out of trouble, but now that she was older, she could suddenly see just how differently people treated her. Sure, she understood that people had it worse than her- born and raised in Portland, how can you not? She herself did countless reports and research on other cultures around the world- but none of that justified blaming her for having her heart broken. Looking back on her life and going through her facebook account, she realized just how much people focused on her looks rather than her ideas or actions. Even her hippie friends talked shit about her for her appearance, even though they were the ones that hadn't bathed in weeks and starved themselves for their ideals.

She was white, straight, blue-eyed, and blond. So that made it okay for her to be the butt of every joke. Everything she said was scrutinized for the slightest prejudice against another person, while other people could say the same things without the backlash of being called a racist or homophobe despite the intent behind those words.

So… she cut her hair. Buzz cut, with a green salamander dyed into it. Some complimented her on her creativity, while others said it was unnatural and they liked her old hair better. She deleted all of the revealing photos of herself on Facebook. She couldn't change her eye color nor did she want to gain insurmountable weight just to prove a point, so her hair and clothes would have to do. Within days she lost most of her 'close friends', and she didn't really get any new ones until after she graduated and moved out. People acted more relaxed around her, sometimes annoyed by her hair or 'emo' clothes, but all of it proved her theory- people treat others different based on what they look like. Even hippies, who claimed to 'love everyone'

The blond jokes slowly stopped happening, and with her new friends, they embraced her for trying to be different. What she loved about the LGBT community is that they didn't really care what people looked like, or if they did they weren't as mean about it, because they shared the common goal to be accepted. She could cross dress, wear sparkles, wear a tutu or whatever the hell she wanted and at the end of the night all that mattered was that they had fun.

Now… now here she was.

On a new world, dressed up like a doll that she wanted to tear apart into so many tiny pieces that it gets lost in the wind. Fear, anxiety, and the terrifying thought of people treating her like a doll shook her very soul. The transition to this had been slow, and until she saw her hair, she didn't realize that it had been taking place. The dresses, the shoes, make-up, parties….

In the short time Bickslow had seen her, he had looked at her differently; acted differently. Even Gajeel acted different. They ignored what she said.

"… Claire?"

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Did you have to pull this crap today?"

"I thought she'd look cute, I didn't think she'd actually get upset."

 _What the hell am I wearing?_

The guys jumped out of her way as she stormed past them, not making eye contact with any of them, and slammed the bedroom door shut after her. She took the ridiculous dress off, along with her uncomfortable bra, and went into the closet to hide in a dark corner.

"… guess that's a 'no' on the photoshoot." Laxus muttered, after hearing the zipper on Claire's dress. Then he turned to Bickslow, the seith mage scratching his head and staring at the bedroom door slack-jawed. "You're the one that's going to tell Erza and Mirajane that she can't make it. They've been spending all day on their outfits."

He instantly froze, imagining either of them tearing him to pieces. With his one little prank, he'd managed to not only piss off one S-Class mage, but all 3 female ones. "Uh… Claire shouldn't be alone right now. She looks upset."

"I'll stay with her." Fried volunteered. "I believe I'm the only one that hasn't upset her in the last half hour."

"No, I did this, I should be the one to-" Bickslow tried to argue, but the lightning mage was already dragging him out of the apartment by the back of his collar.

Gajeel would have offered to stay as well, since he considered Claire to be a good friend, but the walk to the apartment had been awkward enough with the green-haired mage. Besides, he hadn't exactly gotten on Claire's good side by playing with her hair for ten minutes….

Once the others had left, Fried sighed.

 _Why did I volunteer for this?_ He silently asked himself, looking around the room. He was terrible with people; and upset people… well, that was even more out of his realm. Calm people, happy people, drunk people- knew those pretty well.

He'd had his own share of heartbreak over the past few days, and babysitting the man responsible's sister because she had a bad hair day was the last thing he wanted to do. Maybe he should have let Bickslow stay.

From his spot in the living room, next to their rather ugly couch, he could hear Claire's sobs. They were stifled, and he could tell that she was trying to hide them, but he heard them nonetheless.

Strangely, instead of feeling awkward like he did when Ever burst into tears, he felt strangely… drawn to it. Something about hearing her pain soothed that raw bloody feeling in his chest, and his broken heart felt just a tiny bit better. _Misery loves company, I suppose._ His gaze moved to the kitchen, and his eyes locked with a bottle of opened vodka on the counter. Like most others at the guild he had gotten her a bottle of alcohol, even though he knew she was trying to quit it. When she left the Christmas Party (both of them) she went home with several bottles as gifts. He had seen her wound first hand and knew the power that was Laxus Dreyar- he also understood not wanting to become addicted to alcohol, but if it was the only thing her doctor would prescribe to dull the pain, there was no shame in partaking in the hobby.

He had also gotten her a book on word magic that he particularly enjoyed, and given her recent offer to combine their magics, took it as a sign she had read it.

With a sigh, he made his way to the bedroom she shared with Bickslow. He knocked on the door. "Mind if I come in? The others have left."

Only sobs answered, and after a moment of deliberation, he sighed again.

"I'm going to come in and join you. You shouldn't be alone right now, and please don't attack me." He requested, and slowly opened the door, half expecting her to leap out screaming for him to leave.

After a hesitant moment of standing there and looking around the room, he realized that the sound was coming from the closet. On the bed was her dress, and next to it, her bra. _I hope she had the decency to change into something else, and she's not just… crying naked. In the closet. Kind of like I was yesterday…_ He shook the thoughts aside.

"Are you decent?"

No answer.

He looked around the room again, not surprised by the clothes strewn about and likely new presents they bought each other piled around the room. After a moment, he finally decided that he needed to go inside and comfort her. _Please be clothed._

Opening the door slowly, he realized that it was a walk-in closet. Once he flipped the light on, he heard a small whimper from Claire, and immediately turned it back off. _When I was sad, I just wanted to be alone. On the other hand, it would have been nice if someone stayed to comfort me._

After another moment of deliberation, he made his way over to the sounds, and when he finally saw her, was glad to find that she'd at least put a shirt on. It was raggedy and had a weird smell, but it at least covered the basics.

She was also wearing her headphones that Laxus bought her, and even though it was extremely soft, he could now hear the soft purring behind her weird sounding sobs. Sitting down next to her, he awkwardly put his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned against him.

6.

Bickslow had never been more happy for his guards.

Between Erza, Mirajane, and even Guildarts mad at him, he was lucky to escape with his life. He had more than a few bruises now, and every so often, Laxus would randomly hit him on their walk back to his apartment.

"Idiot." Laxus muttered, and after the 5th hit, Bickslow jumped on his babies and floated above him, out of his range.

"For the millionth time, I'm sorry! How was I supposed to know that she'd flip?"

"You never mess with a girl's hair right before they go into public, idiot. Hell, if you messed with my hair right before my first photoshoot as an S-Class mage, I probably would have killed you."

Bickslow groaned. "Well, I've learned my lesson."

"You haven't even dealt with Claire yet. She still might burn your dick off."

The seith mage frowned, remembering that threat. At the time she looked so cute with the blond hair, he'd been pretty oblivious to her words- but, now imagining her, fire blazing… blond hair flowing in the wind… his penis burning to dust….

He shuddered.

"No, she… she likes it too much. She wouldn't do that." Bickslow tried to reason to himself, only to be shocked by the lightning mage and fall to the ground, twitching. "You should be nicer to your future bro-in-law… ow…"

7.

By the time Bickslow and Laxus returned, Claire had returned her hair to normal. Firey, rainbow words and numbers drifted around the apartment in a beautiful mess.

Fried laughed at something she said, and when the pair moved closer to the living room (dodging the flying words), they realized that they were on the couch drinking. "Bickslow, Laxus- leave." Claire ordered without looking at them, and they both froze.

"What did I do?" The blond asked.

"Both of you- out." She told them, and moved something floating in front of her and replaced it with another. Fried turned to look back at their confused expressions, shrugged sympathetically, and went back to gingerly sipping the golden liquid in his wine glass.

"I'm sorry for being a jerk." Bickslow said. "I guess I'll… come back tomorrow after you've calmed down?" Bickslow spoke. Riley flew in front of him and hovered there for a moment.

"You know where the door is." Riley told him, and he glared. _Not cute._ Bickslow thought darkly, and felt the dragonslayer's hand on his arm, pulling him back out the broken door.

8.

Fried and Claire spent most of the day together, drinking and laughing between working on their project. He was pleasantly surprised at how much he enjoyed her company; even her occasional bitter moments, which always made him feel a little better about his own.

She knew what it was like to feel heartbroken, and he could feel that empathy. It wasn't just feeling sad for him or telling him to walk it off. When he got quiet and a little teary-eyed, she'd tell him that it's okay to cry, and even got tissues and ice cream for him. Bickslow always kept an unhealthy amount of ice cream in the fridge, and they had more than enough booze to share, so it was the perfect space for them to drink and vent.

"I mean… I knew that he could never like me, but… at least… if he was going to date someone from the guild, it would be Mirajane- but then- _Gajeel_?" He spoke, as if the name tasted disgusting on his tongue. "Laxus chose Gajeel over me?"

"It sucks, but you can't choose who people fall in love with." Claire said, and reached over to the cheap bottle of rum they'd switched to. She refilled Fried's glass, who was preoccupied staring at the window and trying to form words to his thoughts.

" _Gajeel_?" He asked, exasperated, and then took another sip from his glass.

"I know, it's weird."

"He's… he's a buffoon. He got my cousin pregnant!"

"Yep."

"And then everyone is required to attend those stupid seminars because of him."

"Technically that's Levy's fault, too."

"And then- then Ever tried to use me as a practice student for teaching the class," Fried complained, and at that, Claire broke into laughter. "It was terrible! What's worse is that I had to correct her on the anatomy."

"Oh, man. Evergreen. I feel so bad for Elfman."

"At least she's putting herself out there. It takes guts to go after someone you love like that."

"She was already secretly dating him. I'm not sure I'd classify pressuring him into sex as gutsy. What is her deal?"

"It's Ever. Who knows." He said dismissively, and took another drink. "Bickslow talked to her yesterday, and she seems to be a little less tense. Maybe she just needed the one-on-one time with an old friend."

"I tried to offer to train with her, so that she'll feel more ready for next year's trials, and she cut me off bitching that I was rehatching my sob story." She explained, and hiccupped. "I mean, the Guild Master said that he won't consider her next year unless she puts more effort into getting stronger."

"She would probably consider it if your training with Laxus wasn't so intense."

"I tried to tell her I'd take it slow for her- ease her into the harder stuff by simple exercises, but she wouldn't listen. It's not like I just randomly started cliff crunches with Laxus- I came to this world with no muscle, and then I trained on my own for a long time… and then Laxus hurled me off a cliff and called it training."

"Did he really do that?"

"Yeah. He caught me with his teleportation magic. Fast, motherfucking…." She grumbled, glad that her injury was mostly numb at that point. " _Brothers_. Both of them psycho."

"His dragonslayer magic is impressive… like his cute butt…" He said, and started laughing, the woman next to him joining.

9.

When Bickslow returned the next morning, a little after 11 AM to play it safe, he was unsure what to make of the situation he stumbled on.

He heard the purring first, and figured that Claire had fallen asleep with her headphones on. Empty cartons of ice cream were on the floor, Fried's coat and sword were hanging on a chair, and several empty bottles were on the floor. (Luckily none of the really nice stuff Bickslow was excited to try)

On the couch was Fried and Claire. _Cuddling._

If he didn't know for a fact that Fried was gay, he probably would have been pretty mad; and honestly, compared to the other people that he'd caught trying to cuddle with her when she did the purring thing, Fried really wasn't that bad. Natsu was by far the goddamn worst, as he'd gotten progressively sneakier over the past few months. Bickslow just hoped that the empty bottles and ice cream cartons meant that they weren't upset any more.

After the initial shock of seeing his girlfriend in another man's arms, he smiled when he realized the opposite: he had never, ever, considered in a million years that he'd find Fried sleeping with a girl in his arms. He wished he had some way to capture this moment, and seriously considered running to the store across town, buying a camera, and then running back just to get the picture.

He leaned over the couch, watching them sleep for several moments to burn the image into his mind, and then decided to write a note and head back to the guild hall. _Maybe I'll have my own drinking contest with Ever… nah, she would probably just whine about being fat, since she's on that new diet that's making her crabby…._

"Hey Daddy." Riley said, and the seith mage held his index finger to his lips and nodded to the sleeping pair.

"How'd last night go?" He whispered.

"Fried called Laxus a slut." Riley told him, and the seith mage smiled, holding back a laugh. "Mommy called you things, too."

"Like what?"

"An 'inconsiderate pig-headed loon'."

 _At least she's creative with her insults._ "Is she still mad at me?"

"I don't think so. You made her sad."

"I didn't mean to make her sad… when she wakes up, let her know that I stopped by. I'm heading back to the guild hall."

"Okay dad~"

10.

"Really? You're following through with that?" He asked, standing in the living room of their apartment. He'd come home just a few minutes ago after spending the day at the guild hall, hoping he'd come home to a hungover-not-pissed-off girlfriend.

He caught the pillow aimed for his chest, and let the blanket cover his entire head as she threw that at him, too.

"I apologized."

"I never accepted that apology. You're sleeping on the couch until I'm not mad anymore."

"I think you're over exaggerating, honey."

"You messed with my hair dye when you knew I was sensitive about my hair color, and right before I was meeting with _Sorcerer Weekly,_ which I was already nervous for and they canceled the issue."

"And I already got beat up for that by every S-Class wizard including you." He said, and turned to toss the pillow on the couch and get the blanket off of his face. "How was I supposed to know that you'd flip out like that? You're usually so nonchalant about your appearance."

"What did you think I would do?"

"Hit my arm a few times, make me go to the store to get hair dye, and have angry sex later."

"Then why the hell did you pin me to the ground when my ribs hurt like hell, make Laxus stop me too, and then try to stop Fried from getting hair dye?"

"… because I realized you look pretty with blond hair."

"Which turned you into an asshole, apparently."

"I… okay, I can see why you're mad about the whole pinning you down part. I forgot about your injury and I'm sorry for hurting you. You kicked me pretty hard in the face, though."

She was about to reply, but then she noticed just how bruised his face was. The left side was swollen slightly, his eye black, and there were a few little scratches on his cheek. "… oh, honey, they really did beat you up." She said, and walked forward, reaching her hands up to the sides of his face. Gingerly, she touched the colorful skin, watching him flinch at the contact.

"Guildarts was surprisingly the most pissed…"

"I didn't think that they'd actually hurt you."

"I was just lucky Makarov wasn't there. It was going to be a major publicity thing for the guild."

"Considering how many 'publicity things' I've done for the guild, I'm surprised that they cared so much."

"Mira and Erza were excited to dress up for it, and Guildarts wanted to show off for his kid. Since the issue was basically for you, since you got to S-Class, they couldn't really do the shoot without you."

"Why did you have to mess with my hair dye?" She pouted, looking into his green eyes. Seeing her fiancé in physical pain wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to be mad at him for a few days because he was in the wrong, but that wasn't going to happen when she knew that people had beaten up the love of her life. Being mad at him, that's one thing- but physically harming him was another.

"I just thought you would look cute… it's not like it's the first time we've dressed up for sexy times, and I'd kind of hoped we could get a quickie in before the others arrived. It took a lot longer for the anti-dye to work than I thought it would."

 _It is fun to have sex when he's in the suit…._

"You're thinking about it, huh?" He asked, grinning. She removed her hands, smiling and looking away, while he gently reached up to hold her hands. "About how sexy it is to have me pounding into you with my suit on?"

She blushed, and he smirked.

"Dress hitched up, my tongue ravaging your…" He whispered, leaning into her ear. "… mouth."

"… fine, you can sleep on the bed, but we're not having sex tonight."

He kissed her cheek. _Thank god, I'm way too sore to do any of those things._ "I love you, honey."

"Love you too." She grumbled, and made her way to the kitchen.

 _I'm, like, the master when it comes to dealing with women._ He thought cockily, and took the blanket and pillow back to the bedroom.

"We ate all your ice cream, by the way." Claire announced from the kitchen, and he cursed. She glanced back at him disappearing into the bedroom.

"I'm exhausted. See you in bed." Bickslow murmured, and she heard him plop down on their mattress. Meanwhile, she took out the last carton of ice cream and made herself a bowl of strawberry ice cream, tossing the now empty container in the trash.

"I'm going to read for a while. Night."

11.

"Claire! Make your boyfriend shut up!" Ever instructed the young woman returning to her seat. She'd been gone for less than five minutes, and apparently that was enough time for Bickslow to annoy the hell out of his teammate.

"Oh, come on. Spill it. Fried wasn't the only one having a good night the other day." The seith mage said with a wide grin, watching the brunette's face light up bright red.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"So you gave all those hickeys to yourself?" He questioned further; she subconsciously brushed the hair over her neck and shoulder to cover it better.

"Can we not talk about our love lives?" Laxus asked.

"What else is there to talk about?" Claire countered, although she herself had gotten bored of teasing Ever. It was her life, she was a free woman, and she should do what she wants with who she wants without the intrusion of her friends… except, Ever had the little habit of prying into her own love life and twisting Bickslow and Claire's words to create drama, so the fire mage had no qualms with the interrogations.

"What is everyone doing for New Years Eve tomorrow?"

"I know who Ever is going to be with." Bickslow teased with his tongue hanging out.

"Shut up!"

"Hee hee,"

"I dunno. Is the guild doing anything?" Claire asked the blond, since their team seemed otherwise uninterested. Fried was reading a book next to Laxus, and neither sibling knew if he was listening or not.

"Probably. The guild will have any kind of party as an excuse to get wasted."

"Since it's so close to other holidays, it's usually more informal." Fried spoke, not bothering to look up from the page he was reading.

"I'll probably stay home and eat Sundays. What are your plans?" She asked her brother.

"Gajeel will be running the bar that night, so I'll probably be here. What about you, Fried?"

"Probably stay home and read."

"We should all go to a gay bar!" Bickslow said excitedly, and the group turned to look at him, surprised by his enthusiasm. "Gay, half-gay, half-gay, I love sparkles, she loves sparkles," He said, pointing to every person on his team. "Gay bar for everyone!"

"Someone's been drinking spiked milkshakes again." Claire commented with a smile.

"Why not just go to a regular bar? They're pretty much the same." Laxus asked with a shrug.

"Because karaoke night." Bickslow said with a grin.

"Can't we just stay in, drink and not be social for once?" Claire asked.

"Maybe you and Fried can have another cuddle party while the rest of us go out."

"What if I just want a cuddle party with you?" She asked with a slight pout.

"You two are gross. I'm going to hang out at the bar." Laxus announced, standing up and leaving. He passed by Nab on his way downstairs, who looked panicked and worried, quickly making his way over to Bickslow.

"Bickslow, I need your help." The overweight and sweaty man spoke, holding his arms and biting down on his lower lip. Bickslow turned, a slight smirk tugging at his lips. Both Nab and Bickslow used seith magic; however, Nab used animal souls while Bickslow used human souls. As a result, the pair have had a small rivalry in their time at Fairy Tail. Neither of them were fond of the other's style of magic.

"Whatchya need, buddy?" Bickslow was more than a little overjoyed at having Nab need _his_ help with something.

"It's, uh… can I talk to you in private?"

Bickslow pretended to ponder the request for a moment, letting the man stand there sweating and panicking. After about a half minute of drinking his milkshake and sitting there, he finally nodded. "Okay."

"Thank you, dude."

"Be back later." Bickslow told Claire, and leaned in to peck her cheek. He then walked away with the worried and panicked man, walking leisurely next to him with a cocky smirk on his face. The fire woman watched curiously, wondering what could have the man so worried, and decided that she'd press Bickslow for answers later.

"I think I'll retire to the library." Fried spoke, closing his book and standing. By the looks of it he still wasn't sleeping well, and was already gone before Claire could ask if he was okay.

"I'm going to go bathe." Ever announced, and left as well.

Claire sat there for a moment, feeling a little dejected at being the last one left, but figured it was just timing. It wasn't entirely unusual for the group to disperse to their various activities around the guild hall after a meal, in this case lunch, and for a moment she wondered herself what she should do with her time. Working out wasn't an option, she could join Fried in the library but she didn't feel like using her brain that much, and socializing was always an option. After doing so much socializing the past few months, and the increased popularity with attaining S-Class, she really didn't feel like chatting with people.

Looking around the guild hall below, her eyes locked onto the Guild Master, who was waving her down. Curiously, she grabbed her drink and made her way down the stairs, wondering if he had a task for her to do around the guild. _Lead another Fairy Tail event, maybe? Scare some newbies with my fire magic?_

When she got closer, she realized that there was a frail old man next to him, smiling up at her politely. He looked to be in his 90's, skin fair and wrinkled, and his snow white hair was braided back.

"Claire, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine, Lockser Julius." Makarov introduced, and Claire shook hands with Julius, smiling politely in return.

"Lockser, this is Claire, my newest S-Class wizard."

"It's very nice to meet you, dear. You're just as beautiful as in the magazines."

"Thank you."

"Lockser is one of the journalists for the Magnolia Newspaper. He was hoping to interview Fairy Tail's S-Rank mages." Makarov explained.

"Cool. Am I the first to be interviewed?"

"I already spoke to Mirajane," Lockser spoke. "She's quite the delightful young woman. There's a little café down the street that I prefer to do the interviews; are you free right now?"

"Yeah, I have nothing else going on today. I'd prefer if we did the interview here, though; my team doesn't like me leaving the guild hall without them."

"It's just down the street; I'll let your team know where you are, don't worry." Makarov assured her. Wondering if this was his way of letting her get a little space from the guild hall, she shrugged, turning to the journalist.

"Are you talking about The Sunflower?"

"Yes, have you been there before?"

"A couple of times." She shrugged, and followed him out of the hall.

12.

December 30th, X791

1:00 PM

Bickslow followed Nab outside, more than a little entertained by the situation. _What, did your dead puppy soul move on, and now your sad?_

Once they were in a relatively secluded area within some trees, he finally stopped and turned to the fellow seith mage.

"Someone stole my souls." He blurt out, and Bickslow's grin fell. "Someone came into my house, did something to them, and now they're gone and I don't know where they went!"

"Woah, Nab, calm down. Are you sure you didn't, you know… misplace them? Maybe they went for a walk?" He tried to reason, honestly not knowing that much about animal souls. The basics he knew were relatively similar to his style of seith magic, but for the most part, they were completely different. Different technique, different behavior, different rules- different _everything_.

"They're not like your wandering souls- they don't leave. They never leave. They've never left- I can't sense them anymore- they're just _gone_!"

"Calm down, we'll get this figured out. Do you have any idea who would try to take them?"

"Why would anyone steal animal souls?! I don't have any enemies, I barely have friends, I'm a lazy no good seith mage that lost his souls!"

"Dude, breathe, we'll figure this out. We're not going to get anywhere if you panic."

13.

December 30th, X791

1:20 PM

"Is it just me, or has the Guild Master been staring into space for a long time?" Laxus asked his boyfriend.

"He sometimes does that." He shrugged in response. The blond returned to his drink, not really caring to talk to the man unless it was absolutely necessary. "Maybe he feels bad for the Christmas thing."

"Don't get your hopes up." Laxus replied, wondering why the iron mage was so caught up with that. It's not like they didn't know it was going to happen, and when he came out as gay, he hadn't been that concerned with the judgmental stares he got for it. For some reason, the old man's opinion mattered to him.

A high-pitched scream pierced the air, disrupting the previously good-natured atmosphere. Silence washed through the room as the mages looked up at the sound, alarmed by the sound. "There's… the Sunflower Café…" A young girl, looking to be in her early teen's, muttered. She then passed out; if she hadn't been covered in blood, they may have dismissed her.

In an instant, the entire guild hall was moving again, people jumping from their seats to either talk about the situation or run to help her. "The Sunflower Café?" Mirajane asked, her eyes wide. "That's where Claire is." At those words, Laxus turned to her, and then to the empty table on the second floor.

"Why the hell did she leave the guild hall?" The blond asked her.

"A journalist was interviewing all of us, and he was a long time friend of Makarov." She explained quickly. "Guild Master, do you think Lockser had something to do with this!?"

They both turned to the old man, but he still seemed staring off into space, not paying attention.

"Hey, old man!" Laxus yelled, and jogged over to him, shoving his shoulder roughly. No response. The lightning mage waved his hand in front of his face; no response. "He's under some kind of spell. Gajeel, let's go see what happened at the café."

Wasting no time, the dragonslayers ran out of the building, just as another mage ran into it.

"The magic counsel was bombed!" He yelled, and both dragonslayers paused to look back.

"We'll learn more later." Laxus told the iron mage, and pulled him down the street.

14.

December 30th, X791

1:16 PM

Claire followed the older gentleman into the Sunflower Café, nodding to a couple of Fairy Tail mages in the corner as she did so, and took a seat across from the journalist at a table of his choosing.

This wasn't one of her favorite places to go in Magnolia, if only because it was so busy all the time. People were running in, taking their orders and leaving, or pausing to gawk at the occasional famous mage that sat in there. It was hectic and not the quietist of places to do an interview; she supposed that the only plus side was that it was so close to the guild hall. A baby was crying behind her, another child was on the verge of tears across the restaurant, and the rest of the building was buzzing with conversation and yelling out orders at the top of their lungs.

"Why don't we order something first?" He suggested.

"I already had lunch, but feel free to eat. I might get some tea." She told him.

"I've heard that they have a peace cobbler here that's to die for. Have you tried it?"

"No, I'm not a fan."

An adult scream pierced the air, and the fire mage turned, half-expecting it to be someone with scalding hot coffee on their crotch; unfortunately, it wasn't. Within seconds the quaint and busy atmosphere turned into bloody chaos, blades slicing through the air like leaves falling in autumn, and in only half a minute, the screams were replaced by dead silence.

The occasional gurgle and far distance scream kept it from being too quiet.

Next to the cashier and crouched on the counter, a creature resembling an iron gargoyle smiled at her with red eyes, and covered in the crimson blood of the others. Claire kept her eyes on her, having switched to her fire form, and in the corner of her eye watched the old man, too.

"I believe that I have full-filled my end of the deal." Lockser stated, looking to the iron creature. A man behind him, who Claire hadn't noticed before, moved so quickly she barely saw it. Within a second the old man was on the ground with his next broken.

"Yes, you did wonderfully." The mystery man spoke, grabbed the chair he previously occupied, and spun it around before plopping down. Claire tried to place him; he appeared to be an animal human hybrid, just like the cat man that attacked her months ago, except he appeared to be crossed with a tiger. Dangerous, menacing eyes watched her carefully, an amused smirk danced along his lips. "Not one of our better family reunions, I know, but it was the best way to get you to come with us."

"And why would I do that?"

"If you don't come with us little sister, then we'll slaughter this entire town- including as many Fairies as we can get."

"Laxus and the other S-Ranked mages can take you down. If you thought you could take them, you wouldn't have gotten me alone." She replied coolly.

"But how many innocent people can we slaughter until they do that, hmmm?" The iron gargoyle asked, sharp teeth glistening at her.

"Who are you two?" Claire asked.

"I suppose I can't blame you for not recognizing us. We have undergone some recent changes- we did away with our human forms when we became our true, demonic selves. I'm Bacchus, and this is Kelsey. Oh, Kelsey, you missed a few." Bacchus tutted, nodding towards a cowering family on the other side of the room. "Getting sloppy."

"Shut up." Kelsey retorted, and easily dispatched them with her iron magic.

"Did you really have to kill so many people to get my attention?" Claire asked, trying to keep her cool. Dead bodies were never something she was particularly squeamish about; however, people being killed because of her pissed her off. Not to mention the unavoidable 'I told you so' from Bickslow and Laxus when they heard that Bacchus went to the dark side.

"We don't have much time before Fairy Tail gets here. Hold out your arm and let me drug you, or else we kill as many people as we can."

15.

December 30th, X791

1:30 PM

Laxus stormed back into the guild hall, alone. Gajeel had decided to stay behind and look for any clues in the slaughter house.

To his minor relief, the guild master had returned to normal; he had a small circle of mages around him, one of whom was a very beat up looking Goldmine, and the group turned to him upon Laxus's arrival.

"Where's Claire?" Bickslow asked; Nab was next to him, visibly shaking.

"Gone. We didn't find a body, so that's something. It's a slaughter house at the Sunflower Café- nothing was left alive." He explained, and the group looked up at him gravely. "What the hell happened to you?" Laxus asked, turning to Goldmine. He was covered in scratches and bruises, and looked to have just come back from a fight.

"I came as quickly as I could. Quatro Cerberus was attacked, and Bacchus was taken." He explained.

"The Magic Counsel was also bombed to bits." Makarov added.

"Who took Bacchus?"

"His sister- your sister- Kelsey." Goldmine answered.

"So in the past few hours the Magic Counsel was blown up, Bacchus was taken, and now Claire was taken, too? What the hell?" Bickslow asked. "Not to mention Nab's souls mysteriously vanished."

"As of right now, our guild is on high alert. Mira, call in any mages out on jobs immediately and have them come here." Makarov instructed, and she nodded, running to the back room to start calling their friends back home. "Laxus, stay on guard- if Kelsey is targeting your family, you could be next. Does anyone know if she was working for a dark guild?"

"Last I heard she was in the Ghoul Guild." Laxus told him.

"The leader of the Ghoul Guild would never allow subordination like this. I was informed last week that the guild was going into hiding because the Tartaros Guild was killing off dark guilds, and he didn't want to be caught in the cross fire."

"You think it was Tartaros?" Goldmine asked, and he nodded. "I agree, it seems like they're starting a war."

"Assuming my sister is part of Tartaros, why would she attack Bacchus and Claire?" Laxus asked, and the older men paused, unable to answer that question.

"On the off chance that old council members will be targeted, should we send security to help them?" Fried suggested.

"Team Natsu is currently working at 8-Island with Yajima. Someone go there and tell them to come back with Yajima, and we'll protect him here." Makarov ordered, and Fried volunteered to go.

16.

December 31st, X791

5:00 AM

Claire was fucking tired of being injured.

She was also tired of waking up to creepy scientists poking at her injuries, regardless of it only being the second time she woke up that way. Once was more than enough for her.

"Found the injury disrupting her magic flow. Once we heal this, you might be able to absorb her magic." The scientist said to someone, and when she realized that she'd woken the fire mage, it was too late. Claire melted the iron holding her down and flipped over, dodging the iron attacks of her sister, and flipped the table over to help her dodge. She saw two 'FLAMMABLE' tanks nearby, shot her fire magic at them.

The room erupted into smoke and flames, and in the chaos, Claire made her escape.

She moved fast; this wasn't time to dawdle or take in her surroundings. Speed and surprise were her only advantages in this situation.

A blur lunged at her from the side, and she easily dodged. Conveniently, she landed in a hallway that had several open arches leading to the outside world.

"Guess Kelsey couldn't steal your magic. Too bad." The tiger man, Bacchus, shrugged with a smirk. He stood in a defensive martial arts position, ready to strike or defend himself.

"So you two are demons, now?" She asked.

"Yep. Considering that alcohol fuels my fighting abilities, it's not a huge surprise, is it?"

"I'm sorry for what you've become."

"Are you kidding? I'm crazy strong now, and Kelsey can absorb dragon magic and animal souls. After joining Tartaros, they led her to an iron dragon, so now she's even more powerful than you."

"That's debatable."

He smiled.

An iron, tentacle like object emerged from the hallway and sliced at Claire, and with ease she dodged, kicking off out the window. To her surprise, when she got far enough out, the gravity changed- instead of going adjacent to the building, she was moving down and plummeting to the ground at a much higher altitude than she'd thought. Bracing herself with her magic, she smashed into the forested ground, creating a decent sized crater.

When she looked back up, she was more than a little confused by the fact that it was a giant, floating, cube like island in the sky.

Bacchus held his sister back from going after her. "You couldn't absorb her magic, and she's not worth the energy to hunt down."

"She'll be taken out like the rest of those wizards, anyway." A demonic woman spoke behind them, and after a moment of deliberation, Kelsey finally turned and walked away.

Claire let out a sigh of relief, glad that they were ignoring her for the time being. She watched the floating island for a moment, making sure that no one else leaped from it, before running towards Riley in the distance. He had left her to get help at the guild, so he waited for her to catch up. When she got closer to Riley, she saw a familiar small Exceed flying ahead, and judging by his swaying, guessed that he was either injured or tired.

She blinked a few times, careful to dodge the trees she ran passed, and yelled up to the flying cat. "Lily!"

He looked down in alarm, likely thinking she was an enemy, but when she shot up a small amount of fire, he realized who it was. Claire kept running until he was close enough, and as the beat up looking Exceed fell the rest of the distance, she held out her arms to catch him.

It was then that she realized she was just in her underwear… again.

"Lily, what happened?" She asked.

"Laxus and Mirajane were captured… Gajeel and I tracked them down… Gajeel was captured. We need to get back-up." Lily panted, and immediately passed out.

"Fuck, my brother is up there?" Claire growled, looking in the direction she last saw the floating cube. She could go back and risk capture again… or she could go get help, and have her team storm in there together. Despite the nagging feeling that she should go save her brother, she went back to running to the Fairy Tail guild, hoping that he would be okay until her return.

17.

December 31st, X791

6:00 AM

"What a mess." Makarov muttered, and sighed. It had been a long night; between the entire guild working to locate the council members, sending his strongest mages to protect them (some haven't checked in with their communications lacrima yet), Claire still missing, and all of Team Natsu being out of commission from the anti-ethernano, the guild was exhausted.

Mages were taking naps in various parts of the mess hall, since there really wasn't much they could do until their wizards on the field checked in. They were in the dark, and Makarov hated it.

Bickslow tapped his table nervously nearby. He'd tried to get a nap in earlier with no success; what he really wanted to be doing was running into battle with his friends, Laxus in particular, and be of some use. As it were he was stuck in the guild hall, like always, this time because Makarov wanted him close by in case dark wizards attacked. He didn't believe that the Ghoul Guild was behind any of this, but since the man that had managed to lure Claire to the Sunflower Cafe had their emblem and used body possession magic on the Guild Master, Bickslow was their best defense on the chance of them attacking.

His wandering souls patrolled the entire guild hall, and he kept one close by just in case. He'd been trying to reach out to Riley, but he was too far away to get a read on where he was exactly. He knew the soul was moving towards him- that was it.

He'd stupidly let his bond with Riley get too worn out; either that, or Claire's magic interfered with his old connection to the soul, which was possible.

"Claire! You're okay!" Levy gasped, and a few heads rose up from their folded arms tiredly- including Bickslow. He grinned, seeing his girlfriend seemingly unharmed with Riley and Lily, and immediately jumped from his seat.

"That's some good news, at least." Makarov said with a tired smile, and Goldmine grinned at her arrival.

"Honey, could I borrow your cloak?" Claire asked the seith mage that practically ran to her, immediately engulfed in a warm hug from the man. He looked down, realizing that she was missing her clothes, and immediately unhooked his cloak to wrap around her shoulders. "Thank you."

"Did we… make it…?" Lily asked, and Bickslow took a step back to give the little Exceed some room. Claire set down the injured mage on a nearby table.

"Yep."

"Laxus and Mira were captured, and when Gajeel followed, he met the same fate. The Crawford, the ex-chariman, betrayed us. We must form a rescue team immediately."

"Hell yeah." Claire said, and looked around at her fellow guild members. Most of them looked exhausted, but some of them seemed up for the fight, and she saw a mage that she didn't expect. "Goldmine? What are you… is your guild okay?" She suddenly asked, kicking herself for not thinking of him earlier. If he had been taking care of Bacchus, and Bacchus was now part of Tartaros, that meant they had to go through Quatro Cerberus to get him. Her heart fell at the sight of him so injured, and she suspected she already knew the answer to her question.

The blond looked down briefly, bandaged up and solemn. "Your sister Kelsey attacked and took Bacchus. I'm sorry."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"Unfortunately… a lot of good men died."

"I'm so sorry, Goldmine." She said softly, and Makarov placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Two Fairy Tail mages were taken out at the Sunflower Café, Team Natsu was rendered sick by dangerous anti-ethernano, and we currently have teams searching and protecting former magic council members." Makarov added. "Not all of them have called in, and as you know, Laxus, Mira, and Gajeel have been captured. We officially declared war on the Tartaros Guild."

"Oh, and the current Magic Council was blown up." Bickslow added, and she stared at all of them for a moment, absorbing the information. While they spoke and caught her up on current events, Levy worked with Gajeel to figure out where the Tartaros fortress was heading.

"I'm sorry for not being able to protect Bacchus." Goldmine spoke sadly. "You trusted me with protecting him, and I let you down."

"I'm only sorry that so many good people died protecting him. He's a member of Tartaros now, and so physically altered that he doesn't even have the same magic signature anymore."

"What? There's no way… he's a lot of things, but he's not capable of _that_." Goldmine spoke, and the others tensed.

"He's capable of handing me over to dark guilds and slaughtering innocent people. I don't know if it's possible to save him from whatever he's turned into, but I'm not going to let more innocent people die trying."

"Once we hear back from our people," Makarov spoke. "and figure out where the Tartaros headquarters are, we'll launch a full scale attack against them."

 _We're going to get Laxus back… and when we do, heads are going to roll._ Claire thought angrily.

"I'm going to return to my guild and tie up some loose ends. I'll send anyone will to help this way." Goldmine announced, and they all nodded. He left the guild hall, not looking back with a stiff upper lip.

The fire woman closed her eyes briefly, fighting back a wave of nausea and sleepiness. Medications had adverse side effects with her, and she'd been postponing them until she got back with Lily. _They put a lot of blue stuff in you, mom. You should rest._

"Claire?" Makarov spoke, and she opened her eyes.

"Sorry, what?"

"Can you tell us about the layout of their base?"

"I didn't see much of it, but I can tell you what little I saw. If I had known our people were there, I would have caused more damage on my way out."

18.

December 31st, X791

6:00 AM

Gajeel cursed for the umpteenth time, ramming his shoulder into the bars. The guards laughed, comparing them to livestock.

"It's no use, Gajeel." Lisanna told him.

"Where the hell is Laxus, you bastards!?" He yelled, and the younger mage flinched against his loud words. The guards ignored him. "You guys are fucking dead! Laxus!"

"Gajeel…" The take over mage whispered, and the iron mage paused to look at her.

"What?" He snapped.

"Do you really think yelling is going to help our situation?!" She yelled at him, and he stumbled back with wide eyes, seeing her older sister in that temper of hers.

19.

December 31st, X791

6:00 AM

"So you're Kale." The gargoyle looking woman asked, tilting her head to the side. She sat on a simple wooden chair, turned so that her arms could rest on the back of it, and an amused smile danced along her lips. "You're a lot… bigger, than I remember."

"I take it that you're Kelsey?" Laxus asked with a deadpan expression. He gave no hint of emotion in his voice, and simply stared at her, recalling what he knew about his older sister. All he really knew was that she lost her mind after her two daughters and husband were killed, that she used illegal iron magic, and had nearly killed their sister on numerous occasions. Magic canceling restraints held his wrists above his head, and the only clothing he had left was his black boxers.

"The one and only." She giggled. "Sometimes I go by Harlequin. On our world, there was a villain named Joker, one that exists on this world as well. Well, existed," She corrected. "and on our world, his girlfriend was named Harlequin."

"Where is Mirajane?"

"Here and there. Honestly we have no use for you, unless you happen to know where Jellal is. You're just an extra little present I got."

"If you have no use for me, why am I here?"

"Because I like to play with my presents. Did Claire tell you what I did to her in that illusion?"

"Where is Mira?"

"Are you broken already? Do I need to smash you until you work again?" She giggled. "Maybe you're the kind of present that I need to bash with a baseball bat to get the candy out?"

20.

December 31st, X791

6:00 AM

Bacchus sat, rather bored, on a comfy couch in one of the many rooms residing in the giant floating cube. His feet were up on a coffee table, ankles crossed, and an old magazine in his hands.

"You know Kelsey is torturing our baby bro, right?" He asked, not bothering to look up from the mundane article he skimmed. "Do even feel anything, anymore?"

In the corner of the room, a strange plant like creature cowered in the corner, looking downward with large, watery brown eyes.

"Can you even talk?" Bacchus asked, glancing up at him. "What the hell did she do to you?"

Carl said nothing, his leaves shaking and eyes cast down, refusing to meet his gaze.

21.

December 31st, X791

8:00 AM

Kana managed to capture everyone in the guild with her card magic just in time, and they were sent flying into battle on the hovering headquarters of the Tartaros guild.

Natsu and Wendy managed to wake up and join the battle, their dragonslayer lungs helping them recover much faster than the others. While some stayed to protect the wounded, others continued to fight on that level, and others followed Claire into the hallways and building beneath the surface, having used her fire to burn a new entrance.

They split into different groups: all of them with the objectives to deactivate F.A.C.E and rescue Laxus and Mira.

22.

Claire ended up stalling to let Wendy and Carla escape to stop FACE, fighting Franmalth, eater of souls.

"I wonder how much you are worth?" The round, odd looking demon asked her with a chuckle.

"You collect souls, right?" She asked.

"Hee hee, judging by that tasty little soul on your shoulder, you're a collector as well."

"But you absorb them into your body."

"Not just souls, little girl. As you'll be learning soon enough!" He yelled, and launched his hands towards her. She launched to the side and threw her fire magic at him, only burning the demonic particles on him.

"My fire doesn't just burn flesh." She said with a smile, and his eyes widened.

"Shit, you're the Destroyer of Souls! Shit, shit, shit!"

23.

"Sounds like your new friends could use your help." Laxus smirked, watching her worried gaze flicker to the door. The rumblings throughout the base had actually been happening for quite a while, and although Kelsey had initially assured him that her demon friends would quiet them soon enough, the sounds and shaking continued. "My friends can be a real pain in the ass sometimes."

The door burst open, and as soon as Kelsey turned to the intruder, she was locked into their soul possession spell. "Lookin a little scratched up, Laxus."

"Just cut me down." He sneered, and seith mage chuckled as Gajeel hurried around him.

24.

"Riley, go tell Makarov the message." Claire informed her soul, and he quickly zoomed down the hallway. The ghost of the second Fairy Tail Guild Master had just told them to pass a message along to Makarov, and since Riley is much faster and less likely to get in a fight along the way, she sent him ahead of her.

"Not bad." Bacchus complimented nearby, leaning against a wall with a smug look on his face. "Took you a little longer than I thought it would." Claire turned to look at him, the earlier threats she'd made in her mind earlier that day coming back, and she felt no sense of fear or trepidation.

This was Corey Riley Groh: powerful demon, responsible for numerable deaths, and no doubt would cause even more. He didn't understand empathy, and she could only guess that he had faked any show of it in the past- what little times he did. Between his alcohol intake, lies, and incompetence, she really had no idea what he was capable of.

At this moment, all she really knew was that he was an enemy.

"I was trying to save the souls. Had to get a little creative."

"Thought you might be interested in this." He said, holding up a fairly large and old book. "As Kelsey would call it, 'origin story time'."

"What is it?"

"The Book of Zeref that summoned our family. Ya know, technically you and Laxus are a product of Zeref as well, so they'd probably let you join in you asked. You'd have to get a body change, but, you know… it would be an upgrade."

"I suppose there's no reason to try and talk sense into you." She asked, and he shrugged.

"You could try. Might give me some giggles." He said, and held up the book cover: ' _Corey and Kelsey'_ , written in an old script. "It's not a trap. I thought about it, but I was more curious about what your reaction would be."

She held her arm out, indicating for him to throw it, and she caught it with ease. Activating her data compression magic, she copied the book into her database, and it was copied and stored within seconds.

"What the hell was that?"

"Magic equivalent of a computer."

"For real?! Aww man, if I had known about that I wouldn't have switched sides."

"I'm so going to miss that in the future- having someone that understands my references."

"You could always switch sides, too~" He said with a grin, still casually leaning against the wall. One of the things that both annoyed and calmed her; even if they were on the verge of a battle to the death, whether with themselves or other people, he could always fit in casual conversation as if it were a nice day at the park. She'd always attributed it to his drinking problem-his inability to take these situations seriously-but now she wondered if it was just a personality trait he developed on this world to cope.

"Sorry bro. Same goes for you, though. Goldmine would probably understand if you told him your mind was altered when you switched bodies."

"But that would be lying, and we both know that that's wrong."

"Never stopped you before." She commented, held the book up so that she could look at it and admire the texture of it, while at the same time keeping an eye on her brother. "So, the water dragon used this to summon you and Kelsey, and the rest of us just… got tagged along for the ride?"

"My leading theory is that the dragon asked Zeref to write it, specifically to get Carol here. Since Zeref can only summon demons, he made it summon two so that it would have enough magic to carry the rest of our family. I got bored reading it, but if you survive this and you're curious, knock yourself out."

"Not that this isn't fascinating, but if we're going to fight we should do that, and if we're not, well, I've got better things to do." Claire spoke, and tossed the book to the ground. "You've handed me over to a dark guild twice now, so honestly I'm kind of hoping for the first option."

"The first time wasn't on purpose." He retorted, and then cracked his neck. "But I haven't had a good fight with this body yet. Kelsey keeps damaging them so I never quite get a feel for it."

"You get new bodies every time you damage one? Sounds pretty wasteful. Our parents taught you better than that."

"Don't worry, we recycle the bodies… kind of. They decompose or whatever into the earth." He said with a roll of his eyes. She took her backpack off and tossed it to the side, kicked the book over to join it, and cast a minor enchantment to protect them. If she had kept the backpack on during the fight, she had no doubt he would have used it against her.

"Come at me, bro." She said with a smirk, and dodged a swing for her head.

25.

"According to Hade's soul, you need to release the light! FACE was deactivated, but it wasn't their end game!" Riley told the guild master, who blinked at him in confusion.

"… what the hell does that mean!?" The white-haired mage yelled back, groaning in frustration.

"Laxus!" Someone gasped, and the group looked up in surprise, happy that their friend was safe. Bickslow and Evergreen were close behind, smiling as the lightning mage was greeted by smiles and hugs.

"Oi, oi, this isn't over yet. This is no time to celebrate." He told them, yet his friends wouldn't listen. "Riley, what did you say just now?"

"FACE wasn't their end game! We're still in danger!" The wandering soul said animatedly as he flew in front of Laxus.

"Is Claire okay? Why isn't she here?"

"She's fighting Bacchus right now. He's a demon now!" Riley spoke, and the group blinked in surprise. "And is 'still a major jerk', according to mom. Wait… does this mean Bacchus is my uncle?"

"Riley, can you take us to her?" Bickslow asked.

"Aye aye, Captain Dad!"

"You guys work on a new plan to counter whatever these guys are planning- I'll leave Puppu here to communicate in case you need us." Bickslow told them, and they nodded.

26.

"This is the power of S-Class at Fairy Tail, eh?" Bacchus asked a few yards away, skidding to a halt. By this point they'd only warmed up- neither of them had gotten to their true potential, and considering how fast her brother was now, she was a little worried she wouldn't be able to keep up. _How are my brothers so damn fast?_

"I would say that I'm impressed by your new curses, but I'm really not."

"You don't even know what they do yet."

"Inject alcohol into your opponents system, right?" She asked, and he frowned. "I'm curious, can you use it on yourself to make you stronger?"

"Yep. I'm my own endless supply of booze. Well, not endless per say, but pretty damn close." He said, and tapped the side of his neck with his hand. "You once said that you had unpredictable reactions to medications. I'm a little disappointed that blue crap didn't keep you knocked out for this."

"Afraid of fighting me, huh?" She asked, staying in a defensive position.

"I would have preferred you stay out of this. You're a bit of a _wild_ card." He said, and ran at her at full speed. She dodged, flipped, kicked- and somehow he managed to get behind her and grab the back of her shirt. As he pulled her back she burned the fabric, launching forward and flipping away from him, skidding to a halt. If he had done that to her backpack, she wouldn't have been able to burn through it.

"It's a little creepy how much of my clothing gets stolen when you're around." She glared, and he shrugged, letting the burning garment fall to the ground. As of late, since she'd been gaining more and more control over her abilities, she'd been switching from all fireproof clothing to simply fireproof underwear; that way if she did lose control, she wouldn't end up completely naked, but she wasn't limited to her fireproof clothes. She was now in a pair of Fairy Tail sweatpants and her sports bra.

"I was wondering how you got that. Looks worse than yesterday." He commented, referring to the injury on her abdomen.

"So does your face, but I was being nice by not saying anything." She spoke, and then paused, something clicking in her head. _Wild card… he called me a wild card. Which meant… he either cares about me, or more likely…._ "You planned this."

"Excuse me?" He asked, and ran at her again- the exchanged blows that she narrowly dodged and countered. A few of his curses landed on her, but her alcohol tolerance was so high it didn't really do much.

"You know what's going to happen, because you watched more episodes than I did. Tartaros was in the anime, and you know what happens."

"I told you I don't remember what happened in the stupid anime."

"Didn't we establish that it's wrong to lie?" She asked with a mock pout; when they first met she couldn't tell when he was lying or when he was sober, and although she couldn't always tell now, she was significantly better at seeing the signs. "You know what's going to happen."

"Do you-"

"How long have you been planning to switch sides? Just how long have you been working with Kelsey?"

He chuckled. "I wondered if you thought I would actually be stupid enough to forget _everything_ in the anime. None of this matters in the slightest, because the one person that was going to stop all of this is knocked out from the anti-ethernano."

"Who?"

"Lucy." He said, and launched at her again. She managed to burn part of his shoulder make him retreat to a safe few yards away, glaring. "Originally it was your sweet, lovable team that would have been poisoned by it. So after chatting with Kelsey, we realized that we could use our little wild card in our favor; we needed you to stay alive while also in constant danger, so that your team wouldn't take jobs, and then it was simple enough to nudge Natsu's team in the right direction. Now that Lucy, Natsu, and Wendy are out of the picture, it should be easy enough to continue as planned."

"So you _are_ an evil genius." She commented, and he chuckled. "If you knew that our guild would win… why switch to this side at all? Why not stay on the good side?"

"I've been a demon living in a world of humans for far too long, little sister. With your dragon magic, I thought you would understand that."

"I understand not fitting in… what I don't understand is killing people because you feel like being a dick."

He tapped his neck a few more times, and she watched his eyes dilate further.

"Demon is just a sub-species, Corey… it doesn't mean-"

27.

"Damn it Riley, you just led us in a circle!" Bickslow yelled at him, and the soul made a small whining sound.

"I'm sorry! This place is confusing."

"You can sense her- you don't need to remember a route. Just fly towards her!"

"It's not that simple because you guys have physical bodies and can't go through walls!"

"We can if we make a large enough hole." Laxus told him, and the soul turned to him, floating for a second.

"Poppo! Just fly towards mom and we'll handle the logistics!" Bickslow yelled, frustrated with the wandering soul. It was cute that Claire encouraged his individuality, but it also made him less useful in times like this. Bickslow getting genuinely mad at one of his souls was rare, and Riley made a small whining sound before zooming at full speed down the hallway.

28.

He punched her, moving just as fast, if not faster, than Laxus when he used his lightning magic. The magic she'd learn to brace for impacts was significantly weaker in the area around her injury, so Bacchus easily broke through it with just one hit. His hand landed in the same spot as their brother's fist just a couple weeks earlier, and she gasped in pain, air escaping her lungs. Everything seemed to slow down in that moment. "Laxus accused me of trying to kill you… but, now that I actually am-"

His red eyes widened and a chortled scream escaped his lungs, lightning magic dancing along his striped skin. The smell of his flesh burning met her senses, and she watched with equally wide eyes as his irises rolled to the back of his head, and his skin turned black.

"Why am… I not… going… to the lab?" He muttered, his last words as he fell back, landing on the concrete floor.

The ceiling above them crashed, lightning moving dangerously around the room, and in the back of her mind she realized that Laxus wasn't the source of it. She watched in horror as her little brother, the one that she had babysat countless times in her life time, watched him grow up, took care of him when he was sick, and the same brother who had helped her make sense of this world they had been forced into-

Was smashed by a giant piece of rock falling on him, and his body turned to black dust, floating into the air like a dark cloud.

All of it happened within a matter of seconds, and yet for her, it felt like agonizing hours. Her chest constricted painfully, she gasped for breath, and the air was filled with so much static and violent lightning dragonslayer magic that her skin felt like pins and needles. A coldness spread through her as she stood there, trying to absorb what just happened.

Just as it had slowed down, it sped back up again, and since she was the source of the lightning magic, it managed to keep any heavy materials from landing on her. The ceiling crashed around her, and for that moment, it felt like her entire world had. Pain, sadness, regret, and anger rushed through her at an alarming rate, and all she could think about was her brother's death; and who was responsible.

"BACCHUS!" She screamed, falling to her knees.

29.

"That's not good." Bickslow said, watching as Riley unbinded from his vessel. He reached over to pick up the now empty vessel, and his team stopped to look at him for an answer.

"Why the hell would-" Laxus started to say, but then launched himself at Bickslow and Ever to tackle them out of the way. Where they had just been standing the roof and floor exploded in a flash, and the dragonslayer could hear and sense that lightning was striking full force all over the flying base. A few seconds later, as the strikes continued, he could hear the mangled cry of his sister calling out to their brother.

With it came a wave of her magic, or as it appeared, a wave of fire that rippled through the base and burned any and all curses throughout the structure. Five waves rippled through the base, and as it did, also caused significant damage to all of the demons.

30.

Claire panted, gasping for breath, and felt slightly better after the expulsion of all the magic that had accumulated within her so rapidly. On different parts of the base she could still hear fights and explosions, but as for the lightning, it had stopped.

"The fight isn't over." She reminded herself, and as she shakily looked down at her wound, saw that there were still small stray lines of lightning dancing along the area. "Laxus must have accidentally stored some of his magic in me. Overprotective much…" She chuckled, and winced at the pain that followed. It looked significantly worse than before, as it was now almost completely black with blues, purples, and reds around the edges like vines; glumly, she realized that she'd get the obligatory 'haha, Claire got injured' crap when this was all over.

On the side of the rubble, her enchantment (or Fried's, more specifically) was still protecting her bag and the book.

A giggle escaped her lips.

"I wonder how much alcohol he injected me with in that hit…" She pondered with a loopy smile.

" _Can everyone hear me?"_ A voice spoke in her head, and her grin widened at recognizing the source. " _I'm with Mirajane, Lisanna, and Elfman. They're all safe. Did anyone get hit by that lightning? Hold on, it'll take me a second for you guys to hear each other."_ Warren spoke.

" _Laxus, you almost killed us you imbecile!"_ Makarov yelled, much to everyone's disdain.

" _I wasn't responsible."_

" _It looks like the base is losing altitude! Whoever did it seriously damaged the structure of the ship!"_

" _It's not a ship, idiot- and how fast is it falling!?"_

" _Slowly, but it's definitely going down!"_

"Sorry bro, that may have been my bad. My fight went Bacchus went a little… confusing. Did you know that he can inject people with alcohol with just one touch?" Claire spoke with a grin, and stumbled as she crawled over the rubble to get to her bag.

" _So now you're drunk and you can summon lightning?"_ Laxus asked, and by the sound of it, she had no doubt that he face-palmed over the new knowledge. " _What happened to Bacchus?"_

"I'm electrifying. Like Grease Lightning~!" She sang, much to the confusion and annoyance of her guild members.

" _We're close to your location, stay put. FACE has been deactivated by Wendy and Carla, but apparently we still have another threat. Keep on guard, everyone."_ Laxus told them. Kelsey had been more than a little talkative when they fought, as she was apparently much better at fighting than keeping secrets, so he knew that the fight wasn't over. He couldn't get much information out of her, but he got that much.

" _I'm returning to the guild hall for something."_ The Guild Master announced.

" _Whatever the fire was from earlier burned the demons."_ Gray announced, smirking from his spot at the cringing demons. The demon slayer before him was now covered in burns, and although it didn't kill him, it did visibly weaken him. " _I'm guessing Claire is to thank for that?"_

"Probably." She shrugged, finally reaching her bag. Grabbing the book as well, she slid it into the leather pouch, and put it back over her shoulders.

Instead of the voices of her friends, the connection was disrupted by static, and Claire stopped next to a particularly large piece of rubble to listen.

"Warren? Gray? … Laxus?"

" _The wizards' guild, Fairy Tail, I believe? This is Mard Geer, King of the Underworld."_

"King of the Underworld? That's a pompous title." Claire retorted, sticking out her tongue at the wall.

" _But there is no reason for you to remember that… because there is no tomorrow for any of you. Alegria."_

The line went dead, and Claire waited, watching the walls move and wobble strangely. "Ooh, I'm so scared."

31.

Mard Geer clenched his jaw in anger, realizing that the spell wasn't working.

 _That wave of hellfire must have damaged it. We should have taken Kelsey's advice and destroyed her, instead of listening to that buffoon's ramblings. He was right about so many things, yet when it came to his own demise, he was blind…. Evidently, the Spirit King wasn't the only one that could destroy Alegria…._

With E.N.D. safely in his arms, he contemplated his next move. Being unable to activate Alegria really wasn't _that_ disappointing. He still had over 2,000 FACE devices around the continent to activate, and loyal demons from the Book of Zeref at his disposal; however, if the fire mage continued those attacks weakening curses, it could turn into more than a minor nuisance.

Keeping their telepathy communication inactive, he released Kyoka from her binds. "Destroy the fire dragon."

32.

Laxus had ordered Bickslow and Ever to go back to the others, on the off chance that Claire's lightning magic was still active. How ever she got it, if it was able to cripple a base of this size, it could be dangerous.

Riley had been able to rebind to his vessel and lead him straight to her, and he was a little surprised by her lack of a shirt. Apparently she was equally surprised by his lack of one, too.

His eyes locked on her injury, realizing that it was the source of the lightning magic coming from her. The bandages covering it were gone, likely burned off in the fight, and he realized that she was alone. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"More 'okay' than you. Get in a cat fight?" She asked, and he rolled his eyes. Cuts and shallow wounds covered most of his upper body, and although he'd managed to talk Bickslow into loaning his pants since he wore so many layers, had run out of luck regarding the shirt.

"Where's Bacchus?"

"Dead. That lightning magic you left in my stomach neutralized him."

"Your body must have somehow stored my dragonslayer magic when we fought…" He surmised and got closer to her, being wary of the amount of magic she was giving off. It wasn't anywhere near lethal, and he guessed that she expelled the majority of it stored within her on the attack to Bacchus and his guild base.

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Why are you suddenly…?" He started to ask, but recalled what she said earlier. "You got so much alcohol in your system that you've turned into Bitch Claire." He realized. Having only seen her this way once, he wasn't entirely sure just how powerful she'd be, but she was going to be a _joy_ to be around for the next half hour. Bacchus and Claire claimed they were the same with enough alcohol, and quite frankly Laxus could cause quite a bit of damage if he drank enough as well… now that he thought about it, it could explain her sudden burst in power earlier.

"And Bitch Claire is ready to kick some ass, because she's bored. Yours is already beaten, so I guess I'll have to look elsewhere."

"Let's try and find that Underworld guy- you're more than welcome to beat _him_ up."

"What about the demon over there?" She asked, and he turned, just now noticing the strange woman standing there.

"You humans… so pathetic." Kyoka chuckled.

Claire smiled, shrugging off her bag and recasting the enchantment for it.

 _This should be interesting…_ Laxus mused, and watched the battle begin.

33.

After an annoyingly long and arduous battle with the Etherious, Claire rejoined the dragonslayers, rather confused by the scene stumbled upon. The alcohol had long since worn off, and her brother had left her to join Makarov and the others for his plan.

Dragons were flying in the sky, Mard Geer was defeated, and next to him was the legendary Zeref, burning his book. As Claire watched, she became extremely aware of the object on her back, and wondered if her fate would be the same as the Etherious on the ground.

Before she could ask him, a scuffle in the sky caught her attention, and she realized that a fire dragon was fighting Acnologia. As she comprehended just what was happening, Igneel was killed, and all she could do was watch.


	33. Chapter 33

**Author's Note:** So… pretty conflicted on how much I want to write for the year that Fairy Tail was disbanded. My character has focused so much of her time and energy into learning hand-to-hand combat and generally how to fight, that I can't really see her enjoying Blue Pegasus as a hostess like Bicks, Ever, and Fried do.

As always, thank you for all the faves, follows, and reviews! 3

 **Walking Cliché 33**

 _Fall Out_

"Guild hall blew up… Magic Council blew up… guild was disbanded… the world almost ended… and people died. Happy New Year." Bickslow muttered sarcastically, and blew into the whistle in his mouth, causing a rolled up piece of paper to unfold with the sound.

"Why do you even have that? It's January 2nd." Evergreen scolded, although her voice was monotone in her tiredness.

"They were giving them out for free." He explained, and blew into it again.

"What happened between you and Kelsey, by the way?" Claire asked, looking up at her brother. They were all slouched at a table, drinks in their free hand and tired face in the other. Other members of their guild had been invited to their get-together, but there were a lot of injuries, and their spirits were so low that all they wanted to do was crawl into bed and hide. The Thunder legion drank alone; even Gajeel was gone, too busy fretting over Levy and the baby.

Most of the gay bar was empty, since so many people had left town upon the destruction resulting from Tartaros. This was one of the few places open.

"She complained and whined a lot; took so long leading up to the actual torturing part that when Bickslow, Ever, and Gajeel found me, she'd only left a few scratches. I'm not sure how she managed to escape. Like on Tenrou Island, she bailed when she realized Fairy Tail outmatched her guild."

"Did she cast any illusion spells on you?"

"Nope."

"That's good."

"Yep."

They went back to looking at the decorations. Photographs of attractive, half-naked men were on most walls, some artwork, and a dark and dismal karaoke stage on the far side of the room. It looked as if someone got drunk and destroyed it- which, considering it was Magnolia, was very possible. Some of the lights were out, probably from the earlier mentioned destruction, and small firefly imitations were flying around the room to give atmosphere and lighting.

"This was a great idea, Bickslow." Ever said sarcastically, and lazily blew at a firefly that strayed too close to her face.

He took the paper from one of his straws and tiredly threw it at her, not putting in much effort.

"Cute." Ever said.

"How are you feeling, Fried?" Claire asked.

"A little better than the last time you asked me." He replied tiredly.

"Better enough to help me on a super secret project?"

"You have a super secret project?" Bickslow asked, slightly intrigued.

"Yep."

"Can you tell us about it?"

"It wouldn't be very secret if she did." Ever said, and picked up the piece of paper he'd thrown earlier, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it back at the seith mage.

"… real mature, Ever."

"This is stupid. I'm going home." Laxus stated, pulled out his wallet, and got out more than enough money to pay for his drink. After setting it on the table, he nodded to them, and left.

"So… should we start researching new wizard guilds to join?" Fried asked, mostly to Claire.

"I would suggest Quatro Cerberus, but they disbanded, too… yeah, I guess. In a few weeks, should we start going around to different guilds and gathering info? Or do you have a quicker way to compile data on them?"

"There are some books… I suggest doing some library research, and then going to the individual guilds. You can't know everything about a guild from a book, nor by appearances."

"Kay." She replied, and after another 5 minutes of just sitting there, Ever finally spoke up.

"How about we wait 20 more minutes, in case someone shows up?" She suggested.

"Kay." They replied in unison.

After a while, Claire spoke again. "If we go to a new guild, will I be able to keep my S-Rank title?"

"Probably not." Bickslow replied. "It'll look good on your resume, though. Fairy Tail S-Class has a good reputation."

"So… I finally got S-Rank… only now I can't do S-Rank jobs, because I'm no longer S-Rank. Or officially part of a guild."

"If it makes you feel better, Laxus is no longer S-Rank, either. He's the same status as all of us." Bickslow said, chuckling when her sulking frown turned into a grin.

"But it also means you got that injury for nothing." Ever pointed out.

"I've almost died for worse reasons." Claire said easily. "And besides, it ended up saving my life, so… it worked out."

"How?"

"Uh… reasons. I'm tired and don't feel like figuring it out."

"Kay." Ever spoke, and the group fell into group silence again.

1.

Warm, fuzzy, cuddly, wonderful… amazing.

She woke up the next morning feeling all of these things, with a sleepy man in her arms and babies humming on her limbs.

"Plus side to the guild disbanding… we don't have to be there 24/7." She whispered with a smile; Bickslow chuckled against her, and placed a small kiss on her upper breast. He looked up at her, smiling, green eyes sparkling cutely on his tired face.

"We still have to meet our team for breakfast, remember?"

"… no we don't. When did we agree to that?"

"After Ever's third Margarita and her insistence that we get job searching tomorrow. Fried was pretty impatient on it, too…"

"Whyyy?" She groaned, and shifted to her side so that she was cuddling him closer, wanting to lay around in bed all day with her sexy boyfriend. Because of their angle, he got a particularly nice view of her breasts, so he didn't complain.

Her wound was still healing and she needed bed rest- or so she'd argue, anyway- and after everything that happened, she didn't want to be around people.

Bickslow wasn't people. Bickslow was Bickslow.

"Sorry babe, we already agreed to it. Ever's place is expensive and technically, we haven't been doing jobs for months. My funds are actually getting on the low side, too."

"No they're not." She argued, even though she actually had no idea what his financial position was. They tried to keep their finances separate for the most part, except to give each other vague numbers regarding their ability to pay bills. Although she didn't have a very good idea of how much he had, she guessed she had more saved up more than him- even after splurging on Christmas presents- because of all the bonuses she got from getting injured. Guilty Guild Masters made for good employers.

"You're just saying that because you want to stay in bed all day."

"Can you blame me? If I paid all the bills this month, would you stay in bed with me all day and cuddle?"

"That's an expensive cuddle day."

"It would be worth it." She mumbled, closing her eyes and hoping they'd just go back to sleep. They'd both been awake for a few minutes before she spoke, but right then she wished that she'd kept her mouth shut. Placing a flurry of kisses along her exposed chest and moving to her neck, face, and ears, he eventually started pushing her onto her back. She gave a conflicted whine, changing in pitch as he touched various places. _He never said anything about getting there on time…_

"Once we're done with breakfast and we get the next month or so figured out, then we can come back and cuddle for the rest of the day. Or, you know, things close to cuddling that involve nakedness."

"Cuddle, cuddle!" Their babies repeated as they flew around them, having been shoved off when Bickslow moved.

2.

"So we're in agreement. Claire and I will do the research, and once that's done, we'll split off to visit the guilds in person." Fried spoke, and they nodded.

"How many guilds are we researching again?" Claire asked.

"A lot." Bickslow answered, having known Fried long enough to know that he'll be researching every single guild in the country- possibly some outside it, too.

"I feel like I know our group pretty well, but I should confirm: is everyone okay with the idea of joining a small guild? I'm hoping to research both smaller and bigger ones. There could be potential newer guilds that would be interesting." Fried asked them.

"Something classy that will get us work." Ever stated.

"Blue Pegasus. Done." Claire declared with a decisive tap on the table. Bickslow snickered next to her.

"Blue Pegasus is a fine guild, but I would _prefer_ if we put more thought into it. I would rather not join the guild only to find out a better one was close by." Fried told her.

"So, how quickly do we need to find a new guild? Like, are you guys going broke next week, or do we have some leeway time?" The fire mage asked, and they pondered it for a moment.

"Technically I could go half a year before I become _completely_ broke…" Ever spoke.

"Half a year." Everyone agreed with awkward nods.

"So at the very most we should do 2 months searching and interviewing? I figure that should be enough for the traveling involved."

"Hopefully we can be done before that deadline, but we'll see where it goes. If we can't find a perfect one by then, we'll settle for our favorite out of the bunch." Fried told her, and they all nodded in agreement.

3.

"This is so boriiiing." Claire whined on the floor, meanwhile her boyfriend merely smiled from his spot on the couch and hugged their wandering souls. She took notes on every guild that Fried had 'assigned' her, and after completing a page of notes, she'd copy them down onto her 'server' using her data compression magic. It had been a little interesting at first, but after about 20 minutes, she just wanted it done.

"Sorry honey, sucks to be you."

"I'll remember that when we have to move and you're the one looking into new apartments." She spoke, and when she peered over her shoulder at him, smiled at the sudden frown on his face. He was nitpicky as hell when it came to apartments, more so than she was, so he would undoubtedly be doing most of the searching.

"Are there no guilds in Magnolia?"

"There's that shitty one that loaned money to Fairy Tail when we were gone for 7 years, and terrorized the hell out of them. We could become magical loan sharks. They'd probably love our babies; we could call them 'shark babies' and buy them vessels shaped like sharks." Claire spoke, and the seith mage grunted, looking back up at the ceiling. "How did you choose Fairy Tail after you moved out of your parents place?"

"I dunno. Wandered around for a few years, hung out at one guild for a year without officially joining, then I heard that Fairy Tail had low standards, so… I joined."

"Huh… kind of same here, except minus a few years and the extra guild."

"Fried told you some things to look for, right? You're not just searching blind?"

"He asked me to take generic notes, and gave me some basics to focus on. Honestly, most guilds don't have much info at the libraries, so Fried is going to be mailing all the ones he can find to ask for more info. In the mean time I have brochures and _Sorcerer Weekly._ "

"Wait, what? Your research involves reading _Sorcerer Weekly?_ "

"They interview the strongest wizards from the strongest guilds all the time. I have to sort through the gossip crap, but otherwise it's actually really informative." She said, and tapped one of the five the boxes surrounding her. Claire had been sitting on the living room floor surrounding by magazines, brochures, and notebooks… she wasn't sure how he missed that. "You helped carry these here, how did you not know that?"

"I didn't realize they were _Sorcerer Weekly_ magazines. I just thought they were books and crap." He said, and pushed himself into a sitting position. "Can I help 'research'?"

"Fried warned me not to trust you with notes. You can read the magazines so long as you don't mess up my system."

"What kind of system do you have?"

"… just don't touch anything outside of the boxes." She said after a moment, deciding that she didn't want to elaborate on her current system when it was still new and it was going to be undoubtedly changing.

"Kay cool." He said hurriedly, and hopped over to sit on the other side of one of the boxes. As he began sorting through them, and going rather quickly through an entire box and moving to the next one within half a minute, she looked up at him curiously.

"… is there a specific issue you're looking for?"

"Uh… the nudie one?" He said with a guilty smile, and watched her for any sign of disgust or anger. Instead she chuckled, looking back down at the magazine on her lap.

"I got all of these from Ever. You really think she would have gone to the store and specifically bought it?"

"If I found it in here, I could tease her with it for years." He snickered, and went back to searching through the stacks upon stacks of magazines.

"You know that Ichiya is in that magazine, right?"

"And how do you know that?" He asked, stopping his movements and looking up at her suspiciously. "Did you look through it without me? I thought we agreed we wouldn't look at porn without the other person present!"

"I only know that because of the hilarious stories I've heard, calm down." She chuckled. "So many guys bought the issue for Jenny Realight not knowing Ichiya was in it, so when they expected to look at an issue full of boobs, they got… well, Ichiya, which unfortunately everyone has seen." She said, and shuddered, going back to the magazine on her lap. "Maybe we should definitely not join Blue Pegasus."

"We're not going to not join a guild just because one guy shoves his junk in random people's faces. That would be like someone not joining Fairy Tail because Gray walks around naked."

"Why would someone not join a guild for that? Even straight guys enjoy the view." She asked, and he grunted. Claire had openly said she thought the guy was attractive on more than one occasion, and no matter how many times she followed it up with how much she loved Bickslow more, he would always scowl and grunt. "Honey, how many times have you ogled Lucy?"

He grunted again, going back to his magazines. " _You've_ ogled her, too…" Bickslow muttered.

"So it's okay for you to look at the opposite sex but not me?"

"She wasn't _naked_."

"This is Lucy, honey. She spends half her time in mini skirts and bikinis."

"What about that time you watched a lesbian orgy?"

"Which was gross, and you've slept with more people than I have."

"… I don't like this conversation anymore."

"Neither do I. I like your face."

"Thank you. I like yours, too."

They both smiled at the compliments and went back to their tasks, their babies giggling in the background. "I like your face." "No, your face is so prettier!" "Aw you're making me blush." Their babies giggled and complimented each other.

4.

 _One week later…._

Claire was tired of dresses. In public, that is. They were uncomfortable, made her feel self-conscious, and all of the eyes watching her every move set her on edge. Yet, despite her protests, both Fried and Evergreen had insisted she dress her best for the occasion.

"We need to make a positive impression" both of them said, "We are the Thunder Legion, after all", they both insisted. When Bickslow laughed at his girlfriend's sour expression, they turned on him, saying that he would be wearing a tux with no visor.

So now here she was, standing next to Fried at a fancy–pantsy mansion halfway across the country in high heels and fancy-pantsy dress, and her comrade in a fancy-pantsy tux. Despite their attempt to dress nice, compared to the other residents of the magic guild they were inside, they might as well have been wearing rags.

Diamond chandeliers, decadent white walls, beautiful tiled floors, and extravagant ladies in gowns gliding across the floor with perfect looking men on their arms. Claire had no doubt they all used some form of take over magic to look that pretty.

Fried had admitted that they likely wouldn't join this guild, but he'd been much too curious by it to pass up an invitation from the prestigious Guild Master. They specialized in using magic to entertain, educate, and enhance beauty; they were also extremely selective on who they let join, not to mention who they let into their guild hall. Evergreen wanted to come along, but the invitation said only two people could go, and Fried convinced her that bringing one of the S-Class mages from their group would better their chances at being accepted. The word mage was doubtful that they would be allowed to join, or would even accept it if they did… but just being able to _say_ you were invited to see the Hayland Guild was a bragging right.

He'd been sending letters to multiple guilds across the country, and he was more than surprised by how quickly they responded. Having two previously S-Class mages from the #1 magic guild in Fiore definitely helped their group status. Rumor had it that upon the announcement of Fairy Tail's disbandment, people were snatching up the more popular or powerful mages of their guild.

"Right this way," A butler instructed in front of the pair, and Claire had to nudge Fried out of his entranced state. The room was rather beautiful, but after Claire's experience at the Crystal Ball, she wasn't quite impressed by it anymore.

They were led down a hallway filled with large, painted portraits of famous wizards from the guild, and were led outside. It was a sunny day, and the scene was picturesque: rolling grassy hills, a golf course, a large patio filled with small tables and dressed up mages, and a small orchestra was playing music in the background.

Claire and Fried took their seats at a small table a little ways from the rest of the wizards, with a tall and proper woman in a pink overly frilly dress. The woman was in her late 60's, donning the white and pink dress, a staff with a hooked end, and a pure white sheep was at her side. The fire mage had to hold back her laughter.

"Miss Mary, it's an honor to meet you. Thank you for inviting us." Fried said with a polite nod, and Claire did the same.

"I've heard good things about the Thunder Legion, specifically about your magic, Fried Justine. I look forward to learning more about you."

Claire really didn't mind that they chatted like she wasn't there. Her eyes were darting around the area, searching for any indication of Clarence being there, along with just taking in the scene. _Evergreen must be so jealous right now…._

"Is there something in particular that you are looking for, Miss Claire? And sit upright like a proper woman." Miss Mary scolded, and the checker woman immediately sat upright, a little embarrassed at being caught slouching.

"Sorry, just admiring the grounds."

"No, you're searching for something. I don't like liars." The blond, older woman said with a charming smile. As she sipped again at her small cup tea, Claire shrugged.

"The decorations remind me of Clarence Stonewald's Crystal Ball."

"How very perceptive of you. He is one of our biggest clients, and donates a great number of things to our guild, including most of our decorations. In fact, he has his own private room on our second floor reserved only for him. In fact, he's the one that recommended I look at your team." She spoke, and at the last part, Fried and Claire exchanged a quick glance. "It's not entirely uncommon for him to request this of me, and usually those wizards end up contracting mostly with him."

 _A way to have wizards work for him without the dark guild affiliation…._

"So officially we'd be part of this guild, but in actuality we'd be working for Stonewald." Claire clarified.

"Not entirely. You'll still be required to do guild activities, although if you're gone on a job for Clarence, obviously you won't be able to partake in them."

5.

"So… this is your guild, huh?" Bickslow asked, looking around the room. "It sounded a lot more, uh… cleaner, in the letter." _At least they're paying for travel expenses to get here…._ He thought glumly, and even as he thought about that, felt bad for taking their money in advance. The guild was poor, their 'job wall' had only 3 flyers on it, and the 'guild hall' was smaller than the windmill Fairy Tail used as HQ when they were gone for 7 years.

"It's definitely not as big as Fairy Tail, but I have no doubt it will be some day. All wizard guilds start out small." The middle-aged woman informed them. She looked to be a down to earth, hard working wizard trying to get her own guild going, and Bickslow felt bad knowing that they probably wouldn't join. "They're off on jobs right now, but I've already recruited a few members from Fairy Tail. You probably know them."

"We've already got friends here, huh?" Bickslow asked with a smile.

"Fairy Tail was a big guild so I can't guarantee you knew each other, but they're good people."

"What's the pay like here?" Ever asked, managing to mask some of her disdain for the guild hall. The seith mage would later thank her for keeping her more snotty comments to herself, as he knew it was probably killing her to not point out the flaws in the upcoming guild.

"Since it's still a new guild the pay isn't great, but if your team decided to join, we'd no doubt attract more clients."

"How many people are in your guild?"

"As of right now, 53."

Ever nodded thoughtfully, looking around the shabby building. "What's the bar like?" Bickslow asked, noticing that instead of alcoholic bottles lining the back of the bar like most places, there were posters and various slogans on the wall.

"We don't support alcoholism here. No alcoholic beverages are allowed on the premises."

"What if a doctor prescribes it?"

The guild master laughed heartily, and the seith mage stood there awkwardly for a moment, patiently waiting for her to finish.

6.

"Visiting two guilds in one day? Do we have to?" Claire whined as they walked down the street, and the younger mage rolled his eyes.

"The only reason why you disliked the last place is because she kept telling you to sit straight. Posture is very important for things like this."

"Injured, remember? And Earth to Fried- wasn't the only reason; we were being recruited to work for a _dark guild_ using that guild as a front."

"Well, this guild should have no ties to him whatsoever, so you won't have to worry as much. The Chariot Guild is supposed to be much more relaxed and much more catered to your more… violent, side." He informed her, and she smiled at that.

"I'm good with violent. I already miss our Fairy Tail brawls."

"So do I… strangely enough." He said softly, and they both fell into silence as they walked down the cobble stone path, which led up to a rather large guild hall two blocks away. It towered over the city, not entirely unlike their Fairy Tail Guild Hall used to, and they could hear the brawl halfway across town.

Her tall heels clicked against the stones, and when they finally made it to the large sweat-reeking beer-guzzling guild hall, they had to side step to avoid being smashed by a mage thrown out the door. When they finally made it inside, they were hardly surprised by what they found, although Claire was a little more intrigued by it.

Shirtless, muscles men made up the majority of the main floor, all of whom were punching the daylights out of each other. Some of them were younger, some older, but all of them had a smile on their face. On the second floor was where people ate food and acted more civil, and there were signs around it stating that it was a 'no fighting zone'.

Fried and Claire made their way to the bar, where a large, burly man laughed upon their arrival. " _You two_ are thinking about joining this guild?!"

"We were invited by the Guild Master to see the guild. We're part of the Thunder Legion." Fried explained, and the man laughed again.

"Thinking about joining this guild, huh?" Someone spoke next to them, and Claire looked over, seeing a very large and muscular woman standing there. A half empty drink was next to her, a cocky smirk on her face, and the muscles on her arm not-so-subtly flexed to reveal her strength. "This ain't no place for skirts 'n heels."

"This here is the strongest female fighter in my guild." The bartender said proudly, and his 'manly' mustache moved as he spoke. "She's one of my six S-Ranked wizards."

"You must have low standards." Claire commented, a subtle smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. The 'strongest female fighter' glared at her and stood up from her stool, looking ready to fight.

"Claire, is that really necessary?" Fried asked.

"Wouldn't you agree that ascertaining the strength level of a guild is a good quality to test?" Claire asked, turning back to her green-haired companion.

"You really think you can take me on, skirt lady?" The muscled woman asked, getting the checker woman's attention again. Fried looked back at the bartender, who he'd ascertained was also the guild master, and sighed.

"It seems that they won't take us seriously if you don't… go for it." Fried said dismissively, and took a seat on a bar stool nearby, tiredly watching the fight. He really didn't feel the drain until they entered the guild hall, and just watching other people fight zapped his energy.

"I can kick your ass in skirt and heels." Claire told the obviously intoxicated woman, unmoving.

"Dem are fightin' words."

"Are dey? Aye 'ad no idear." Claire mocked, and as a punch was thrown at her, which she easily dodged. Using her heels to her advantage, she kicked the back of her opponent's calf, causing her to fall in pain. She then kicked her back so that she fell forward, and in the process Claire had grabbed her arm to twist behind her. The process was so fast that it took the Chariot mages a moment to figure out what exactly happened. "Strongest woman, huh?"

As she struggled, Claire put more pressure on her shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain. After a moment she let go, bored, and let her clamor to her feet.

"So Thunder Legion, huh?" The bartender asked. While Claire had been fighting, Fried had observed how poorly they treated their bus boys, and already decided that they wouldn't join. Nonetheless, her play fighting with the mage was useful for their situation, and reconfirmed their power status.

"How much do you pay your bus boys?" Fried asked, his gaze flickering back to the guild master.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"They're obviously treated poorly by the men of this guild. I assume you at least compensate their troubles with bonuses of some sort?"

"They're lucky to get any work in this economy, and what I pay them is none of your business." He told Fried, getting visibly annoyed by his questions.

Hearing Fried mention that, Claire looked around for the bus boys in question, seeing immediately a prime example of what he was referring to. On the second floor one of the mages purposely dropped an empty mug of beer on the floor, and a round of laughter resulted as he kicked the bus boy that bent down to pick it up. The fire mage, both disgusted by their behavior and tired of fighting the drunken mountain trying to kill her, knocked her out in one fail swoop.

"You let people in your guild treat kids like that?" Claire asked, turning to the bartender.

Five minutes later, the guild-less pair left the building, neither of them in a particularly good mood. "You didn't have to fight the entire guild. We could have just left." Fried told her, referring to the moans and groans from the bruised wizards inside. The fire mage shrugged, accepting that she went a little overboard by challenging the entire guild to a fight, but she was okay with that.

"I've been itching for a fight, and it was a good excuse. I channeled my inner Erza."

"You did an excellent job channeling her. Ever isn't going to be too happy that you tore the new dress she bought you, though."

"I'm practically her own personal Barbie doll. She'll love the excuse to go shopping again." Claire said dismissively.

7.

Bickslow liked the second guild they looked at.

It was a little small, not entirely unlike the first guild they visited, but it was much more spacious and clean. They had a full bar, their job wall was much fuller, and overall it had a very casual and carefree atmosphere. Of course, the fairy woman at his side wouldn't be happy with anything short of the guild that their other teammates were investigating, so he had to look at the positives for her.

"They have a pool table." The seith mage commented with a grin.

"Do mind if I ask, what kind of magic do you both use?" The guild master asked.

"I use fairy magic." Ever said with a smile.

"Fairy magic from a Fairy Tail wizard? You must have been very popular at your guild."

"Why, yes I was." The brunette replied with a flip of her hair, and the blue-haired mage was glad the guild master did that. Now, if all of them did that, maybe the fairy woman would be more inclined to be more open-minded.

"I use seith magic." Bickslow replied.

"Seith magic? That deals with animal souls, right?"

"I specialize in human souls."

"… _human_ souls?" The guild master asked, their eyes widening. "Isn't that a dark magic?"

"No, it's not. There's a lot of dark wizards that use it, but I'm not one of them."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I could let you join this guild."

Bickslow's heart fell a bit, and even though he should have expected it, it still made him feel bad for his babies. He'd gotten so used to being around Claire and having Fairy Tail be comfortable around his babies, that he forgot how unpopular his magic was. "I understand. Thank you for your time."

8.

The fire mage stared down at the piece of paper in her hand, getting tired just by looking at it.

Fried had gone overboard in his planning, which she both admired and hated, since she didn't have to plan it but she also had to endure it for the next two weeks. He'd made one for Ever and Bickslow as well, equally as packed.

Basically their team had split in half to travel and visit all of the guilds, and in order to be most efficient with their time and resources, Fried compiled a schedule that would hypothetically allow them to visit all of the guilds on his list over the course of 2 weeks. Evidently, Fried wanted them to visit _all_ of the guilds, no matter how small or shabby.

Claire suspected that he wanted to keep himself busy so that he wouldn't have to think about losing Fairy Tail. Even though he was probably the least social of their group, he was by far the most sentimental, and Fairy Tail disbanding hurt him dearly.

So here she was, sitting on a motel twin bed with a matching one only a few feet away, and the word mage showering in the bathroom. It smelled bad, and her heightened senses just made it worse.

"I'm picking the next hotel…" She grumbled, looking through their itinerary.

9.

"Maybe we should start our visits with 'hey, I can possess your soul' so that we stop wasting our time." Bickslow groaned loudly. The second place they visited kicked them out halfway through the tour, and on their third guild, the guild master talked so fast they couldn't get a word in edgewise until 2 hours later. After 3 hours of listening to him, the seith mage asked if his magic would be a problem, and they were immediately given a tour of the exit route.

"Maybe you should be more persuasive next time." She retorted. It was nighttime, the streets were poorly lit on their way to the motel Fried had made reservations at, and all she wanted to do was take her heels off and sleep. They were scheduled to wake up at 5 AM the next morning to board a train for the next town over, promptly followed by another guild visit, and after that three others.

"How long did it take until you weren't creeped out by my babies?" Bickslow asked pointedly. After a few seconds of no answer, he nodded. "That's what I thought."

"At least you're not in your usual fighting outfit. The tux is making you much easier to be around."

Bickslow didn't reply; instead, his mind wandered to the _other_ activities he had done in his suit, and he felt rather home sick for his someday-wife. He and Claire had tried to get paired up, but Fried had already designed there schedules and apparently Bickslow would be absolutely evil to make him change it, so they were stuck with their assigned partner.

10.

On their third day, Claire was excited for the guild on their list, and had been looking forward to it more than the others.

Sabertooth.

After the Grand Magic Games, they resolved to be more like Fairy Tail and focus more on friendship than strength. Despite their change in goals and leadership, they were still in the top 3 strongest guilds in Fiore, they had dragonslayers in their guild, had a pool, and above the rest, they were closer to Magnolia than 90% of the other guilds they were visiting.

"I'm surprised you're not more excited for visiting this guild." Claire commented as they approached the large guild hall, and the green-haired mage shrugged. "Everything I've heard about them suggests they're like Fairy Tail in how they operate."

"Yes, but considering how they changed management so abruptly, I'm reserving my judgment until I see it for myself." The word mage explained, and as they opened the large doors to the guild hall, their faces dropped. Brawls, drunken mayhem, and on top of it all was Sting, pumping his arms victoriously in the air while announcing that he was King, and the pile of bodies below him groaned or cried.

"… did Natsu go blond?" Claire asked her companion, and at her voice, the dragonslayer turned to them, his eyes widening and cheeks turning red.

11.

"Maybe you should just go without me today." Bickslow spoke on their third morning, and yawned tiredly into his hand. They were on the train for the next town, and both of them were exhausted and drained. "I mean, technically we don't all have to join the same guild. You, Fried, and Laxus could all join a guild together, and Claire and I could join a different one that's more open-minded. I don't want to eliminate guilds from your list if you decide to do that."

"No way, we're a team! And no way you're getting out of this leg work!" She yelled, hitting his head with her fan.

12.

"Fried, why is Mermaid Heel on our list?" Claire asked, and the green-haired mage's cheeks turned bright red. They stood in front of Kagura, Riley, and Millianna for a moment, and at the sound of their giggles, his cheeks turned to a darker shade.

"We thought it would be Evergreen and Claire visiting us. Did you not know this is a female only guild?" Kagura asked. They were all dressed casually in jeans and jackets, sitting and standing in different places within the simple office, smiling politely.

"I must have missed that in my research." Fried stated.

"Well, if you'd like, we can give you an overview of our guild anyway, on the off-chance that your group ends up going separate ways." Kagura offered, sitting behind the desk with her hands clasped together and looking professional.

"We're already here, why not?' Claire asked her companion, and he nodded.

"It would be educational, at least."

"That's the spirit." The checker woman said with a grin. Honestly, out of all the guilds, she probably would enjoy the company of this guild more than the others. It was too bad it was women only, because otherwise she'd be all for joining.

13.

"Lamia Scale…" Bickslow muttered to himself, looking around the expansive and large castle like building. It was the first guild that didn't kick them out at the mention of his human soul possession magic, and honestly, he was pretty intimidated by it. The mages of the guild weren't too formal and plenty friendly, but the sheer size of the guild hall made him glad that he dressed up for the occasion.

Jura was the one to show them around the guild, which didn't ease his nerves in the slightest. Claire had mentioned that he was a rather kind and easy going man in conversation; however, Bickslow had seen him in a fight and during the overly informative tour, he couldn't stop imagining the rock mage pummeling him with a mountain. As he continued droning on about the guild, he figured that this place would definitely be a place that Claire and Fried would want to visit. They were structured and orderly without being stuck up about it, and power wise, Claire and Laxus would fit right in. Not to mention the location was awesome with a perfect view of the ocean.

14.

"Why'd you dedicate an entire day to Blue Pegasus?" Claire asked curiously, suddenly realizing that that was the only thing scheduled that day. _How did I miss that?_ When she looked closer at it, she realized that the word mage had little, nonsensical scribbles in place of where their plans for the day should have been.

"Our entire team expressed interest in it, so I figured we should devote the most time to it."

"Why'd you do the little scribble thing?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said with a sly grin, and disappeared into the bathroom before she could further question it. Although suspicious, she was too tired to think much of it, and went back to sipping her coffee. Between sips of the wonderful warm beverage, she paused to inhale the tantalizing aroma, feeling reminiscent of home.

The memory of Bacchus smelling and tasting it for the first time on this world popped into her mind, and at how absolutely delighted he was at the discovery. He'd smiled and become quiet, closing his eyes to take in the scent, and as she thought about it, mused that it was probably the most genuine reaction she'd seen from him in their time together. He may have lied a lot, but his reaction to the smell of their house growing up….

Before she knew it, Fried was done with the shower and informing her that it was her turn.

15.

Both Bickslow and Evergreen stared at the two pages in confusion.

"What the hell? Is this a joke?" Evergreen asked, and crossed her arms. "It's gibberish."

"Maybe it's a code?" He asked, scratching his head. They both sat on his bed in their pajamas, staring holes into their schedules and trying to decipher it.

"That kind of looks like a 'p'… that one a 'q'… is that an 'a'?"

"The only legible thing on today's schedule is 'Kapatchya guild', whatever that means. He even gave us specific directions on how to get there, in case we suddenly forgot how to read a map." Bickslow commented, finally figuring out what the map on the back of it was for. They hadn't thought to ask him what the map was for before they left, so Evergreen and him had forgotten about it.

"… pquarius? Aquarius?" Ever said, squinting her eyes with the page centimeters from her face, still trying to figure out the scribbles.

16.

"Blue Pegasus has their own spa?" Claire asked, blinking up at the large sign above the entrance. Fried merely smiled in pride, glad that he'd managed to fool her for the entire trip. That day marked the end of their first week traveling to different guilds, and he'd honestly expected her to see through his subtle deception on day 7.

"They offered us a free spa day at their resort, along with a tour of their guild hall afterwards with a complimentary dinner." He explained, and she grinned.

"Do Ever and Bickslow know?"

"No other guild offered it and the invitation was only for two members of our team, so I made similar arrangements for them today at a spa in Peace Village."

"I don't know how I ever doubted your awesomeness." Claire told him with a grin, looking forward to the relaxing day ahead of them.

After several hours of lounging and pampering, the pair made their way to the Blue Pegasus Guild Hall for dinner with their Guild Master, Master Bob. Everyone was dressed formal, no surprise, and they were instantly greeted by Ichiya's group of attractive men.

Master Bob was in his usual attire, consisting of a pink dress with striped shorts. Upon their arrival he flirted with Fried, and the young mage awkwardly laughed until their food arrived.

"So, have you two visited any other guilds so far?" He asked, his bright red lips forming a smile as he looked between the two of them.

"We've visited about 15 so far." Fried informed him, and the man chuckled.

"You two aren't wasting time."

"Bickslow and Evergreen have also visited that many guilds. We split up so that we can visit every guild at least once."

"And what about Laxus? Shouldn't he be visiting potential guilds as well?"

"Laxus…" Claire spoke, trying to think of the best way to describe her brother.

"Has other matters he needs to attend to this month." Fried finished, and she nodded, figuring it was vague enough. It wasn't exactly a secret that Laxus's boyfriend was having a baby, and naturally that would eat up a lot of time, but they also didn't want to spread gossip.

"He has a cute boyfriend now, doesn't he?" Master Bob asked, and Claire chuckled.

"Yeah, he's a good guy."

"I heard that Makarov didn't react well to the news. That must have been hard on your brother." Bob told her, and she nodded sympathetically.

"He's never had the best relationship with him, but yeah, I think it was pretty rough on him. Makarov definitely had the strongest negative reaction."

"And then losing his brother so soon afterwards must have made it even worse. I'm sorry to hear about Bacchus, Claire."

She knew that Master Bob was in the loop regarding Fairy Tail mages, just like Goldmine was, but the reminder of her loss still caught her off guard. Fried had done a pretty good job of keeping her busy, so her dwellings of her lost little brother were fleeting at most. "Thank you." Claire replied with a soft smile, effectively pushing back the rush of emotions that threatened to flood through.

"Goldmine has been distraught over it. He feels responsible over what happened."

"Have you seen him recently?"

"Yes, he's right over there at the bar." The winged man stated, pointing over to the nearly empty bar. A man sitting there tried to hide his face in a newspaper, and on his sleeve was the red 'Quatro Cerberus' emblem, making his hiding futile.

"Goldmine," Claire spoke a bit louder, and the hiding man shook at the mention of his name. "It really wasn't your fault. No one blames you."

Without a word, he shakily downed the last of his drink, and quickly escaped the room.

"Why does he feel responsible?" Fried asked, despite having the feeling that he didn't want to know. So many things happened during the Tartaros attack he hadn't been able to quite catch up, and Bacchus's death was by far the touchiest and most confusing part of it. Claire had hinted that she needed help with a document Bacchus had given her before he died, but with so many things on their plates, they hadn't gotten around to it. When she explained his death to other people, she simply said that 'he died', and didn't go into specifics.

"Bacchus was in his care, and our sister Kelsey stormed in and took him, in the process killing several people in his guild. It was a terrible situation all around." Claire explained. "I would tell him the truth about Bacchus, but I have a feeling that it would just make him feel worse."

"What truth?" Master Bob asked, and she looked to him, suddenly remembering who she was with. "There are rumors that he had been working for Tartaros for months."

"Rumors, huh?" She muttered. "Honestly the situation is so complicated, I don't want to confirm or disprove anything until I have more facts." _Although all signs, including an admission of guilt, point to him being a demonic, traitorous, motherfucking…._

"So, Blue Pegasus," Fried spoke, and asked a random question about the guild to change the subject.

17.

After their dinner with the Blue Pegasus Guild Master ended, Fried and Claire went back to their hotel for the night. The fire mage had offered to pay the price difference if it meant sleeping in a slightly less disgusting room, and was glad she did. Complimentary soap, bathrobes, and a pool downstairs that neither of them would likely make use of.

On Fried's personal communications larima, they called up their team to check up on them, and were more than a little surprised by the angry faces of Ever and Bickslow. They had, what looked like seaweed, covering their faces and their clothes looked ruined. Whatever happened during their day, it looked like they'd just gotten back to their motel and quite possibly had run there, judging by their panting.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" They both screamed, and Fried almost dropped the lacrima. He and Claire sat next to each other on her bed, freshly showered, and stared back at the pair startled. "The Aquarius guild, dude?!" Bickslow yelled.

"What are you talking about?" Fried asked, and Ever made an incomprehensible frustrated sound.

"Your schedule, which was poorly written by the way, said 'Aquarius', so we went to the Aquarius guild in town, which turned out to be a poaching guild for illegal aquatic sea life! They nearly killed us!" Evergreen explained in near hysterics. "Look at my hair, Fried. LOOK AT IT!"

Claire snorted, loudly, and covered her mouth to try and keep her laughs from being heard. Bickslow glared.

"… you were supposed to go to the Kapatchya spa resort, which I even included a map with directions to on the back. I filled in the extra slots with gibberish and scribbles so that it would be a pleasant surprise." Fried explained. The pair stared at him, dumbstruck, and were silent for a few seconds.

"I told you it was gibberish! We should have just gone to the stupid Kapa whatever!" Bickslow scolded Ever, and she screamed in frustration, storming into the bathroom and locking the door behind her. "Today was supposed to be a freaking spa day!?"

"I thought it would be a pleasant way to break up the two weeks, so that none of us got too stressed or overloaded. If you go to the spa tomorrow, perhaps you can still get the day pass I paid them for."

Bickslow grunted, and the pair waited while he resituated himself on one of the beds, looking slightly calmer. Once he had settled, his legs criss-crossed beneath him and communications lacrima stable on the bed, Claire finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry you had a rough day, babe." She said sympathetically.

"Try rough week. Almost every guild has kicked us out for my seith magic." He explained, and both of them blinked in confusion.

"… did you attack them or something?"

"No, apparently wizard guilds don't want seith mages that specialize in human souls. We've only had two guilds so far say they were fine with it, while all the others have been a complete bust."

"What?" Fried asked, genuinely surprised by this information. "Only 2 of them didn't have a problem with your magic? Out of the 15 you've visited?"

"One of them it didn't come up at, so I actually don't know about them, but yeah. I expected people to be a little awkward around my magic, but it's been a while since I've had people slam doors in my face."

"I'm so sorry, Bickslow. I assumed that your magic in our team was common enough knowledge that they wouldn't have a problem with it."

"What were the 2 guilds?" Claire asked curiously.

"Lamia Scale and a small guild called 'Crystal'." He replied.

"Since you and Ever have had such bad luck, why don't we call it quits and go back to Magnolia? I'll start calling the motels and canceling reservations." Fried offered, and the seith mage sighed in relief.

18.

"Laxus!" The trio yelled happily as they pulled the man into a hug, acting like they hadn't seen him in years. In reality it had been two weeks, but when you figured all of the travel time, it really did feel like years.

As Claire watched their overly enthusiastic greeting, she wondered if they did it just to see that embarrassed look on the lightning mage's face; he awkwardly pushed them away and accused them of being too clingy, to which they simply ignored and went back to clamoring to him. "Sup bro." Claire nodded behind them, and he grunted in response.

"The hell do you want?" He asked in a mock sneer.

"Heard there was free food." She shrugged.

After more greetings and laughs, the group finally made it inside, going straight to the dining room where several pizza boxes sat on the table. Plates were stacked neatly next to it, along with soda bottles and cups. The Thunder legion got their promised food and soda, and took their places on half of the fairly large table.

"So you guys already found a new guild?" Laxus asked them.

"Well, we hit some snags in our search… but, Blue Pegasus seems like our overall favorite." Fried answered, and took a bite of his pizza.

"They have a spa." Claire added, and the blond nodded in understanding.

"They have other good qualities, too." Fried spoke. "They have good health benefits, their hours are flexible, and they have a wide range of jobs to choose from, to name a few things."

"They also have cute gay guys for Fried to flirt with." Claire added, much to the embarrassment of their green-haired friend. "And some straight ones for Ever."

"She's too happy with Elfman to see anyone else." Bickslow said with a grin, and the fairy woman rolled her eyes.

"They also have an archive magic user, which…" Fried tried to bring up, but then paled, remembering what happened when Claire talked to him. "… Claire made cry…"

"I made a lot of people cry that week." She shrugged indifferently.

"Anyway," Bickslow coughed. "Apparently we can go there as a team and work for them a couple of days to see how we like it. It could be fun to be a host." He said with a grin.

"We would be… hosts?" Laxus asked, not entirely enthused by the idea, and turned to his sister. "You want to be a host?"

"Not really. Like Fried said, they've got a lot of different jobs. Master Bob has a few S-Class jobs that would be more up our alley." Claire told him, and he nodded, relaxing a bit.

"You don't have to risk your life all the time to get good money." Bickslow pointed out.

"Being paid to socialize makes socializing feel dirty." Claire replied, and bit into her wonderfully greasy pizza. Thunder boomed above them outside, and the group paused, listening to the intense roar of nature bellow around them.

"Storms a brewin'." Bickslow commented, and went back to eating like the others. The air was suddenly filled with static, and as the groups hair started standing on end, they turned to Laxus.

"I'm not doing it." He said immediately, and looked to Claire, who was still mid bite with her pizza. The lightning mage held his hand up, poked her cheek with his index finger, and instantaneously the charged atmosphere returned to normal. "After we eat, I'll take another look at that injury of yours, unless you've taken up lightning magic as a new hobby."

"Knock yourself out." She said, and finally finished her bite of pizza.

"The lightning twins?" Bickslow asked, and the siblings turned to glare at him.

Their conversation went back to different guilds they'd researched, what was happening with Fairy Tail, what other Fairy Tail mages were doing, and so forth. Most of it was rather depressing, as most of their friends were moving away for work or simply disappeared altogether- Natsu evidently just 'up and left'.

Once their pizza was thoroughly devoured, Claire found herself on her brothers couch trying to ignore the resulting pain from him poking her still sore wound. Clad in extremely comfortable sweatpants with the Fairy Tail symbol on them, along with her usual sports bra and hiked up tank top, she made faces up at Bickslow who was leaning over her. The seith mage had deemed it 'his duty' to keep her preoccupied from the pain, even if it meant annoying the hell out of her.

"Ooow… does everyone have to be here for this?" Claire asked, narrowing her eyes at Fried and Ever nearby.

"No." They both said, and went back to sipping their glass of wine.

"Have you seen Porlyusica about this?" Laxus asked, looking up at her.

"Once. All she could say is that my skin isn't decaying, which is good. Then she proceeded to remind me that I should have died by now and 'who the hell knows anymore'. My guess is that whatever Tartaros injected me with supercharged some of the lightning magic that had been left, and when Bacchus punched me in the same place, released all that dormant energy at once."

"So just un-charge it." Bickslow said.

Laxus leaned back a little, sitting criss-crossed on the floor next to the couch and contemplating the wound in front of him. It wasn't getting better, that much was for sure, but the rate it was getting worse wasn't noticeable, which was good… at least he hoped. "Laxus checked me for residual lightning magic after what happened with Bacchus, and he didn't sense any left in me, which means that it's probably not that simple." Claire explained to her boyfriend.

Bickslow groaned loudly in annoyance, and moved so that he stood behind the couch, resting his forearms against it. "So in other words, you're a ticking time bomb of lethal dragonslayer lightning magic."

"Have you tried simply burning it?" Laxus asked, getting his sister's attention.

"I've switched to my fire form a few times without issue." She spoke. "I'm immune to my own fire, and any foreign magic _should_ have been burned up…"

"Why not go somewhere that's hot and little chance of a lightning storm?" Ever suggested. "After a few weeks, see if your injury is healed. Maybe the lightning is hindering the healing process."

19.

Two days later, Laxus and Claire found themselves outside a house on the edge of a scorching hot desert. The fire woman lounged on a hammock in the sun, soaking up the rays, while her brother did various workouts in the area.

The rest of their team was back at Blue Pegasus adjusting to their new guild. They were still 'testing the waters' so to speak, but by the end of their first day, they were excited to give it a chance. It was no Fairy Tail, and the change in pace was much slower, but they enjoyed it nonetheless. Ever was happy to dress up and host, Bickslow was happy being the center of attention and having his babies so welcomed, and Fried enjoyed the philosophical discussions that went with the job.

Since their battles with Tartaros, Laxus felt underprepared. He had a feeling that their fight with Zeref wasn't over, and especially after the guild was disbanded, he couldn't keep his anxiety at bay. Their entire guild had almost been killed with that one bomb, he himself had been _kidnapped_ (he shuddered every time he remembered that), and Zeref had shaken Natsu so badly that he skipped town.

To top it all off for him, Kelsey was still out there. He'd underestimated her when they fought and he let her escape, much to his chagrin. Like Bacchus she was good at playing the conceded villain, and when it suited her, could play the evil genius. She slipped away mid battle without warning, and when the dust cleared, he realized too late that she was gone.

He didn't want to stand around hosting at Blue Pegasus- he wanted to train, get stronger, and prepare for the upcoming battles he knew were coming.

Claire was his perfect excuse to train without his team and get away from Magnolia. After chatting with Mirajane a few days before, he'd gathered that many wizards from their guild were doing the same, and it only fueled his motivation to get stronger. The Tartaros Guild kicked their asses, hell resulted in his brother's death, and he was determined to prevent that from happening again.

To further his frustration, his time with Gajeel was limited. Laxus could hardly blame him for wanting to be there for his child, and he tried to be supportive, but he also wondered where that left their relationship. Both Gajeel and Levy had been offered jobs with the new Magic Council forming, and within a half year would need to move for it. Fairy Tail disbanding was hard on Levy emotionally, so the few people that stayed kept close to her, helping her through the last stage of her pregnancy.

Everything was changing fast- within only a few weeks, the guild he'd spent his entire life in and called family was gone and scattered. His aspiration to be the future Fairy Tail Guild Master was gone along with his other life plans.

That night, the two siblings sat in the rickety old house eating noodles. Neither of them were good at cooking.

Claire yawned into her hand, residual sleepy chemicals still flowing through her. She'd spent the majority of her day sleeping in the sun and relaxing, and thankfully, her wound seemed to be getting better. The change was minimal, but it was definitely showing improvement.

"Since you slept all day, what are you going to tonight?" Laxus asked.

"Research." She said simply. "You took a pretty long nap, too."

"I might stay up a little later than usual… I dunno. Might read or something."

"Cool."

20.

For the most part, the siblings kept to themselves. Their sleep schedules became polar opposites, and by the end of the week, the only thing they did together was eat dinner (or breakfast, for Claire).

It was a good system for them.

When Claire had been running around to different guilds with Fried, she'd felt drawn to do two things: 1. curl up in a ball and read for several months avoiding the outside world, and 2. workout to regain the muscle she could feel disappearing with each passing day. In order to keep the latter from happening she'd done minor workouts to keep her muscles from deteriorating.

"Once you're done healing, what are you going to do?" Laxus asked one night.

"Try hosting for a couple of days, reconnect with Bickslow, and then probably check out one of the S-Class missions Master Bob mentioned. You?"

"I might stay out here and train." He said. "I don't like how easily Fairy Tail was taken down."

"You're not going to at least try the whole 'suit and tie' thing?" She asked with a teasing smile.

"I might. I dunno. I might join you for the job thing; I don't like the idea of you doing S-Class jobs alone."

"Kay. Thanks again for helping out with the injury thing."

"No prob."

They weren't very talkative, and neither of them really felt like sharing, nor what was on the other one's mind.

21.

Claire couldn't recall a time over the past year where she used such little magic. The harpoon injury had kept her immobile, but her magic had been drained so much by the injury and Sky, that it didn't really count. No, laying in the sun _all_ day, soaking up more and more magical energy, and then using her data compression magic used a surprisingly small amount of it. She didn't really need Riley around, nor was he as clingy as her previous soul, so for the most part they kept their distance.

It didn't really bother her carrying around so much magic, and she actually thought it was helping her heal faster, so she didn't bring it up with her brother. She figured that her body would expel any magic if it became too much for her, just as it did for every other wizard she knew.

It was week 2, and she was sleeping under the sun in the hammock, as per usual, when she woke up with a rather… itchy, and uncomfortable sensation.

Her skin felt too constricting, her body too small, and in her confusion, she removed herself from the hammock and stood on the sandy floor. In her sleepy state, she shifted into her fire form, and walked away from the hammock to prevent damage to it.

When she looked back, she realized that the house was significantly smaller, as were the trees somewhat nearby.

Not thinking much of it, she curled up on the sandy ground, loving the heat from the sun, and went back to sleep purring.

In the forest next to the desert, Laxus stopped his training and listened to the odd sound. He didn't need his heightened hearing to catch it, and the birds and surrounding animals had scattered away from the source of it. If he didn't know any better he'd say that Claire was listening to music and somehow amplifying that weird purring sound, but, it also sounded like-

"A dragon?" He muttered.

 _Wouldn't I have sensed Acnologia approaching?!_ He thought in alarm, and jumped to his feet, immediately running in the direction of the sound. As he got closer the heat increased dramatically as if there was a blazing forest fire taking place, but when he emerged from the thicket, he stopped and gapped at what was before him.

Blink- once, twice-

A giant, _massive_ bonfire blazed a little ways from the house, the size of several buildings at least. When he strained his eyes against the radiating heat and light, he could barely make out the form of a creature, and it took him a second to realize that he'd seen it before.

"… Atlas?" He asked quietly.

22.

It was a little past midnight when the bonfire stopped, and a cool breeze flowed through the house.

He was genuinely surprised that the house didn't burn down- on the other hand, it was next to a desert, so it was reasonable to assume that the builders used more durable supplies than normal houses. After a short while of trying to wake the sleeping beast outside, he had resigned to reading on the couch, trying to ignore the ridiculous heat and noise.

The 'purring' shit was much less cute when a gigantic monster was making it.

Clad in shorts and no shirt, laying on the couch with a book in his hands, he glanced over the pages when the door opened. His gaze immediately went back down, thankful that he didn't see past her shoulders. Instead of saying anything, he continued pretending to read, listening to her feet pad passed the couch and down the hallway to her room.

He turned the page, listening to her move around in the background.

Yelling at her wasn't going to solve anything, even though he really wanted to. He'd expected her to be panicked, freaking out, or at least show some level of concern for the situation. After all the times she gave him that 'you are such an idiot' look, openly called him one when she was mad at him, and those days when she'd go on and on about something completely over his head and all he could do was nod, pretending like he understood- _why the hell isn't she freaking out?_

Acnologia started as a human and turned into a dragon -after slaughtering nearly all dragons in existence- and before wiping out an entire country. He knew the story all too well from his comrades, and he'd made the connection to his sister before they even knew they were family. A small part of him was relieved that she came back human, that she was _able_ to, and that small part was quickly replaced by anger for her lack of concern on the matter.

When she finally emerged from her room, wearing her favorite sweatpants and t-shirt, he sat up and set the book down. "Do you realize how serious this is?"

"I was able to switch back to my human form with ease, and my injury is healed. It's not that big of a deal." Claire spoke, and made her way into the kitchen, scratching her head tiredly.

"Yes big deal." He countered, and hopped over the back of the couch, standing next to her as she opened the fridge. "You turned into a dragon."

"And I turned back to a human."

"Why are you not concerned that you'll end up like Acnologia?"

"Becaaaause he started human, learned dragon magic, became a homicidal lunatic, then turned into a dragon after a long and healthy bloodbath. Almost none of that applies to me."

"Hmmm… except for **all of it**."

"I was born with dragon magic, remember? It was just suppressed. Remember that pesky little parasite that never would have been able to locate me if I didn't have at least a small amount of that magic?"

"For all we know, that's how Acnologia started."

"Possible but unlikely. Moving on to the 'bloodbath' part: there are no dragons for me to drain, so even if I did have the inclination, I could never get past that step. Assuming I did get the inclination, you and the others can kick some sense into me, Mr. Dragonslayer."

"So you're dismissing it? Just like that?"

"I've got worse things to worry about, so yeah. For now I'm not worrying about it, and I'll just have to work on keeping my magic level lower in the future. It only happened because I wasn't using any, and it felt as normal as shifting into my fire form. My fire form, I'm guessing," As she explained, she got out the supplies to make herself a sandwich. "has actually been my dragon form all along, but I wasn't able to keep enough magic stored in my body for it to become obvious."

"You're not going to use your 'fire form' again." Laxus told her, and as she started piling the ingredients on her bread, he roughly grabbed her upper arm and forced her to look at him. "Promise me."

"Can't I just promise to keep my magic low?"

"Both." He ordered, and she made a small whining sound, to which he tightened his grip. "This isn't a joke. If you're wrong, it's not just your life in danger. Think about Bickslow."

"Fiiine, I promise." She told him, and then her eyes widened, going back to her hand. "Shit, the ring fell off!" She yelled, and promptly ran outside to find her engagement ring.

 _Turn into a giant dragon? No problem. Lose a fucking ring? Loses her shit._ Laxus thought, and rolled his eyes before going back to the couch. "Women."

Outside, she summoned Riley to help her find the precious piece of jewelry. The symbol of her love for Bickslow, ring that filled her with a warm tingly sensation every time she looked at it- was gone.

"Please say that I didn't melt it… please say I didn't melt it…" She repeated as she went to the area she thinks might have been the place she had phased into her fire form. Maybe.

Getting on her hands and knees, she combed the sandy surface with her hands, hoping that the ring would reflect off of Riley's light. She tried to not think about what would happen if she couldn't find it, and how sad Bickslow would be when she told him, and how she'd _melted_ the symbols of their everlasting love because she'd been stupid enough to wear it while sun bathing.

"Dad will understand. Don't be sad." Riley spoke softly, continuing help her search and also sensing her growing anxiety.

Finally, after several frantic minutes of searching something cool and metal brushed against her fingertips, and she pulled it up to look at it.

A flat, shiny, melted down gold puddle glinted against the light, and only 2 out of 5 of the crystals were still inside it. Her heart sunk, world crashing around her as her hand shook with the small object between her thumb and forefinger. A wave of absolute self-loathing washed over her like a wave, filling and shaking her down to the core, and she held her head as it slowly lowered to the sand. _I melted the symbol of my love for Bickslow. I'm a terrible person._

She just wanted to cry, thrash around, and throw a general fit from the overload of emotions in that moment, but she didn't. Her lungs filled with air, slowly, and exhaled, slowly. Focusing on her breathing, she eventually calmed down, trying not to think too much about the puddle of a ring in her hand.

Claire was an adult. Adults deal with these kinds of situations rationally.

She would replace the ring when she got back to Magnolia, and simply not tell him. No harm done.

Except Riley saw it, and he was a little tattle-tale.

 _Guess I'll have to tell him and then go replace it…._

Breathing… in, out… in… out….

Laxus' unmistakable footsteps on the back porch snapped her out of her reverie, and she gracefully rose to her feet. Recalling her earlier intent to keep her magic low, she kept Riley bound, and took a deep breath before looking over at the lightning mage.

He stood there, light behind him obscuring his features, a few steps in front of the door. She had no doubt that he was staring at her with those stupid, matching blue eyes.

"Did you find it?" He asked coolly.

"I melted it."

"Sorry to hear." Laxus replied. With another sigh she trudged back to the house, and they both went inside, Laxus back to the couch and Claire to finish her sandwich.

"When do you want to head back to Magnolia?" The fire mage asked across the room. "Since my injury looks healed, now."

"You also turned into a giant dragon, so I would say that you're completely fixed."

"Details." She shrugged nonchalantly. The thing she was most upset about was safely in her pocket, and even though Riley was a good steady drain on her magic, she didn't have a use for him and Laxus was uncomfortable with him around. She unbound him and let his vessel land on the dining room table nearby. "It would be nice if I could reverse my sleep schedule back to normal before leaving. Does two days sound good to you? Or do you need to get back to Magnolia for something?"

"Two days sounds fine."

"When is Gajeel's kid due?"

"Levy doesn't want me there when it's born. I think it's due on the 20th."

"Doesn't Gajeel want you there?"

"Kinda, but he also knows that if I'm there, it'll stir up a lot of extra emotions that people don't need at a birth. He said that if I wanted to be there he'd back me up, but he understood if I didn't."

"That must be hard."

"Eh. It is what it is; not like I really care. It's not like I won't be seeing it after it's born, since his dad will be living with me. I heard Gramps is going to try and be there."

"Sounds like his kind of thing."

"If I went there, he'd probably freak out again. I just hope he doesn't freak out with just Gajeel there, or doesn't say anything."

"If you wanted, I could go undercover and be the eyes and ears. Make sure nothing bad happens." She offered, and when he sandwich was done, walked over to the ouch and jumped to the part where his feet were. He quickly retracted his limbs at the abrupt presence, and glared as she simply sat there eating her sandwich.

"Thanks, but I already have Mira keeping look out."

"How's her brother Elfman doing? He was pretty upset last I saw him."

"He feels pretty bad about the guild hall getting blown up, so he's training in the woods full-time, apparently. His sisters are too, but they're also working as waitresses in town. You're all talkative all of the sudden." He said suspiciously, and shifted so that he was sitting cross-legged as well.

She happily took another bite of her sandwich, chewed, and grinned at him. "So? You should say stuff while I'm eating and in a listening mood. Tell me about stuff."

He gave her a suspicious look, and was silent for several seconds, until he finally shrugged and caved. "It's weird having Fairy Tail disbanded. I have this feeling that it's not permanent, but… even if it did come back together, it wouldn't be the same. People are already moving on, Gajeel and Levy will be raising a child together, Zeref is still out there… I won't have a fuck up older brother to worry about."

"Or hordes of dark wizards." Claire added between bites.

"Who knows if the old man will ever chill out. I was raised in Fairy Tail my entire life, and now it's gone. At least when I was banned it still existed and I could potentially visit if I wanted, but… now it's gone."

"Life tends to do that." Chomp.

"I considered them family, and now… my actual family might turn into Acnologia." He said, adding a pointed look for the last part.

"So that's why you're extra grumpy about that."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You feel displaced and worried because your family for your entire life is moving on, everything is changing, and that's making you extra tense."

"Aren't you upset about Fairy Tail disbanding?"

"I was grateful for their help, don't get me wrong, but most of the time I saw the guild as a resource rather than a family. The people were great, I hope to not lose total contact with them over the years and it really was a good guild, but… I guess I learned the hard way not to get too attached to things like that; so long as you and Bickslow stay in my life, I'll be okay."

"I guess you were only with the guild for a year…" He muttered.

"Yeah." She said simply, and finished off her sandwich. "Besides, I have other things on my mind."

"Like what?"

"Figuring out if Bacchus was a tool or a traitor." She said, and his gaze hardened. He finally closed his book, which had been open and forgotten on his lap, and set it down on the coffee table.

"He joined Tartaros. Seems pretty cut and dry to me."

"He gave me something that makes me question whether he was actually working for them, or if he was forced to and was actually trying to help us."

"Is that why you've been so tight-lipped about what happened with him?" He asked, and she sighed. "Because I saw those dead bodies at the café they took you from. Bacchus sure as hell didn't help them."

"Laxus, for all we know, Kelsey had planned to kill half the town to make me go with her. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Bacchus had been working with her for years, but I also wouldn't be surprised if his mind had been manipulated into doing it. If it was the latter, it would explain his erratic behavior." She spoke, and although the man seemed unconvinced, he still nodded that it was a possibility. "I have to show you something, but you have to promise not to burn it or attack it in anyway. If you do, you could end up killing both of us."

"… Claire…" He said sternly, staring at her and trying to figure out what she was talking about, but before he could guess she was walking away to her room. "Of course Bacchus is getting you into dangerous, life-threatening crap from beyond the grave…" He muttered.

A few moments later, Claire finally reemerged holding a book, and returned to her previous spot. She held it up so that he could read the cover, and he stared blankly at it for a few moments.

"'Kelsey and Corey'? What, someone wrote a book about our siblings?"

"This is what the water dragon used to summon our family to this world. It's a Book of Zeref."

His entire body visibly tensed, breath hitched, and wide blue eyes stayed locked on that book in her hands.

"When Zeref destroyed Geer's book, it killed the Etherious, too. Since this book was used to summon our entire family to our world,"

"Destroying it could kill our entire family, too." Laxus finished. "Have you… read it? Should you even be touching it?"

"When these books aren't being used to summon demons, they're just books. There's no hidden traps inside or anything; I asked Fried to help me compile a thorough list of ways to check before I even opened it."

"Fried knows about this?"

"No. I didn't tell him what I needed those spells for, just that I needed them. After checking it for traps, I used my data compression magic to read and decipher it, and only chanced opening it a couple of times."

"You've been reading a Book of Zeref." He clarified.

"What else am I supposed to do with it? If our connection to this gets out, everyone will think we're demons and/or Zeref worshippers will be hunting us down to get their hands on it. I wanted to learn everything I could about it before chancing anyone knowing about it."

Laxus tried to keep a clear and level head as he absorbed the information, still staring intently at the extremely dangerous object in her hands. His instinct was to destroy right then, but she had a point that it could kill them just like the Etherious demon, and they couldn't exactly tell anyone about it either. Even in the 'right' hands, like Makarov or the Magic Council, it was extremely dangerous.

"Bacchus gave this to me when he first found me on the base. We know for a fact that if I had burned this, he and Kelsey would have died, at least. He could have bet that I wouldn't burn it on sight, but even for him that's a huge risk. Not to mention he didn't even try to take it back."

"If Kelsey found out we had this…" He trailed off, and Claire cursed, biting the inside of her cheek. "between her and the Zeref worshippers, we really would be hunted down. Even if we didn't die if this was destroyed, this is extremely dangerous and valuable to have."

"Translation has been difficult, but… do you want to know what I've found out from it?" She asked, watching his movements carefully. Laxus being backed into a corner was never a good thing, and bombarding him with too much information could be bad on all fronts. If she had her way she wouldn't even be telling him, but he was family, and really he'd been on this world longer than she had. In all likelihood, he knew more about Zeref than she did.

"Yes."

"The book is divided into four sections, one for each person summoned: Kelsey, Corey, Claire, and Carol. Bacchus and another member of Tartaros mentioned that this was written differently than the other books, and since there's more people involved with this one, I can believe that. I think this was created for the water dragon to summon Carol, but since our world was so far away, it needed more magic to get her here. Since Zeref's specialty was demons and not dragons, he had to make it a demon summoning book in order for it to work."

"Wait, you said a section for each person summoned, but you only listed four people. Including our parents 8 people were transported to this world."

"For mom and Carl, I think it was pure proximity they were transported, since they were together when it happened. That also leaves the possibility that other people we don't know about could have been transported to this world."

"That doesn't explain how Dad and I got here." He said, and she smiled.

"Actually, I have a separate theory for why you two were brought here." She said, and he raised his eyebrow, curious by her suddenly enthusiastic posture. "The Laxus Dreyar on this world died during childbirth, right?"

"Yeah…"

"I think what happened with you is what happened with Lisanna. There was a bridge between this world and ours, and when Laxus Dreyar on this world died, you were brought here to replace him. I haven't quite figured out why you, Bacchus, and I were all the exact same age, but I'm guessing that's just a random spell thing like Fried theorized."

"Wait, so… it wasn't just a coincidence that my dad appeared so close to their cabin. It's what brought us here."

"Yep. That, or you and dad actually were close enough to get caught up in the summoning process with our siblings. Either way, I think you were drawn to this world's Laxus' death."

"But all of this is theory."

"Yep, and I still haven't finished translating the book. I've translated the first and last sections of each chapter to get an idea for each person to get a rough idea of it."

"What have you found out about Kelsey and Bacchus?"

"… that they're Etherious demons through and through." She summarized, and a sweatdrop appeared on Laxus's forehead. "Well, to be more precise, they were demons in the same way that Carol and I are dragons. Well, they're a little more demony, but their abilities were suppressed by their human nature. If they had stayed on our world, they probably would have gone their entire lives without knowing about it, same for Carol and I."

"So Bacchus was a demon the whole time?"

"Not all demons are inherently evil." She told him, annoyed by the pompous smug look: the 'I told you Bacchus was evil' look that she got way too often.

"He tried to kill you how many times?"

"He only tried to kill me once, and he ended up dying himself. Also, his demon power was to use alcohol as fuel and a means to inject it into his prey to make them easier to take down. Which means that his alcoholism wasn't actually alcoholism…. He was just, you know… drinking it like water for survival, I think."

"He was a demon."

"It's also possible that it took a long time for his demon qualities to shine through, and for Kelsey it just happened sooner because of her family dying."

"Or she killed her family." He suggested, and she froze at the notion, and then groaned.

"Don't do that, my head hurts enough already!"

"So if I really am Laxus Dreyar… does that mean that the old man is actually my old man?"

"Your dad on this world would be your dad, so would your grandfather. Since I was a dragon on this world, it-"

"No, you were born from the same parents on our world." He interrupted, smiling. "Which means my abusive dad is also your dad, and so is Makarov."

"Your dad was abusive?" She asked.

He instantly fell quiet, the previous excited grin falling from his face.

"Our dad on my world was great, I just figured the same on this world… but now that I think about it-"

"Forget I brought it up."

"Nope." She said simply, and he grunted, looking away. "I'm not going to make you talk about, but if you need to, I'm here."

"Thanks…."

"Anyway, I think that's most of what I've learned. I've got a direct translation of what I've read along with an interpreted version that makes a little more sense and has extra notes." She spoke, changing the topic. "You can look at either if you want, or you don't have to. I like having answers and learning about our situation, especially since there's a possibility of running into Zeref again."

"You said you made a copy of this book? It's in your magic thing?"

"I call it my 'server', but yeah."

"Give me the book."

She carefully lifted it up and handed it to him, cautious of his movements. He placed the book in front of him on the couch cushions.

"I'll keep it in a safe place. Until we know more, we tell no one."

"Not even Bickslow or Fried?"

"Or Gajeel. No one finds out about this." He stated, and she nodded.


	34. Chapter 34

**Walking Cliché 34**

 _Life at Blue Pegasus_

Claire was surprised at how much she and her team enjoyed Blue Pegasus.

Acting happy for the customers in turn made her feel happy, and although it felt odd to be around such shallow people regularly, they were nice and friendly. Seeing Bickslow and his babies get along with so many people made her heart soar, and she'd never seen him enjoy the company of others so much. He didn't even wear his visor anymore; he wore the required suit and tie, and while he entertained guest, his babies would help serve drinks to his table and occasionally others. Sometimes they would dance or act silly, and the customers weren't scared of them. (granted, most of them had no idea what they were, but Bickslow generally went with the rule of 'don't ask, don't tell' in this one circumstance)

Since Michael loved dressing up his babies, Bickslow thought about asking him to make costumes for his babies to wear at work.

Fried was also opening up as well. At Fairy Tail, even when he made the effort, he never quite got along with the other guild members. Finally able to converse with people on his sophistication level, he started feeling more comfortable around others, and smiled a lot more.

Ever was getting the attention she wanted, and her input was appreciated at the guild. Some of her ideas were a little out there, but Master Bob loved her enthusiasm and used her ideas for the guild more than once, to the brunette's delight. She got to dress up, entertain guests, and talk about things with similar minded people.

In the two and a half weeks of their absence, the Thunder Legion had made their home at Blue Pegasus.

Laxus was the only one that didn't quite fit in there.

Sure, the guests loved him, even when he'd accidentally insult or blatantly ignore them, but he was uncomfortable. He hated the required formal style, and whenever he tried to have a conversation with someone outside his team, they would swoon and babble incoherently, making it rather boring for him. More than once, he found himself sitting in silence at a table surrounded by people that openly gawked and swooned for him, and they would do that for hours at a time. Even Master Bob had been guilty of joining the crowd.

To his credit, he tried the 'hosting' thing for two days before deciding it wasn't for him. Officially he joined the guild like the rest of his team, but with the guild master's permission, he decided that training for a few weeks longer would suit him better. He used his brother's death as an excuse to get away, and the guild master more than readily let him leave to mourn.

Since Claire insisted that she wear a suit and tie to work, much to Evergreen's chagrin, the guild got a surprising influx of lesbian guests. Of course Claire reminded them that she was dating Bickslow and not actually gay, but so long as she was bi they didn't mind and viewed her more as a symbol, as they apparently they viewed Claire's presence as being a safe hangout for lesbian couples.

Not arguing the increase of customers, she rolled with it. She got bonuses for each customer that mentioned her. Along with the lesbian crowd, more straight males attended the guild for the eye candy. The more rowdy ones were kicked out quickly enough, and the establishment still stayed upscale and professional.

"So why does your girl where a suit?" One of the customers asked Bickslow.

"Cuz why not?" He shrugged. "I think she pulls it off better than I do, honestly." Bickslow told him, and the man burst into laughter.

On her fifth day of working as a hostess at Blue Pegasus, which mostly entailed keeping people happy whether it be conversation or getting drinks, she found herself talking to her most difficult customer. The older gentleman had been a loyal customer to Blue Pegasus for several years, and by far the deepest pockets.

Customers at their guild had the option to request time with specific hosts and hostesses, and in this case, he had requested her time for an hour. Most customers had no issue with Claire's masculine attire, and she got compliments regularly for it, yet this particular old man couldn't get over it.

"I've seen you in magazines." He told her, and took another sip from his drink. "You have no reason to cover up."

"I prefer suits. Why don't we talk about something else? Do you have any children?"

"Why aren't you wearing skimpy dresses like the other girls?" He asked, cheeks flush as he looked her up and down.

"They volunteer to wear those dresses, and I don't feel comfortable in those outfits so I wear a suit instead. I've had no complaints and it doesn't hinder my abilities to do my job."

"It hinders my view." He said, and she resisted the urge to punch him in the face. "Go change into something else. The skimpiest dress they have- I'll pay extra." He told her, holding up a wad of cash and smiling.

"No. If you continue commenting on my clothing, I'll ask someone to replace me."

His face fell, replaced by a scowl. "No one here has turned down my request before. It's not much to ask that you dress like a lady. Unless you're actually a hermaphrodite that looks like a girl…."

"Look, you requested me as a hostess, and my job is to-"

"Your job is to do what the customer wants. I want you to take this money, go to the back, and when you come back, be wearing what the other women are wearing. Otherwise I'll complain to Master Bob, and you'll lose your job. Now, if you want to keep me from doing that, you'll have to make it up to me, and I don't mind if you get… creative."

She watched him for a moment, wondering if it was worth it to keep trying to change the subject or to simply give up. Getting Master Bob involved could lose her the large commission from this client, but upon remembering that she really didn't need the money, made her decision. Knowing that arguing was futile, she stood up without a word and walked away.

"I think you forgot something." He said, smiling and holding up the wad of cash.

"No, I didn't." She replied, continuing her path to the bar, where her guild master had been making drinks. Upon her arrival he looked up at her, and then looked over to the table she'd previously occupied, to which the man still sitting there raised his empty glass to him. "He keeps trying to bribe me into changing clothes. Can you have someone else finish my session with him?"

"He's trying to what?" He asked, and after explaining the situation to him, his cheeks turned red in anger. Considering how long the client had been a customer, she'd expected her guild master to simply ask Jenny or one of the other female hostesses to replace her, but he didn't. Master Bob floated through the bar, went over to the man, and asked him what happened. The drunken man openly stated that she refused his request, likened the women of the guild to whores, which caused Master Bob to snap. After berating the man for his treatment of his employee and insulting the female staff, although keeping rather quiet to not cause a scene, the client was banned from the establishment.

Claire watched, surprised and rather touched that her guild master was giving up such a big client for the sake of his staff. When he made it back over to his previous position behind the bar, she smiled at him.

"Every once in a while we get customers like that. If that happens again, come straight to me."

"You're a good guild master." She complimented, and he giggled with a flamboyant flip of his hand.

"It's my job to protect the wizards in my guild. Now, I believe there's a table that would enjoy your company in the corner. I'm just finishing their round of drinks." He told her, going back to his bartending.

1.

"I'm tirrrred." Claire whined at the end of work one day, and her boyfriend scoffed.

"All you've been doing all day is sitting on your ass drinking and talking to customers. How are you tired?"

"Because I have an introverted personality and talking to people drains my energy."

"Pleeeease?" He pleaded, and their babies floated behind him, echoing his plea cutely. They were still at work, but instead of going home like they usually did, he wanted to stay and hang out at the guild for the 'after party'. Every other Friday the guild would put this on, which was basically a socializing hour for the hosts and hostesses to enjoy. Some of the employees even worked there for the sole reason of attending these events. Master Bob would hire an outside bartender for the event so that no one would be forced to work, and the drinks and appetizers were free, and entertainment was provided. Essentially, for two days out of the month, the employees would have the opportunity to relax and socialize without the pressure of entertaining others.

"Can't you stay here without me?" She asked. He'd made her stay at the last party, too, and she'd been just as tired then. She did more socializing in their three weeks working at Blue Pegasus than she had her entire life.

"It wouldn't be the same. I wouldn't be able to have fun knowing that you were home alone, sad and mopey and eating all my ice cream."

"I wouldn't be doing any of that. I would be sleeping."

"Come on, live a little." Ever joined as she came over, smiling at them. In the short time they'd been there, it was remarkable how much the fairy woman had changed. She was much more comfortable with herself, confident, and much easier to talk to. "You can sleep when you're dead."

"So can you." Claire glared.

"What does that even mean?" She asked with a smile, enjoying getting on the woman's nerves. _Maybe she hasn't changed_ that _much…_

"I don't know, I'm tired and saying things."

"Claire!" Someone yelled nearby, getting her attention. When she realized who is was, she groaned, her shoulders slumping. Before she could ask Bickslow again if she could go home, she realized that he was talking animatedly with someone else, drink hand. _How'd he do that so fast?_ "I wanted your help with something. Do you have a minute?"

"I have several, apparently." She told him, and Hibiki Lates grinned at her answer, dragging her to the other side of the room. He immediately pulled up his archive magic and started hounding her with questions, to which she tiredly answered.

After about two hours of sitting with him and discussing their similar magic, Laxus arrived. With only a scowl at the young blond, he got the hint and ran to another part of the party, while the lightning took his seat across from his sister. "Cut your training short? You've only been gone for two weeks." She asked.

"Thought I would take a break and get some free stuff." He said with a shrug, and sipped at his beverage. "Why the hell are you hiding in the corner with Hibiki? I thought you hated the guy?"

"Bickslow is making me stay." She told him.

"Free booze, food, and the belly dancers are pretty cool to watch. Why does he need to make you stay?"

"I'm tired, dude. I just want to sleep. I've been working all day."

"Hosting? All you do is stand around and drink."

"I'm an introvert, dude. Socializing drains my energy."

"Since when? You're great with people."

"I can be social when I have to be. Doesn't mean that it's not taxing on me; not to mention Bickslow got us signed up to do this 6 days a week, and he's so happy about it, I can't convince him to let us cut down on hours yet."

"I don't think I've ever seen him so excited to work. Nonetheless socialize." Laxus commented, and looked over to the other side of the room, watching the blue-haired mage laugh at something someone said. "The Thunder Legion were such outcasts at Fairy Tail, I'm surprised they like it here."

"They like being liked. The job is forcing them to push their boundaries socially, and they're learning how to get along with people and make them happy."

"Huh." He muttered, continuing to watch his team from the sidelines. They really were opening up to people, and as he watched them, a fond smile tugged at his lips. "Whatever gets them to stop obsessing over me, I guess. Your magic level seems a bit high." He commenting, turning back to her.

"I've had to start doing night and morning training with Riley to use up the excess amount that I accumulate daily."

"I've never heard of someone worrying about having too much magic." He commented, and now noticed the small bags under her eyes. They weren't very noticeable, but they were there. She was leaning tiredly on the palm of her hand, overlooking the crowd as he had been, and briefly wondered if a repeat of the library incident would happen soon.

"You know how, when you lose magic, your body naturally takes in more of it from the air until it reaches your natural limit?" She asked, turning to him. He nodded. "I think my natural limit went up to a dragon limit. It keeps taking in magic without naturally letting some of it back into the air. I've subtly asked around and have been looking for ways to use it up or learn how to lower that limit again, but I can't find any. Mask it, sure, but not actually lower it."

"Have you told Bickslow?"

"After the way you reacted, I really don't want to. Besides, look how happy he is."

Laxus looked over, seeing that the seith mage really was having a good time, and even his babies were being complimented. It was nice to see his long time friend so happy; no visor, no padding beneath his clothes, and the smile on his face was genuine. "What about getting more souls? Doesn't that drain magic?"

"It usually takes years for Bickslow to get new wandering souls, and since I've met him two of them have crossed over and I took one. He usually finds them when he's on jobs requiring him to travel, and since he's hosting now, that limits it considerably."

"So… what are you going to do? Get no sleep until you snap and turn into a dragon?"

"Once I change my schedule to working four days out of the week instead of six, then it'll be more manageable."

"I know he's happy working here, but…" Laxus spoke. "You need to tell him. He can handle it."

"But I like not being the center of attention." She whined, and he rolled his eyes.

"If he found out by accident months from now, how do you think he'd react to knowing that you've been lying to him all that time? Aren't you two getting married or something?"

"You giving couples advice? Really?" She asked, and the man shrugged.

"'Communication is key', remember?" He asked, quoting her from the millions of times that she had told him that. With nearly every problem with Gajeel he came to her with, she'd say that.

"Whatever." She muttered, and went back to watching her boyfriend across the room. Bickslow was amazing, and she was glad that people were finally beginning to realize that.

2.

In the middle of the night, she felt that familiar itch beneath her skin: the one that indicated that she should switch to her dragon form, but unless last time, she didn't. She had a promise to keep to Laxus.

Over the past week, she'd felt a minor version of this before- as she'd become hyper aware of the sensation- and this time, she knew that she couldn't just sleep it off, no matter how much she wanted to. What she wanted was to just shift into her dragon form and finish sleeping.

Careful not to wake Bickslow, she slowly eased out of bed, glad that the sleeping medication they took worked so well. She had lowered her own dosage since the 'dragon thing', so that she wouldn't accidentally shift in her sleep.

Slipping on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and then mentally groaning when she realized how ridiculously late it was, she summoned Riley and hurried out the door. Once they were out of the apartment building she broke out in a run, using her magic to increase her running speed. This was the least flashiest way she could think of to use up her magic.

 _Why is it bad that you have so much magic?_ Riley asked. _Why are we doing this so late?_

She had somehow managed to keep reasons for their training from him, and so far she had been successful, but she knew this would be the event that really made him suspicious. It's what would make him go to Bickslow and make him intervene, and frankly, even if he didn't she would have to confront him about it now.

 _I'll tell Bickslow when we get back… if I don't use up a large amount of magic soon, I'll turn into a dragon._ She told him telepathically, and yawned into her hand as she ran. Laxus had been right that she needed to tell Bickslow, but she'd wanted to wait another few weeks, at least. Let him get settled, let her get a handle on things and learn more about it, and then they'd have the conversation.

This impromptu need to expel her magic was a drag, and it seriously messed up her plans. Not only that, but it was early as hell, and she just wanted to sleep.

 _Is that what you've been hiding from me?_

 _Yeah. It's the thing I can tell you about, anyway._ She said, and heard him huff in agitation nearby.

After hours of expelling her magic through fighting, running, and even using Riley to attack her just so she could use a magic draining shield spell, she'd only used enough to be just below her normal magic amount. It was enough that she didn't feel itchy and on the verge of transforming, and she hoped it was enough to let her go back to sleep.

When she made it back to the apartment, Bickslow was just waking up and opening the bedroom door, and he watched her curiously as she entered the apartment looking exhausted with torn clothes. Instead of saying anything, he stood there blinking tiredly at her, while she walked over to the couch and collapsed on it.

"Did I wake you up with a nightmare again?" He asked after a few moments.

"Mom has a secret she has to tell dad~" Riley said, and flew over to the entrance of the apartment, closing the door that Claire had accidentally left open.

"… secret? At 8 in the morning?" He asked, and tussled his messy bed head hair. It was too early for him to think. He stood in the bedroom doorway, nude, and simply staring at the small part of his girlfriend he could see at that angle.

"Can I tell you once you get home from work? You should be awake when I tell you, and so should I." She grumbled, and Bickslow had to strain his ears to catch it.

"Is it serious? Are you okay?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows and feeling that familiar aching worry in his chest. As he walked over to her, he noticed that her clothes were tattered and covered in dirt. "Wait, when I get home from work? Are you not coming with me?"

She sighed, tiredly. "It's not life threatening, nor is it a serious problem, it's just something that I need to get a handle on and I haven't figured out how yet. I'm calling in a sick day."

"Well then so am I." He stated, and sat down in front of her, sitting cross-legged and looking at her. She opened one of her eyes, one arm hanging off the edge, and half of her face hidden by the pillow. "We're partners, remember? Let me help you figure out whatever it is you're having trouble with."

"You shouldn't have to miss work because of me. You love work."

"I love you more." He replied, and took the hand hanging off the couch and kissed the back of it. "Besides, I've gotten plenty of hours since I joined, and you've been nice enough to let me drag you with me almost every single day, even though it drains you every time. You also had a brother die recently, so since Laxus has had weeks of mourning time, you deserve some time off, too." Bickslow told her, his eyes half-lidded in his tired state. "I'll go call the guild and let them know we won't be there today." He said decisively, leaned in to kiss her cheek, and then got up to walk back to the bedroom.

"Remember to put on clothes when you call them." She said, too tired to argue with his reasoning. _I have been working a lot…_ The thought made her feel a little less bad about making him stay home for the day; especially since Ever and Fried had been smart enough to take advantage of the flexible scheduling, and were only working four days a week while taking advantage of the mostly free spa on their off days.

After he made the call, he returned to the living room to his now sleeping girlfriend. Sliding his arms under her back and knees, he slowly picked her up and carried her to the other room. Once they were both securely under the covers of the bed, he cuddled her closer to him, suddenly feeling sleepy again.

Later that day, well after noon, Bickslow and Claire groggily got out of bed.

Bickslow was honestly surprised at how much he slept, and also how drained he felt. He hadn't really felt that tired even with the extended hours they'd been doing, but the more he thought about it, he suspected that he'd been getting a similar drain that Claire had been feeling. In his excitedness he'd been able to push back that tiredness, or at least ignore it., and it finally caught up to him. Fried had warned him that it would happen.

During breakfast (or late lunch) she explained her situation to him. He quietly listened, slowly eating his food, and nodding when appropriate. Unlike Laxus he didn't overreact; he was calm, logical, and kept his worries at bay.

"So we just need to find a way to drain your magic on a daily basis, or trick back into thinking that it needs to be lower." He summarized, and she nodded. "You and Laxus… 'Claire problems'…" He muttered, shaking his head slowly.

She smiled. In the past, when he talked about Laxus' issues, he'd refer to them as 'Laxus problems'; because really, only Laxus would complain about too many women swooning over him on a daily basis.

"For now, you could have Riley lifting heavier things. That's a pretty good drain on magic."

"Lifting things? Like what? Bussing drinks hasn't been a huge drain."

"The couch, for example. Have him lift up the back end. It'll drain your magic without you having to exert yourself so much." He suggested, and her grin got wider.

"This is why I like you. You're smart." She told him, and he chuckled, getting his own cheesy grin. Riley went over to the couch, and as suggested, lifted it up a few inches.

"It's not a long term solution, but it'll help for now. I didn't realize I was so tired until this morning… I can't believe I slept so much."

"Working all day, six days of the week for several weeks in a row will do that." She told him, and took another wonderful drink from her coffee. "I've never seen someone have so much fun at their job."

"They think we're adorable!" Their babies announced, appearing from nowhere and bouncing giddily around them.

"Have you talked to Porlyusica about your… magic problem?"

"She skipped town and no one knows where she is." She said with a slight pout.

"What if I did one of the S-Class jobs with you and Laxus? One of them requires a lot of traveling. You can use up your magic and I can search for more wandering souls."

"But you love hosting."

"Yeah, and I don't want to get burned out on it." He replied. "Hell, technically you and I could travel the country looking for souls and we don't even need it to be a job or go with Laxus."

"A working vacation?" She asked, unable to stop from smiling. The idea of traveling the countryside with her fiancé looking for more 'babies' did sound fun, even though it would be extremely unrealistic. Traveling without having to worry about time schedules, waking up when they felt like it, exploring things for the hell of it, not having any clients to answer to…. "I don't think Master Bob would be very happy with us."

"But it would be so much fun." He said with a matching smile.

"But we also just started a new job. It would leave a bad impression to just up and leave right after we start."

"Well, we could give an ample amount of warning. We need to move in order to keep hosting at the guild anyway, so we could basically do the trip between apartments. That way we avoid paying rent on a place that we're not living in."

"… it would be a good opportunity to get more fireproof clothes." She added. Although she hadn't been complaining, and she'd gotten good enough control over her magic to not burn her clothes, she did miss having a good selection of nice looking clothes that she couldn't burn. (easily, at least) It had been half a year, maybe longer, and she'd ruined nearly every article of clothing.

"You have plenty of clothes. Ever drags you shopping all the time."

"Nothing that's fireproof, though. I want to get some more basics from my hookup from the small village. Namely some more fireproof undergarments."

"Alright, so we make your _shopping trip_ part of the route." He said with a smirk. "We should make a wide loop around the Pheonix Mountains, either the coastal route or the desert route."

As they continued making comments and ideas for their travels, they got more and more excited about it, and it started turning into solid plans. The timing of it all hinged on Master Bob and his say on their leave of absence.

3.

Laxus walked to Makarov's house, doubting his decision, but still moving nonetheless. Ever since his sister had brought up the possibility, he just had to know. He had to know the truth even if nothing changed. There were too many uncertainties, too many questions and this was one of the very few things he could get an answer for.

It was raining, which felt fitting for what he was going to do. The cold water soaked his hair, streamed down his face, and his coat managed to protect the rest of his body from the rain's assault. His feet and shins weren't as lucky, as they got soaked within minutes of the downpour.

Thunder rolled in the distance. A flash of lightning.

He didn't hesitate when he knocked on the door, and he reached into his black coat pocket, his hand on the small cylindrical object.

There was a video lacrima on the inside of the small roof above him, so the old man would be able to identify him. As he waited, he wiped his face of some of the water, clearing his eyes of the small droplets. Inside he could hear the old man cursing under his breath and stomping around the house.

It was several minutes before the door finally opened, and the old man wasted no time in lecturing him. "What are you doing at my house? Like I told the others, my decision is final. I have nothing to say to you, after all the things…" And so he continued for quite awhile, never pausing to let the younger mage speak. After waiting for several seconds, Laxus finally just took the object out of his pocket, and pressed the end of it to the old man's neck. "Hey! What the hell was that?!"

Laxus then took it and pressed it against his own, and looked at it.

"What are you doing here, Laxus?"

"Claire had a theory about us." He said simply. "I wanted to see if it was true, and it was."

"What theory? What are you talking about?"

"Not that it changes anything, but apparently we are blood related. I may be from another world, but biologically you are my grandfather." He said with a shrug, and showed him the results on the small device. It was a handy little trinket he picked up at a pharmacy, and even though it was a little spendy, it was worth it.

Makarov was quiet, staring at the device, dumbstruck.

After a moment, Laxus pocketed the analyzer and turned, walking back into the thicket of pelting rain.

4.

Bickslow and Claire were back at work the next day, well rested and refreshed.

Claire had a 'mystery' guest later that day, and earlier on in the evening, she was surprised by a customer that Ever was hired to entertain. When she arrived, the fire woman grinned and ran over to the celestial mage, enveloping her in a hug. "Lucy!"

She laughed, instantly returning the hug. Her arrival didn't go unnoticed from the rest of the Thunder Legion, as they instantly looked over and smiled at the familiar face. Bickslow and Fried were busy with clients so they could only wave, but the mage was thrilled nonetheless. "I never pictured you guys joining Blue Pegasus. Is Bickslow in a suit?"

"He hated it for the parties at Fairy Tail," Ever spoke as she joined them. "but he loves them here."

"Evergreen," Lucy said cheerfully, and pulled her in for a hug. "I know I requested Evergreen's time, but will you be able to join us, Claire?"

"Sure, I don't have a client lined up for a few hours." She replied, and joined the pair for drinks and conversation. Occasionally Claire would have to leave in order to help a customer or something else, but for the most part, she got to hang out with them. Lucy was now working for _Sorcerer Weekly_ , and since the job took her close by and she heard rumors of them joining, decided to stop by.

Later that day, towards the end of her shift, she had a customer known as 'anonymous' join her in the back of the guild. To her surprise it another Fairy Tail mage- but not just any- Makarov Drayer. He was dressed in a black robe with the hood up so that the rest of her team wouldn't see him, and the table had been designed so that certain customers or parties could have a little more privacy.

"Is everyone from Fairy Tail visiting today?" She asked, smiling and chuckling once he had removed the hood. A small smile graced his face as well, and judging by the extra wrinkles and bags under his eyes, he hadn't gotten much rest lately. Disbanding the guild must have been hard on him, and he'd been turning away every mage that came to his doorstep. Or so she'd heard, anyway.

"Who else have you seen today?"

"Lucy was here earlier. She requested time with Ever."

"Lucy, eh?" He asked with a fond smile. They both talked for a while, catching up and talking about what the other ex-Fairy Tail mages were doing, and after a good half hour, she finally asked him the question.

"So why are you here? Why all the secrecy?"

"Laxus hasn't told you yet… has he?" He asked apprehensively, and she tilted her head to the side, racking her brain for whatever he could be talking about. It wasn't like her brother to keep things from her; on purpose, anyway. She gave him so much crap for waiting 2 months before telling her they were related (and he didn't actually tell her at all) that he avoided keeping anything from her.

"… told me what?"

"He said that you had a theory, and he wanted to see if it was true."

"I have a lot of theories, Makarov. You'll have to be more specific." She said with an awkward smile. Too many 'theories' came to mind, and if she simply tried to guess, she could easily give away too much information.

"That Laxus actually is my grandson."

"Oh, right. The theory that what happened to Lisanna and her Edolas counterpart happened to him." She spoke, and he seemed a bit confused, so she continued. "When this world's Laxus died, Laxus from my world came to replace him. Just like when Edolas Lisanna died, Earth Land Lisanna was transported to Edolas to replace her."

He looked down at the table, contemplating her theory.

"I make a lot of theories and guesses, though. Most of them are wrong, but some of them end up being right."

"Laxus did a DNA test." Makarov said softly, and looked up at her with watery eyes. Not expecting her Guild Master- ex-Guild Master- to start crying in front of her, she inched back slightly.

"… why are you crying?"

"He is my grandson. I've always considered him family, but… now he's blood related, too."

"That's great." She chuckled, relaxing slightly. They were happy tears, she realized, but she couldn't help but get the feeling that there was more to it. "So why are you crying?"

"I am getting too old for this crap." He muttered, wiping away the tears. "If you are Laxus's sister, and I'm his grandfather, then that means you're my granddaughter."

"Not really." She said, and he looked up at her, furrowing his brows in confusion. "By blood? Probably. Porlyusica did a DNA test on Laxus and I a while back to see if my blood had changed too much since entering this world, and we were a positive match. On this world I was a dragon, so it's not like you ever had an actual granddaughter. We didn't grow up together like you and Laxus."

"Even if it's just by blood… you are my granddaughter."

"Does that really change anything?" She asked, and he teared up again. "It's not like I was close to my grandparents on either parents side when I was growing up. Your counterpart on my world died when I was little from lung cancer. He was a decorated war hero that smoke and drank too much."

"When you first came to my guild…" He spoke, and wiped his cheeks of the salty tears. "it looked like you had been trampling through the woods for weeks, and hadn't had a decent meal in a long time. I never even bothered to ask if you had a place to go."

"You also gave me a place to find work, so that I could get the money to buy that decent meal. I don't know why you're being so sentimental all of a sudden, since it's not like you haven't done a lot for me over the past year. I may complain a lot, but I do appreciate all that you've done for me."

He took a steadying breath, and dried his eyes with a napkin. "I'm sorry. Fairy Tail was my life for so long, and disbanding it was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made."

"I'm guessing that even if I asked, you wouldn't give me an answer."

"I'm sorry."

"Hey, I can pull the granddaughter card now. Will that make you more talkative?" She asked, and reached for her forgotten soda. The old man laughed loudly, much to her relief, and did so for quite a while. When he finally quieted down, he wiped his eyes of tears ago.

"I'm going to be leaving town soon, and there's a good possibility that I won't be coming back for a long time." He said seriously, a ghost of a smile still there. "I just… wanted to visit my granddaughter before then."

"You'll be coming back though, right?"

"I hope so, but in my age, there's no telling."

"Don't talk like that. Stop by when you get back and we can get lunch or something, alright? Grandfather or not, you were my guild master." She told him, and he nodded. "So have you and Laxus made up? Since you two talked about my theory, and all."

"Not exactly… he just showed up at my doorstep yesterday, pressed a stupid DNA thing against my neck, and told me that we were related by blood. That doesn't change the way I feel about him, and the only reason it affected me is that I realized that meant who you were."

"Since you're going away, are you going to visit him before you leave?"

"No. I have nothing to say to the young man."

"That's too bad. He's been a bit lonely since the guild was disbanded, I'm sure he'd love the visit." She commented, and his expression fell slightly. "Anyway, how's Levy? I heard you were at the birth?"

"She is still _very_ pregnant, unfortunately…" He told her.

"How overdue is she?"

"A month, now. She's like a balloon. If it still hasn't come by the end of the week, she's going to have a c-section."

"10 months of being pregnant, wow. That… sounds absolutely terrible."

"They think it might have something to do with Gajeel's dragonslayer magic, since dragons have longer incubation times."

"Really? Crazy." She chuckled.

"How is Michael doing?"

"He's doing great with his dad. We haven't officially given him custody yet, unfortunately, but they're happy and healthy. Bickslow loves spending time with him and Fried still gives him lessons when he can."

"That's wonderful."

"Oh, actually, I have a question for you." She spoke, changing the topic to something slightly more serious. "I was wondering if you knew of a way to cap your magic? Like, making your body limit how much magic it can absorb."

"There are certain herbs that can limit how much the body can absorb magic, but most of them are illegal for that reason, since they've been used to kill wizards before. Why do you ask?"

"It's, uh… kind of complicated." She said awkwardly.

"I've heard of some wizards using it for training, but if you do use it for that reason, be very careful. The body can be very dependent on magic, and if you exert your body too much without enough magic, it can harm you."

"Thanks for the heads up."

"Speaking of which, it must be frustrating to get to S-Class and have the guild disband two weeks later?" He asked with a sadistic grin, and she groaned, causing him to burst into laughter again. They chatted and talked for quite a while, losing track of time, until finally Master Bob floated over to them and told them that the bar had closed well over an hour ago. "I'm sorry for eating up so much of your time."

"It's fine, don't worry about it. It's been nice to catch up." She replied.

"Your little boyfriend looks like he's going to collapse. You two have a lot of planning for your little traveling adventure~" Master Bob told her with a little heart floating near him, and effeminate flip of his hand.

"'Traveling adventure'?" Makarov asked curiously.

"Bixy and I need more souls, so we were thinking of traveling the countryside together for a few months to find some."

"Doesn't it sound so romantic, Makarov?" Claire's new guild master spoke softly with his hands clasped together under his chin, and added a content sigh.

"I hope you two have a fun time. Stay safe." Makarov chuckled.

After a few more added comments and goodbyes, Claire got up from the table and stretched as she made her way over to her sleepy boyfriend, meanwhile her current and former guild masters sat down together to catch up.

Bickslow was slumped over the bar, head on his folded arms, and snoring quietly. He looked so cute that she didn't want to wake him.

Gently nudging his shoulder, she chuckled when he simply grunted and buried his face further into his arms. "Honey, we've got to go home." She whispered, and placed a few kisses on his exposed ear and temple.

"Nnng…" He whined quietly, and shifted so that he could peer up at her from the nook of his elbow. Smiling, she placed a few more light kisses on his exposed face, her hand petting his hairline and tangling in the blue strands. "Can you carry me home?"

"Sure."

"No, I'm too manly to make my girlfriend carry me home…"

"What about your S-Class girlfriend?" She asked, and he reluctantly sat up, yawning tiredly while stretching his arms in the air.

"Nawp." He replied mid yawn, and as they slowly made their way out of the guild hall, Makarov and Master Bob watched from their spots. Makarov had to peer over the back of his booth in order to see them, and was grinning as he watched the couple walk away.

"You raised good kids, Makarov." Master Bob said after a moment. "All of them are."

5.

"Bickslow! Claire! Come to work!" A voice yelled across the room. Both mages groaned and pulled the blankets higher over their heads, not wanting to get up.

"It's our day off…" Bickslow grumbled, and pulled the girl in his arms closer to him. Their communications lacrima glowed with Fried's face on the small nightstand by their bed, and his features were obscured from the piece of black cloth covering it.

"The Guild Master came here last night and left us letters!"

"We see him almost every day. Go away."

"Not Master Bob, our Fairy Tail Guild Master, Makarov Dreyar." Fried told him, and at these words, Bickslow's eyes snapped open and he jolted upright, accidentally flipping Claire and causing her to fall off the bed. The seith mage went for the communications lacrima and took the cloth off, staring into Fried's well groomed and overly happy face. "You look terrible." He commented immediately.

"Makarov was there?! Letters? What? Did he change his mind about Fairy Tail?!" Bickslow asked hurriedly. Meanwhile, his girlfriend sent him a seething glare, putting on a shirt and pair of shorts from the floor since he had taken the cover off of the lacrima.

"No, Fairy Tail is still disbanded. He left letters for each of us." The green-haired mage said with a grin, and held up both Claire and Bickslow's letter, their names scrawled elegantly on the fancy paper. In the background, they could hear Ever crying and sobbing about their guild. "He wrote a rather… touching, letter regarding the disbanding of our guild."

"Why didn't he just give us the letters last night?" Claire asked, crawling back onto the bed, and both of the mages turned to her with wide eyes.

"You knew he was there?!" They both exclaimed.

"He was my 'anonymous client' yesterday. He was all teary and sentimental and crap."

"Why didn't you tell us?!"

"He asked me not to." She said with a shrug, and Bickslow glared. With his hair in complete disarray, he looked like a troll doll and she couldn't help but smile. "You're cute when you wake up."

"We'll get there as soon as possible, Fried." The seith mage said after a few moments of glaring at his girlfriend, who merely smiled and tilted her head to the side cutely.

6.

Since they weren't working that day, Bickslow had thrown on a pair of black slacks and his striped long shirt before they headed out to their guild hall. The commute really wasn't that great since they had to take a 2 hour train ride to and from Clover Town, but the scenery was nice and they could nap on the way there.

Luckily, their hosting duties didn't start until noon, so the couple was able to take their time each morning and sleep in compared to what they were used to.

On that particular morning when Fried woke them up at 9 AM, Bickslow was too excited to go back to sleep, and Claire was too grumpy to do anything but sip at her coffee. When they arrived in Clover Town, Bickslow practically dragged her all the way to their guild hall, smiling and snickering and making his usual sounds when he was excited about something.

Their guild hall wasn't officially open to the public yet when they arrived, so no one minded their lack of formal attire. Not that they would have cared what they thought- all they were after was the letters from their former guild master.

Upon their arrival, Bickslow immediately took his letter from the several envelopes on the table and sat down nearby, ripping open into the paper. Fried and Ever sat at the table with the envelopes, still seeming to be pouring over whatever letters Makarov had given them, and both of them looked up at her arrival.

"You saw the Guild Master yesterday and didn't tell us!?" Ever shouted, to which Claire shrugged, grabbed her letter, and took a seat next to Bickslow.

"Hers is also the thickest." Fried added, having noticed the weight difference when he first picked up the envelopes. Each of the envelopes varied in size, but each of them had significant girth from the papers folded within. Their guild master had written so many apology letters over the years, no doubt he'd become good at writing lengthy letters in general.

"Did you guys get checks too?" Bickslow asked, looking at his own and then looking up at his team.

"Yeah, they're compensation checks for disbanding the guild so abruptly." Fried told him. There were still a few labeled envelopes left on the table for the other random ex-Fairy Tail mages who had also joined this guild, and though Fried had tried to call them up and tell them, very few seemed as eager as the Thunder Legion. Their letters were also much smaller, although Laxus' was nearly as bulky as Claire's.

So that the checks didn't fall out while she was reading the five page, hand written letter from Makarov plus the generic one he put in all the letters explaining the guilds disbandment, she pulled out the checks first and was surprised by the numbers. She was given three checks, all of which were labeled as either: ' _Compensation for sudden guild disbandment', 'S-Class Trial Completion',_ or ' _x-mas/birthday'_. Reading the last one, she sighed, wishing that he hadn't taken the 'granddaughter' thing so seriously. It made her feel bad that he was doting on her, even if it was just in check form and visiting her last night, since so many others in the guild saw him as a father figure. Her team was upset as it was that he visited last night.

As she sorted the items from her envelope, she placed the checks back inside it so her team wouldn't notice and ask questions, and then decided to read generic disbandment letter first. It didn't really give a real reason why the guild was terminated, just that it was, and he was sorry for the lack of notice. He wrote how he considered everyone in his guild a child, and that it was family, and how even though they were apart they would always be family to him. Most of it was cheesy and corny, but it was heartfelt, and she understood why her team was so moved by it.

She was a little reluctant to read the other letter, especially with the others around. Fried and Ever were looking at her suspiciously, and Bickslow was tearing up nearby while reading his.

"Aren't you going to read yours?" Fried asked.

"I might wait until I get home. Being all crying and stuff in front of other people isn't my thing." She commented, and the mage raised his eyebrows at her. She groaned with a slight blush on her cheeks, remembering that day he was silently referencing. "Shut up."

"Why did Fairy Tail go away!?" Bickslow unabashedly cried, and when she looked over, it looked like he was still on the first page of his three page letter.

"Can we go home now? They're going to be letting customers in soon, and they're not going to want us making the customers sad." Claire asked, realizing that there was only 10 minutes until opening time. As Bickslow continued trying to read through his letter and trying not to get tears on it, she put her own letters and checks back into her envelope and then threw them into her back pack.

She stood and walked over to Bickslow, doing the same to his stuff, and bid her friends goodbye as she gently nudged her boyfriend out of the guild hall. "This is why I wear my visor. So shit doesn't get in my eyes." He muttered, rubbing his eyes as they walked and attempting to hide his tears from passing guild mates.

"I know, sweetie." Claire said softly, her arms around her boyfriend and rubbing slow circles on his back.

7.

When they finally got home, they spent a few hours reading over the pages written from their former guild master.

Bickslow's touched on numerous subjects about their time together at the guild, but most of it focused on how proud Makarov was at how much he'd grown over the past year. From rekindling friendships in the guild, making new ones, opening himself up to those around him, taking care of his family when they needed him, and being such a good friend to his grandson over the years; Makarov was proud of the man he'd become.

Claire's letter seemed much more conflicted, and a lot of it was Makarov trying to explain what he'd wanted for his son and grandson over the years, and how he'd failed them both. He talked about what he had tried to teach them, how he had tried to help them not make the same mistakes he did, and how much he would always love them, no matter what they did. He went on to explain that even though he wasn't 'technically' Claire's grandfather, he hoped that she would learn from her family's mistakes, and he was sorry that he didn't get to know her better.

It pained him that she had been so alone and searching so hard for her family, when all along, they were so close by. At the end, he explained the extra check as a 'grandpa thing', and if she still felt weird about accepting it, she could view it as compensation for getting injured in the S-Class Trials. He also added that she should look after her 'hard-headed, stubborn-ass brother' while he's gone.

"I love yoooou!" Bickslow cried, tackling his girlfriend to the ground and summoning his babies to help thoroughly smother her.

8.

"So, you were S-Class at Fairy Tail, right?" Hibiki asked. "What was the trial like?"

At the memory, Fried and Ever sulked on either side of him, and Bickslow howled in laughter. Claire grinned. "It was fun."

Fried glared at her.

"For people that had earplugs, that is." Bickslow corrected amid laughter.

"Ear plugs?" Hibiki asked, confused by his comrade's sullen expressions.

"For the last part of the trials," Claire started to explain. "The remaining few that hadn't been washed out were hunted down by each of the S-Class mages at night. Bickslow by all right should have won,"

"But a stupid bird gave away my location and Laxus zapped me out of the sky before I could recover…" Bickslow explained.

"Anyway, I knew that Fried had enchantments all over the island, so I hijacked them with my location and used them as a stereo system to blast my playlist for 20 hours straight."

"It was terrible." Ever told him.

"How do you 'hijack' someone's enchantments?" Hibiki asked, fascinated. Since his forte was Archival magic and a branch from data compression magic, he loved getting as much info as he could from her on the topic.

"For the record, it was her unusual magic that made it work." Fried said bitterly, glaring at her grin.

"He's totally right. I entered a program into his network of enchantments that was designed to override his signature and slowly eat away at the magic he used to cast them… while at the same time giving away his location, turning his enchantments into bonfires and sound systems that had the entire island shaking. By all rights it totally shouldn't have worked, or at the most deactivated his enchantments, but my magic is so awesome that it worked better than I'd imagined."

"Apparently it almost saved Gajeel from getting caught." Bickslow added. "But, Erza eventually caught up to him again…"

"20 hours of the same songs over, and over, and over again," Ever groaned.

"They were so pissed that they sent _everyone_ search of us." Bickslow added.

"Why weren't you annoyed by the music?"

"I threatened to give away Claire's location if she didn't give me ear plugs."

"A little suspicious that both of you got the farthest in the trials…" Fried commented.

"Pfft, if anyone had caught us up in the tree, I totally would have ditched Claire to let her fight them. Sorry babe."

"No worries."

"She also dumped us all in the river." Ever added.

"Oh yeah." Bickslow commented with a frown.

"Sounds like you were pretty fierce!" Hibiki laughed, having been forgotten as the group went down memory lane.

"I wanted S-Class." She said with a shrug.

"How did you dump us all in the river, by the way?" Bickslow asked.

"Warren helped me design a device to counter-attack any illusion spell cast on me. I fucking hate illusions." She said. "Anyway, I found out that the device works against all spells, not just illusions, so I tried it out during the trials."

"A spell disruptor?" Fried asked, and she nodded.

"The radius is minimal and it's not that strong. It's just a small pulse that temporarily disrupts casted spells."

Later that evening at the 'after party', they were surprised that one of the hired entertainers was none other than Warren. Evidently he was taking odd jobs at the moment, and one of them was entertainment with his telepathy magic.

Of course, Laxus was also present, as he tended to attend the parties without actually working. Somehow he managed to avoid the guild master, whether intentionally or not, and remain on his training routine without question.

"Anyone ever wondered what it would be like to switch with someone else's body?" Warren asked as he approached the group, donned in a rather colorful suit. Intrigued, most of the group nodded.

"Ooh! I wanna switch bodies with Ever!" Bickslow said excitedly and raising his hand.

"No way." She huffed, crossing her arms.

"What about you two?" Warren asked the siblings, who actually seemed the least interested. They both shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" Claire said, now wondering what it would be like to be in her brother's body. Within seconds, she found her eyes opening from a new direction, and blinked in surprise.

"Why's your body so uncomfortable?" Laxus, or Claire's body, asked.

"Hee, I'm so tall." Claire, in Laxus's body, said with a grin and swaying back and forth. She flexed her muscles a little, and it was cool to feel all of Laxus's hard work under her/his skin.

"It feels like I'm suffocating. Why does my chest hurt?" He asked, looking up at her. When she looked back, they both just looked at each other for a second, both weirded out and fascinated by looking into their own face.

"Eh, you get used to the pain. I completely forgot about it, honestly." She said, and in an instant, they were returned to their own bodies.

"Ooh, I wanna switch with Laxus next!" Bickslow announced.

"No way." He grumbled, and took a sip of his drink while walking away from the group.

"… can I switch with Claire?" Bickslow asked hopefully.

"Sorry babe, my magic can be really unpredictable. I was only okay with Laxus because his is similar." She explained, and the seith mage groaned loudly, trying to find someone to switch bodies with him.


	35. Chapter 35

**Walking Cliché 35**

 _Romantic Getaway_

It was early summer by the time that Claire and Bickslow finally got to leave Magnolia. Their stuff was put in storage, arrangements were made with master Bob, and they had acquired all of the camping gear they needed for their journey.

One of the nice things about their traveling, and probably their favorite aspect, was the privacy.

"Bickslow…" Claire moaned, closing her eyes at the wonderful sensations. She was on her elbows and knees, half her face against the pillow in their small tent, and Bickslow had paused with his full length inside of her. He leaned over, kneading her breasts in his hands and rolling her nipples between his fingers which had her moaning in delight, and he placed kisses along her spine.

Moving his hands to her shoulders, he pulled her up to join him and turned her head so that their lips would lock. As their tongues swirled, he reached one hand down to her clitoris to play with the small pearl, while other hand went back to her breast. At the odd angle all that she could really grab was his hair and thigh, which she massaged while passionately kissing him back. His hands felt amazing, his tongue so slippery, his length still inside her and waiting anxiously to go back to its steady movements.

He lowered her back down to her hands, his own sliding across her skin and to her hips, slowly retreating his member before slamming back in the tight crevice. She moaned his name again, and the wanting in her voice made him unable to hold back his thrusts, as he finally let himself go and started moving within her at a fast pace.

Hitting that one magical spot, over and again, she gasped and clenched around his still moving member. In her orgasm her body tensed and then relaxed, and Bickslow came soon afterwards, collapsing over her. "I love you." He panted, and placed a soft kiss behind her ear.

1.

Guildarts rarely walked at night, but on this particular evening, he didn't feel like stopping his hike to set up camp. The warm, summer night air kept the late hours a perfect temperature, the fresh air was invigorating, and the beautiful stars blinked in the millions above him.

A particular sound caught his attention, and caused him to stop. He was on a fairly worn trail, at least for the area considering how infrequently this part of the countryside was traveled on, and the strange sound wasn't far from the trail. When he honed his ears to listen better, it took him a moment to realize what it was, and when he did a perverted smile split across his face.

 _It's pretty rare I find a secluded couple this far away from cities… not unheard of, but rare._ They really weren't that loud, and he almost just kept walking, especially after what happened the last time he tried peeping…. _Why do old people have sex, anyway?_

But, the moans sounded pretty young, and if he didn't make up his mind, they would be finished before he could do his peeping. It had been much too long since his last stop into town, and thus getting laid, and he was rather curious.

He moved as quietly as he could through the bushes and trees, hoping they were too distracted to hear him. Unfortunately, before he could get close enough to see anything, he heard them give one last moan and groan, and then silence. Just as he reached the outskirts of their little clearing, he could see that with the angle of their light within the tent, could have gotten a good show. He got there just in time to see them collapse, and could hear them breathing from his hiding spot. _Damn… so close…._

Then his eyes locked on a source of light across the clearing and in the trees, and he'd just assumed that it was a lantern when he first arrived, but then he realized that it was moving.

It was moving towards him, and the flying, firey object looked terrifying.

Realizing he'd been caught by whatever it was, he tried to hightail it out of there, only to turn and trip over something with his foot. When he tried to scramble away, he came face to face with a totem he was surprised to recognize, and it was on fire. "… hey, aren't you Claire's soul thing?"

"Make it habit of peeping on people?" The totem asked, and the two simply sat there, staring at each other. Guildarts was honestly so surprised that he was frozen in place, the cogs in his head turning slowly with the information.

"Pretty reckless to be hiking this late." Claire spoke after exiting her tent, clad in shorts and a t-shirt. The mage turned, sitting on his butt and looking up at her, suddenly smiling at the familiar face. "… Guildarts?"

"Guildarts is out there?" Bickslow asked from inside the tent.

"I, uh… heard a weird sound, so I came to investigate." The older man told her with a wide grin.

"Uh-huh." Claire said, and held out a hand to him, but he shook his head.

"I'm guessing you haven't gotten around to washing that, yet." Guildarts told her, and pushed himself to his feet. She chuckled, putting her hands in her pockets, and heard Bickslow in the tent moving around to get his clothes on.

"I wondered if we would run into other Fairy Tail mages on our trip… well, ex-Fairy Tail."

"'ex'-Fairy Tail?" He asked, and she chewed the inside of her cheek.

"You haven't heard? Fairy Tail was disbanded." She told him, and his eyes widened. Bickslow finally emerged from the tent, wearing sweatpants and a black tanktop, and jogged over to them.

"Dude! Long time no see! It's been what, half a year?" Bickslow said with a grin, and leaned in for a hug, but Guildarts put a hand up to stop him.

"We have sex cooties." Claire whispered to him, and he snickered.

"Peeping, Guildarts? Really?"

"I heard weird sounds, so I came to investigate!" Guildarts explained.

"Uh-huh." Bickslow said, crossing his arms and nodding.

"Now… what did you say about Fairy Tail being disbanded?" He asked, turning back to Claire.

"How about we talk about it over a campfire?" Claire suggested, and the group made their way over to the little fire area that the couple had used earlier that evening. She lit the fire that had gone out, and the trio went back to chatting and catching up.

2.

In their three months of camping, Bickslow and Claire ran into a few of their old comrades. Natsu, Elfman, and very briefly Gray at one point. They accumulated 3 new wandering souls, and although none of them were quite ready to be used for everyday use like the others, Bickslow hoped to get them up to speed by the end of the year.

They had both initially planned to travel longer, but by three months, they were ready to go home and sleep on an actual bed. Not to mention it was the longest time that Bickslow had been without his team, and although he didn't tell her, she knew that he missed them greatly. The Thunder Legion had been together for years, doing jobs and spending their free time with each other, and this was by far the longest they'd been apart from each other.

When they returned to Blue Pegasus, however, there was a new guild member waiting to meet Claire and her fiancé.

As soon as the couple entered the bar area, Fried and Ever ran over and pulled them into hugs. They bombarded them with too many questions for them to answer, and they all laughed and exchanged more hugs. "Before you tell us everything, there's someone you need to meet, Claire." Ever spoke, and the checker woman raised her eyebrows at this.

"Please, hear this person out. She's been working here for a month, and she's been looking forward to meeting you." Fried added, still smiling at the arrival of his friends. Claire chuckled, curious if it was a fan or admirer by the way they described 'her'.

"Are you ready?"

"Should I prepare myself?" Claire asked, and the brunette turned to the side, allowing the fire woman to look past her. A few yards away a small girl, looking to be close to her age, stood with a soft smile on her face. She was dressed in a fancy blue gown, her brown dreadlocks tied and weaved in intricate braids held up by blue beaded barrettes, and her sparkling brown eyes was emphasized by mascara and purple eye shadow.

Claire's face instantly fell.

"Hey… long time no see." The woman greeted, giving her a short wave and stepping closer. "I came here a month ago looking for you, but since you weren't here, I decided to join and wait for you to come back."

"I thought it would be so cute for you two to wear suits together," Master Bob spoke, floating over to each other. "Do a little 'duo' routine."

"Claire and Carol haven't seen each other in over a year. It's probably a big shock to see her." Fried told their guild master, and he made a small 'oh!' sound and covered his mouth.

"You two must have so much catching up to do!"

"Wait, Carol? Claire's sister Carol?" Bickslow asked, looking between the sisters. "I thought… dragon… what?"

"It's a long story." Carol told him. "Are you the fiancé I've heard so much about?"

"Uh… yes?" He said, and shook the hand she extended towards him, unsure of what else to do.

"Why'd you come back?" Claire finally asked, her body rigid as she stared down her sister, and the brunette merely laughed.

"Geez, you're so uptight! Loosen up a little, I'll explain everything. From what I've heard you've created a really great life for yourself."

"Oh, there's an open table in the back, you two chat and catch up. Carol, your shift is over and I'll be covering for you." Master Bob spoke, already ushering them to the back of the room. Claire reluctantly followed, her eyes never leaving her calm and giggly sister. _You haven't changed…. Laxus changed, Bacchus changed, Kelsey changed- I've changed-, but you…._

Fried and Ever were beaming, watching the two sisters sit across from each other, and Bickslow gave them a skeptical look. "You probably should have told us over the lacrima." He told them.

"But it would have ruined the surprise." Ever said. "Besides, we didn't want to risk you guys not coming back."

"You have a fire extinguisher on hand, right? For when she tries to torch this building to the ground?" He asked, and the two paused, blinking at him.

A habit that Claire learned on this world was to set aside her emotions in order to gather intelligence. She had become good at it- and in fact, she worked best when she was emotionally unstable, because she would emotionally shut down and focus solely on the task at hand. It's why she had accomplished so much on that day in the library, and why when she feels overloaded nowadays, information gathering and organizing calmed her down.

This kind of 'info gathering' didn't calm her down, but she could force back her rage long enough to hear her sister out.

"I'm a little surprised that Mojitos are you favorite drink on this world. You weren't a huge fan of it back home." Carol commented with an awkward smile, and thanked Fried when he dropped off their usual drinks. "I'm sorry for the way I left. I just… I felt whole for the first time in my life. When I finally found my soul mate…" She looked down, took a deep breath, and then took a sip of her margarita.

Claire simply sat there, appearing bored to the outside world, waiting for her to continue.

"A few weeks later, he was killed by another dragon. Our combined dragon magic drew him to us… I barely escaped with my life, and washed up on the shore of an island. When I came to, I went back to the mainland, searching for Fairy Tail. I went to the old building, and then I went to the new guild hall… there weren't many people there, and they said that you disappeared. I was so sad over Joseph dying, how he…" Tears swelled up in her eyes.

Claire simply stared. Unmoving.

"A-anyway, I went to the next town over, Onibus, and got a job as a waitress. The hours were long and the work was hard, but I eventually made enough to get an apartment. I made a life for myself, made some friends… I know you're mad that I left. I should have tried to find you again, and I eventually did," She spoke, and set her hands on the table and reached out to her. "because you're my sister."

"Do you even know what happened to our family?"

"They probably miss us terribly," Carol spoke softly. "but I mean, this world is _amazing_. A world of magic and wonder. I wish they could be here with us to see how amazing it is, and they would be glad to know that we're happy and made lives for ourselves."

"Did you even ask Ever and Fried what happened to them?"

"They asked me if I wanted to know, but I said that any news about my family should be from my family." She said with a smile and cute tilt of her head.

"So you chose to be ignorant." Claire asked, and the smile on her sister's face fell.

"Look, I'm trying to be nice here. I admit, it was a dick move to leave you, but come on. My soul mate, one true love. You know me… and I'll never meet anyone like him ever again."

"Did that asshole dragon tell you what he did to bring us here?"

"Hey, you don't have to insult him." _The motherfucker that killed our parents, nieces, brother, turned our sister into a mass-murdering demon- I don't have the right to insult him?_

"Did he tell you what he did?"

"He summoned both of us to this world, and the only reason you got caught up was because he needed the extra magic to get me here. I'm sorry you got caught up in it, but it's not like it's been easy for me either. I've been alone, too, and I didn't have a fancy guild to go to."

"You told me that you went to my guild and then left. You could have stayed with them."

"I didn't know them."

"You knew I vouched for them. They would have helped you."

"Look, I was upset, okay? I'm not perfect."

"So all the times I was featured in magazines for the Grand Magic Games, being in the Thunder Legion, and other crap, you just missed all of that? You made no other attempt to find me?"

"I figured you'd be okay. You were a big girl."

The idea of smashing her tiny little head into the table crossed her mind, along with a myriad of other ways to kill her with using very little effort. After a moment of contemplating a response, looking into those smug eyes of hers, Claire realized that she couldn't have a conversation with her. She knew her own limits, and she was teetering on the edge of them.

Carol was the same woman she had been on their world. Back then they would challenge each other, and although they didn't fight as much as when they were kids, they still did. They avoided hits to the face, and wrestling was a semi-regular activity when they saw each other.

If they fought now Claire would easily win, and she could just as easily go overboard and kill her.

Without a word she scooted out of her seat and started walking away. "Hey!" Carol yelled, and got out of her seat as well. "Don't just walk away like that, it's rude!"

 _Keep on walking… keep on walking…._ Claire repeated in her mind, trying to take slow calming breaths as she made for the exit. A hand grasped her arm so she pulled away, but then her guild master appeared in front of her, blocking her path.

"Claire Riley Groh, I may not know why you're being so rude to your sister, but I've gotten the opportunity to work with her for a month now. She has a kind heart just like you, and part of being family is learning to forgive." Master Bob told her, one hand on his jutted hip while the other held a tray of drinks.

 _She chose a fleeting romance over the lives of my family. She's a child that doesn't realize what she's done- how can I forgive her when she doesn't know what she's apologizing for?_

Frozen, undecided what to do with her guild master blocking her path, she didn't realize that Carol had wrapped her arms around her until she was already enveloped in a hug. The guests and the guild master 'aaw'd.

All she could think about in that moment was about Bacchus.

Their first hug on this world.

He'd been alone for 18 years.

What else was there to analyze in this situation? _She left without looking back. She was naïve enough to believe her 'soul mate' and not check to make sure no one else came to this world. She's ignorant and doesn't know any better- is that even a valid excuse for her?_

 _How much would Bacchus have given to hug her one last time?_

"Wow, you're like a rock, sis! You've been working out." Carol giggled, and slowly, Claire's hands moved to her shoulders. "I know that you can't completely forgive me now, but I'm here to stay. We're sisters, and-"

"I feel sorry for you." Claire spoke, not looking at her. "You missed out on hugging our little brother one last time before he died."

Carol looked up, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not mad that you left me sobbing on the ground, abandoned on an alien planet without friends or family. The only reason I care that you left is because Corey would have wanted to see you before he died, alone and out of his mind, because a dragon summoned him to this world and warped his mind into a deranged killer."

"Corey is back on our home world, you're not making any sense."

"Claire, maybe you two should talk about this in private?" Master Bob asked, since they were in the middle of the bar and surrounded by guests.

"Next time you try and attempt a 'family intervention' in the guild hall, do your homework, master. Half our family is dead because of her, and I'm barely restraining myself from breaking her neck."

"I think you should leave."

"Thank you." Claire muttered, and shoved the water mage to the side, hastening to the exit.

3.

"Dude, no. This is a terrible idea." Bickslow told his friend, shaking his head slowly. "Earlier today was a terrible idea, and this is even worse."

"Laxus and Claire were stranded on an island together for a week, and they became best friends after that. Maybe being around each other-" Fried tried to reason, but the seith mage stood his ground.

"It also made Laxus hate Bacchus 'til the day he kicked the bucket. Dude, I know my girl- she's not going to hate her sister forever, but she needs a little time to process it. She just finished her own grieving and doesn't need to go through it again. I'm going to get us a hotel room for the night- if she comes here looking for me, I'll be at the Island Plaza place." Bickslow told him, and grabbed his large bag from the floor. Nearby on the couch, a teary eyed water mage sat curled up in fetal position, and as much as Bickslow tried to avoid looking at her, he did anyway. She'd been sobbing quietly the entire time, and he guessed that she had been that way since Claire told her about Bacchus. Why the hell Fried would bring her here of all places, when she easily could have stayed with Evergreen or _anyone else_ , he had no idea. "Sorry about your bro."

She looked up as he was leaving, and didn't say a word. Once he'd left, Fried let out a heavy sigh and made his way over to Carol. "Sorry. I'd hoped to help patch things up between you two…"

"I-it's o-okay. Thanks for trying." She said, and reached out to hold his arm. "I just… I can't believe that Corey…"

4.

After talking to Carol, Claire probably shouldn't have gone where she went; or at the very least, taken Laxus with her when she finally felt ready to come here.

She hadn't told anyone about it. In fact, it could have been very well a trap from Kelsey and no one would be able to help her- but she had the feeling it wasn't. It felt like she'd been holding onto that key for years, and in reality she had no idea how long she'd been avoiding this place. She probably should have at least told Bacchus about it.

But she didn't. Oh well.

It wasn't as intense as she thought it would be.

Strolling up to the clerk was easy enough. Paying the accumulated storage fee was expensive, but she had more than enough to cover it. The price didn't matter.

Finding the appropriate door with the same number as the key was easy. All of the doors were numbered in bright gold colored metal, which gleamed beautifully considering the poor lighting in this covered section. The patter of rain was adequate background sound as it hit the tin roof.

She didn't pause to stare at the door, or hesitate in any way- there was no reason to.

She simply put the key in the magical padlock, turned it, and then grabbed the handle at the bottom of the door and pulled upwards. It went smoothly, although a high-pitched sound resulted as the wheels turned.

It was simply a storage room of her mother's belongings.

The smell was definitely her mother's, and she could catch the faint scent of Kelsey and Carl's as well. Before they turned… well, into assassins. A couch, desk, a few lamps, some nick-nacks here and there, a few rolled up rugs, and a giant bustle of incense to the side.

Technically, all of it was hers now.

She walked inside and closed the door behind her. It was large enough for her to walk around a little, but it was rather crowded, and she doubted that she would stay there for long.

Strangely enough, a little bit of pride swelled in her chest. Looking around, smelling her mother's scent, and contemplating whether she'll want to use any of these in her new apartment with Bickslow. That pride translated into a chuckle. _I survived._

Seeing Carol for the first time in almost two years had brought up a lot of emotions in her. At first, it was hate. Then, it was pity. And now… she couldn't help but think of herself before she came to this world, and how it contrasted with her now. Claire and Carol had grown up together as practically twins, and they had more commonalities than differences.

But Claire didn't hide.

She searched, she grew, she nearly got killed more times than she could count and she survived. She didn't turn Bacchus away just because he had his faults, she didn't hide when she was offered a chance to get stronger, she took every opportunity to strengthen herself physically and mentally.

What did Carol do?

She buried her head in the sand, pretended everything was fine and left Claire when she needed her most. If she'd stayed at Fairy Tail after her lover died, if she'd come back when she'd read about her in a magazine or something, if she'd made any effort what so ever… if she had any intention of even acknowledging anything that has happened-

That's what it came down to for her. Intent. Motives.

Bacchus nearly got her killed plenty of times. Not because he was malicious or wanted to hurt her, but because he was trying to help or he genuinely didn't understand what he was doing wrong. In the end she had no idea whether he had truly switched sides or if he was just confused, or manipulated for that matter, and with the Book of Zeref he gave her it would be a long time before she could decipher all of it and truly understand what he went through.

Erza annoyed the hell out of her, and she caught herself getting competitive with the woman on more than one occasion because of their history. When it came down to it, she knew that Erza had a good heart, and if she asked, she would help her if she truly needed it. Erza would fight with her to the bitter end, side-by-side.

Carol wanted to forget. She didn't _want_ to know. She wanted to bat her eyelashes, have a group hug and make it go back to the way it was. She was happy thinking that everyone was alive and happy on her home world.

Claire unrolled part of a rug, looking at the design on it and recognizing it as a rug from their home world. It looked like it had been hand woven, slightly poorer quality than the one from home, and she wondered if her mother had picked it up as a hobby on this world.

Deciding that she would use it for her next apartment, and perhaps one of the lamps, she gave the room another look. It was just stuff.

Opening the door again, she turned off the light, and left.

5.

When she got back to Clover Town, it was well past sunset. She'd sent Riley ahead of her to talk with Bickslow, learned their hotel number, and stopped by the market on her way there.

Standing outside of the hotel door, she knocked softly on it, and waited. She was met by the beautiful smile of her fiancé, and before he could pull her into a hug, she held up her hands. A shopping bag was in each of them.

"I got one small container of ice cream for me, two large for you, soda, and other food that looked yummy." Claire said with a smile.

"That's why I'm marrying you." He said, grinning at the prospect of sugary foods and opening the door for her. One of the worst aspects of hiking across the country was that ice cream was in short supply, and when they ran out of sweets, it was for a long time.

He closed the door behind him, and they both jumped on the queen-sized bed to start unloading the cloth bags. She'd already dumped her large back-pack on the floor next to his, and between unveiling her treats, rolled her shoulders at the pleasant absence of weight. "So, why are we not staying with Fried tonight?"

"He thought it would be a brilliant idea to have a slumber party with Carol over." Bickslow explained, and she nodded in understanding. "If you really want to go back we can, but I figured that you would probably kill her in her sleep if you had the chance."

"If not, I would dream about it."

He chuckled. "So, mind if I ask where you went?"

"Storage room of my mom's stuff. There's a cool rug I want to use when we get a new apartment." She explained, and he looked up from what he was doing.

"Storage room of your mom's stuff? Since when has that been a thing?"

"Erza gave me a key to it a long time ago… I forgot about it until today." Claire explained with a shrug, and went for her double fudge brownie ice cream.

"Does Laxus know about it?"

"Nope. Bacchus didn't either. I figure I'll bring it up next time I see him."

He watched her apprehensively for a moment, wondering if he should continue asking about it or let it go. In their two months of traveling they'd opened up to each other a lot in that time, namely about their childhoods and growing up, lots of healing was involved for both of them, and he'd gotten the sense that she had adequately mourned her family's deaths. Instead of shutting down when the topic came up, she talked about it (best she could, anyway), and she'd gotten significantly better.

Glancing up, she realized that he had been staring, and then he realized through her realizing that he'd also been staring.

"Sorry, I uh… was wondering whether to ask about the storage thing more or let it go."

"It wasn't a big deal. There was a couch, couple rugs I think my mom made, some incense… a desk. Laxus hasn't shown much interest in mom, so I don't know if he'll want anything from it or not. Legally it's mine."

"Are you going to tell Carol?"

"She doesn't even know that she's dead yet." She replied, and he nodded, recalling that her older sister hadn't been filled in on the details yet. "Eventually I will. Assuming she sticks around."

"After you left, the people at Blue Pegasus were really sympathetic to her… if I were to guess, she's going to be here for a while. Also that she's slept with the entire staff."

"She said that she made a life for herself over in Onibus, so… who knows with her. There's also the possibility that she's lying."

"Lying? About what?"

"I dunno. Aside from Laxus, I've started having trust issues with my siblings." She explained, and smiled when she realized that he was already halfway through his first carton of ice cream. "You're insane."

"You love it."

"Yeah I do." She said proudly, and they leaned in for a chocolate/minty kiss.

Bickslow's communication lacrima started making sounds in his bag, so the seith mage carefully got off the bed, managed to not spill anything, and proceeded over to his large bag. After sorting through his stuff and unpacking a bit, he pulled the spherical object out, finding Fried's face filling it. "Sup, dude?"

"Bickslow, it's your nephew… you need to come back." He spoke, and at this Claire set her ice cream down and ran over to him.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Bickslow asked.

"Michael is fine, but… you need to be here."

6.

The couple walked into Fried's apartment, and not even two steps inside a running 9 year old slammed into Claire's legs, arms wrapping around her waist. "Hey Mike, you okay?" She asked softly, and managed to move so that Bickslow could get past and close the door behind them. Realizing that a two police officers were in the living room, they both approached them apprehensively.

Ever since his first beach trip with his nephews and niece, he'd been wary of police officers. "What happened?" Bickslow asked, and Fried suggested that he take a seat on the couch.

Claire's gaze briefly flickered to her sister in the corner, away from the group, who was wrapped up in a blanket and staring at her and Michael. "Are you Claire Groh? The legal guardian?" One of the officers asked, and she nodded.

"Officially, yes. What happened?" She asked, and when she realized that Michael was glued to her, tried to slowly move towards the couch area with the others. There were two long couches and two chairs on one side of the large room.

"Were you aware that his father was a drug dealer and addict?"

"Nooo…" Bickslow groaned, his large hands starting at the base of his face and moving across his cheeks, and then through his hair. "No, no, no…"

"He died of an overdose. Michael was the one to find him."

"When did this happen?" Claire asked, wrapping one arm around the boys shoulder and the other petted his hair.

"We got the call at 11:32 AM this morning. We found a substantial…" The officer continued, relaying the events of that morning and more official matters. Claire eventually got to sit next to Bickslow with Michael on her lap, and had one arm around Bickslow. "… under Fiore Law, since there were drugs involved, we have to conduct a thorough investigation; which means that you won't be able to live inside the house, however, if you are accompanied by an officer you may retrieve Michael's personal belongings."

"Is there a good time to do that?" Claire asked. "Do we need to make an appointment?"

"Calling ahead is preferred. There's usually a free officer on duty at all times in Magnolia Station, so you can go anytime you want."

"How long will the… investigation, go on for?" Bickslow asked.

"It could take months. Worst case scenario, a few years."

After a while longer of questions and answers, the police officers finally left after giving them their condolences. Once they were gone, a collective sigh resulted. Claire leaned her head against Bickslow's shoulder, Michael was sitting sideways on her lap and burying his face in her neck, Fried was standing since he'd escorted the men out, and Carol was still sitting quiet as a mouse in the corner.

"Is anyone hungry?" Fried asked, looking around the group of solemn faces.

"Have you eaten today, Mike?" Claire asked, and she felt his head move, but couldn't tell what answer he was giving. "Are you hungry? Yes or no."

"Hungry." He muttered.

"I'll get some mac n cheese going." Fried offered.

"Thank you, Fried." Bickslow sighed, leaning forward and running his hands over his face and hair again.

"I'll make food for all of us. We could all use a warm meal after that." Fried announced, and Bickslow wanted to object so that they could get back to the hotel sooner, but his stomach growled before he got the chance. "I'll make potato and beef soup." The word mage said, and disappeared into the kitchen before anyone could object.

"I'm sorry about your dad, kid." Carol spoke softly from the corner. "It sucks losing people."

"Yes… yes it does." Bickslow sighed, and looked over at Claire and Michael. "You've had a rough day, huh kid?"

The little brunette said nothing, burying his face back into the nook of her neck. It was honestly pretty gross for her, since when the kid cried, the snot and tears went directly to her skin. Bickslow could sympathize.

A knock came from the door, and without looking, Claire groaned at their presence. Fried, on the other hand, made a small excited sound (one that was unique to the green-haired mage), and ran to the living room. Laxus walked in, having not waited for an answer at the door, and strolled in. "Fried, why the hell did you invite Laxus?"

"Nice to see you, too." The blond said, rolling his eyes. He walked over and ruffled her hair, to which she made a small whining sound, and he chuckled.

"Laxus, you need to meet someone." Fried said, smiling. Suddenly extremely suspicious of this gathering, and even more so by Claire's reaction, he turned back to her. His hand was still on her head.

"I just walked into a trap, didn't I?"

"Don't feel too bad. I fell for it, too." She replied.

"Carol, meet Laxus, your little brother. Laxus, meet Carol, your older sister." Fried introduced, standing next to the blond and gesturing to the curled up woman. There was an awkward silence, to which both of them just stared, Carol more confused than anything.

"… what?" She asked, utterly confused. "… Carl?"

"It's Kale. Last time you saw him was his birth when he was covered in placenta." Claire announced rather bluntly, and all of the men in the room made a grossed out face at the rather graphic mental image.

"Eloquent as always." Fried glared.

"That's impossible. This is a joke, right?" Carol asked, still not believing it. "You're mad that I left so you made up Corey being dead and paid whoever this guy is to act like our two month old baby brother?"

"… what does she know?" Laxus asked, turning to Fried.

"That Bacchus died…" He answered, feeling his cheeks flare up at the intense stare.

"Nothing else?"

"You're really bad at revenge pranks, Claire." Carol told the checker woman. Laxus looked at the dreadlocked woman suspiciously, recognizing her from the picture he'd gotten from Christmas. Considering his other interactions with his siblings, he eyed her warily, looking her up and down for any indication of her being an assassin.

"I know it's confusing," Fried spoke to the water mage, and she gave him an 'I don't believe you' face. "But this is your brother, Kale. He goes by Laxus on this world."

"What, next you're going to tell me that the rest of our family was transported here?"

"Hey," Bickslow said loudly, standing up from his seat and clasping his hands together. "How about you guys save this little spat for when my nephew isn't here? He's had a hard enough day without you people arguing."

Claire put one hand over Michael's ear and the other was pressed to her shoulder, and as she tilted her head up to look at her brother, he looked down at her. "His dad died." She whispered, barely above a breath, and the blond nodded.

"I'm making dinner, and it'll be ready in a half hour." Fried said with a smile.

"You do look a lot like grandpa…" Carol muttered, staring at the lightning mage, although still unconvinced.

"Fried," Laxus growled, and the mage jumped at the threatening tone. "Kitchen. Now."

"Yes Laxus." Fried spoke quickly, and hurried into the other room with the lightning mage behind him.

"Maybe we should just go." Bickslow suggested to Claire.

"Mac n cheese…." Michael whined softly, and the utterly rejected and sad tone in his voice tugged at their hearts.

"We could get mac n cheese somewhere else?"

"Fried makes the best mac n cheese…." He spoke softly, and Bickslow's shoulders slumped. He didn't have the heart to deny the kid anything at that point, and Michael had spoken highly of the man's food on more than one occasion. Fried was amazing when it came to getting him to eat healthy foods, too.

"Then we'll stay for mac n cheese." Bickslow stated decisively, and shoved his hands in his pockets. _That mac n cheese better be fucking amazing, Fried._ He thought bitterly. For the life of him, he couldn't understand what was going through the mage's mind when he set this up.

Laxus had cast a silencing charm in the kitchen so that they couldn't be overheard, and Bickslow quietly wondered if he was chewing him out inside. He was tempted to walk over and join in the conversation; but it wasn't his place, and he'd known Laxus long enough to know that if he did interrupt, his anger would be redirected at him.

After about five minutes, Bickslow still standing and too antsy to sit, Laxus emerged from the kitchen. He walked right over to the vacant couch, and sat down on the side furthest from Carol, sprawling out slightly and getting comfortable. Fried followed after, looking down, and took a seat on the opposite side of the couch as Laxus.

"So. Onibus, huh?" Laxus asked, his expression neutral and voice light-hearted.

"Yeah…" Carol said softly. She was sitting so far from the group, it was a bit weird to talk across the room, so she grabbed another chair and dragged it over next to Fried. "I lived there for almost a year and a half. Have you heard of the 'Classy Cigars'?"

"Nope."

"It's a seafood restaurant I worked at. Downtown."

"What did you do there?"

"Waitressing."

"So why'd you ditch the dragon?" He asked, and in his questioning, he kept his voice casual. Michael would probably pick up on angry tones, so as long as they kept the conversation civil, it should be fine. Hypothetically. Hopefully. Bickslow was eyeing the lightning mage, and was tempted to pull _him_ into the kitchen if he couldn't keep it civil.

"I didn't… he was killed." She spoke softly, looking down and wringing her hands together.

"By what?"

"We believe," Fried spoke. "That Acnologia attacked her and Joseph on its way to Tenrou Island. She washed up on Tenrou Island just before it traveled through time, and when she awoke, she went back to mainland."

"So why didn't she go back to Claire? By that time she should have known she was living at the girls dormitory."

"She went to our guild hall but since she arrived before us, they told her that Claire had been gone for years." Fried further explained for her. "Since Claire wasn't there, she left."

"So you missed us by a few hours, at most." Laxus clarified.

"What's with the interrogation?" Carol suddenly asked, her eyes watery. "I don't even know you."

"And I don't know you." He replied, giving her a cold stare that sent shivers down her spine. Claire couldn't help but be a little glad that her brother was giving her the cold shoulder, and seeing her sister so uncomfortable gave he a little too much satisfaction.

"I'm going to check on dinner." Fried announced, and jumped up to walk back into the kitchen. "Carol, would you like to help?"

"Sure." She replied, and gave Laxus one last apprehensive look before following after the word mage. The silencing charm was still active in the kitchen, so none of them could overhear them.

"Do you think she's telling the truth?" Laxus asked his sister.

"Unfortunately." Claire sighed, and sunk into the couch cushions.

"How was the trip?" He asked, changing the conversation topic.

"It was awesome." Bickslow stated, suddenly smiling, and leaned back into the couch cushions as well. The trio relaxed at the absence of the water mage, clad that Fried had taken her to the other room. "Hiking, swimming, soul searching, literal soul searching. It was productive and awesome. And I got a tan!"

"I noticed." He chuckled. "Did you guys find a solution for the, uh… magic thing?"

"Yes and no. I'll explain it later." Claire told him, and he nodded. "We found some new souls, but it'll be a while until we use them."

"That's good."

"Oh, we met up with Guildarts, Natsu, and Elfman." Bickslow added. "Guildarts was pretty upset over the guild disbanding."

"He's been with the guild for a long time. Makes sense."

"Hey, Michael?" Claire spoke softly, trying to move him slightly so she could look at his face. "Could you hug Bickslow for a while? I think he needs some hugs."

"I always need hugs." Bickslow pouted, resting his chin on her free shoulder. The boy smiled and shifted, moving to sit on Bickslow's lap and hug him. He reciprocated the hug, wrapping his arms around him and enveloping him in a tight hug, to which the boy giggled happily. They were all cuddly people.

"Where are you guys staying?" Laxus asked. Claire stood up, getting the blood in her legs circulating again. It felt like she'd been sitting forever.

"Hotel." She replied, shifting from foot to foot and her hands in her pockets. "We're only here because the police came here, and then Fried called us."

The blond nodded. "Why are you staying in a hotel?"

"We were going to stay with Fried and couch surf for the next few weeks, but apparently Carol was here and it was too late to ask anyone else, so we rented a hotel room."

"You guys got back today?"

"Yeah."

They chatted some more about their trip and the day's events, although Claire wanted to save the storage room bit for later, and they were all happy when Fried finally announced that dinner was done. Michael was particularly excited, as he actually smiled when he sat at the dinner table and Fried placed the beloved mac n cheese in front of him.

The rest of them had soup and bread, a simple dinner that Fried had mostly prepared earlier that evening. Silently, they all settled at the table, and started eating.

About halfway through their meal, Claire glanced between Fried and Carol, suddenly understanding why he'd been so involved with reconnecting the siblings.

7.

Claire, Bickslow, and Michael all went to the Blue Pegasus hot springs the next day.

It was Michael's first time going to one, and Bickslow was more than a little excited to take him there when he learned that. He was still sad about his father, obviously, but the seith mage hoped a pleasant day soaking in warm water might cheer him up, if only a little. Even if it didn't, it would cheer Bickslow up, and he was content with the possibility.

Unfortunately for Claire, her sister had the same idea that day. When she rounded the corner to soak area, she paused, honestly thinking of just leaving, if only to avoid the water mage.

Avoiding her wouldn't solve anything. If anything, she'd hate herself later for running, so she instead continued her route to the other side of the pool. As always, she discretely submerged her body into warm depths, allowing the burn scars on her thighs to go unnoticed by her fellow female soakers. She sunk deep into the water, allowing her magic to heat it up just a touch hotter, and let out a content sigh.

To her disappointment, her sister didn't feel the same sentiment, and waded over to her. The other women scooted away to give them some privacy, annoying the fire mage.

"Weird how bathing with other naked people is considered normal here." Carol commented, taking a seat next to her and stretching her arms behind the rocks.

"They do it in Japan."

"I guess you would know. You took it in high school, right?"

"Yeah." Claire submerged half her face under the water, both in love for the warm liquid and to get away from her.

"I thought you hated water." Carol commented.

"I hate _cold_ water." She replied, tilting her head to answer and then re-submerging it.

"Bickslow is pretty cute."

Claire heated up the water a little more.

"A lot of these guys at the guild are. Including our so called 'brother'." Carol continued. "It's crazy how much he looks like grandpa." She shifted slightly in her seat.

"Does Fried know that you don't date?" Claire asked, finally glancing up at her. She blinked in surprise, and after a second, 'hmph'd.

"Are you lecturing me on who I sleep with?"

"He's a good guy. He's sweet, kind, _innocent_ ,"

"He's not that innocent." She chuckled. "A little shy, yes. Innocent? No."

"Does he know that you don't date?" Claire repeated.

"Of course he does."

"Did you tell him?"

"Ugh, you're like mom now. Yes, I made it clear that I'm not a one man kind of girl. Speaking of sleeping with guys, I never thought I'd see the day you'd marry one. What's up with that?" She asked with a smile.

"I changed a lot since I came to this world." The checker woman said simply, and sunk back into the water, looking ahead of her at the decorative bird across the pool.

"Changed into a real bitch." Carol muttered under her breath, and reached for a glass of wine she'd set behind her. After taking a sip, she gave a content sigh. "That was a mean thing to say that Corey was dead."

Claire said nothing, wondering if she should get her own alcoholic beverage. She hadn't had any on their two month trip, and she'd started missing her Mojitos. Especially the 'Laxus style Mohitos'.

She also missed her sassy bartender, Gajeel… and the annoying, head strong Natsu, and their fire taste-testing sessions together. She missed her somewhat awkward, occasional competitive moments with Erza during the 'Training Week of Hell'. She missed Mirajane's overly nosey self, and how she smiled everyday even when things were tough.

Fairy Tail was gone.

"Are you planning to have kids someday? You were always against it on our world, but you were also against getting married." Carol asked casually.

Claire had never been so tempted to go to the men's side of the spa before.

On the other side of the wall, with Bickslow and Michael, Laxus sat near them as well. He'd been eavesdropping on his sister's conversation, and although most of it was pretty dull and one-sided, the insinuation that Carol had slept with Fried… well, he usually didn't care who his team slept with and even detested when they brought it up in conversation, but this was different. This was Fried.

He'd always felt a little guilty about the guy having a crush on him, and even though he'd actually been tempted to break his personal rule once or twice with him, Laxus always had the conviction to not go through with it. His rule to not date guild members was part of it; for Fried specifically, though, he always knew that it wouldn't work. Laxus knew he wouldn't be able to handle it unless they had a committed relationship tied with it.

Just as Claire said, he was too innocent. Laxus really didn't mind promiscuous people of either gender, as he was one of those people before Gajeel, but there were certain lines you didn't cross. There were certain people you didn't sleep with, and Fried was definitely someone you couldn't casually have sex and work with the next day.

"Hey, keep the splashing down." Bickslow warned his nephew, who had been happily wading through the entire pool area. He was hyper, and he liked swimming around in the warm water, which in his excitement he'd occasionally splash a stranger, who would in turn glare at him and then at his uncle.

Back on the womens side of the baths, a girlish scream erupted, one that the Thunder Legion knew all too well.

"Girl, I love that barrette in your hair!" Evergreen gushed, having rushed over and started examining the new beaded piece. "Where'd you get it?"

"Present from a customer." Carol told her. The fairy woman examined it for a few more seconds, and then took a seat next to Claire, who was still mostly submerged in the water.

"Come on, stop being so grumpy." Ever told the fire woman, and patted the back of her head, earning a glare. "You should be happy that your sister is alive and well."

"She was much friendlier back on our world." Carol commented. "And gayer, too."

"So she's always acted like a boy?" Ever asked, and the dreadlock woman pondered it for a second.

"Well, not always. She was a little boyish as a kid, but then she grew into herself and started wearing more feminine clothes. Once she started dating women, she started wearing more masculine clothes to match the style."

"Huh, I always figured that it was just her personality. What was she like as a kid?"

"We were always troublemakers. I was a little too curious about boys and Claire was a little pyro. Together we drove our parents nuts." Carol laughed, smiling at the fond memories.

"It sounds like you two used to be close." Ever commented, gently nudging Claire under the water.

"Yeah. Hopefully I didn't ruin our friendship forever…. Although, that trick wasn't very nice."

"What trick?"

"About Corey being dead. Joseph told me that only Claire and I came to this world, and she's been trying to convince me that somehow our 12 year old brother is dead and a 2 month old grew 20 years in just one. She probably thinks I lost half my brain coming to this world." Carol said, glaring at the checker woman, who kept her eyes on the little porcelain bird that would sometimes glitter and flutter its wings.

"… Carol…" Ever spoke softly, her tone lowering. "That's not a trick. I'm sorry."

"Not you, too. If Claire told you that and you believe her, then she lied. My brother is alive back on my home world." Carol stated confidently.

Evergreen didn't know what to say, so she let the conversation die, suddenly feeling sorry for the young Groh sister. She had gotten to know her exceptionally well over the past month, and in fact, Ever actually like Carol much more than Claire. Carol was confident in her sexuality, she was carefree and happy, and she just had a glow that could make everyone in the room smile. Unlike Claire she was feminine, loved talking about boys, and actually enjoyed shopping with the fairy woman. Sure, she was a little spacey and maybe went a little too overboard in her sexual adventures, but Ever loved the change in pace.

Now, Ever had met Bacchus on numerous occasions and they weren't always pleasant, but she'd been around him enough to know that he wasn't from this world. He made too many obscure references that only Claire understood, openly talked about his world growing up, and Ever had no doubt in her mind that he died, nor did she doubt that Claire watched it happen.

Evergreen had accused Claire of being a lot of things in their time together, and a liar wasn't one of them. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to defend her friend. The truth was something that Carol had to accept on her own, and she didn't want to be the one to crush her world.

So she sat there saying nothing and feeling terrible.

"Hey Claire, have you found coffee on this world? I miss it like crazy." Carol asked.

"Nope." Claire answered.

"Darn." Carol pouted, and Ever felt a little better about herself when she didn't correct her friend. The irony of her little 'payback' wasn't lost on her.

On the men's side, Bickslow cursed when his nephew splashed water unexpectedly, getting it up his nose. Michael giggled, quickly dove back into the water and swam away at full speed.

"Didn't get out of the whole 'dad' role, huh?" Laxus asked, watching his long time friend glare, mutter under his breath, and then sigh. "Are you and Claire keeping him?"

"I'm going to try and hunt down his dad's side of the family… but I have a feeling that I'm stuck with him."

"He could do worse for parents." Laxus commented, and Bickslow paused, blinking at him in surprise. _Did he just say I would make a good dad?_ "So long as you keep Fried and Ever nearby to educate and clothe him, you'll be fine." He added, and the seith mage grunted.

"So many goddamn clothes…" He grumbled, realizing that he'd have to get all of those clothes eventually. Before that he had to get an apartment, and with the new family addition, it would have to be bigger than his previous one. Claire and him had so few belongings, since all of his stuff was sold during the Tenrou Island mishap and she didn't have anything when she came to this world, that they were both planning to get a small place together. Nothing fancy, just the bare essentials.

Another hearty sigh escaped the man's lips, his mind already racing with everything he had to do. Luckily the legal aspect of adopting Michael was easy, since Claire had custody, but there was a million things he had to do and he really didn't want to do them.

Of course, the little family feud Fried was stirring up couldn't have been at a worse time. It was bad enough dealing with Michael, and having his partner additionally stressed out not only from the prospect of being a parent but having her sister trudge up a lot of bad memories for her… it all just sucked, and Bickslow wanted it to be over.

More than anything he wanted Michael's dad to not be a dead drug addict, because that not only made Bickslow a parent but a bad one at that, since he handed over his flesh and blood to a drug addict.

"Don't stress so much." Laxus told him, having been watching the man's face contort in a variety of interesting shapes. The most amusing aspect was his tattoo, since it almost looked like it was dancing.

"Claire and I don't even have a place to live right now, and we're supposed to raise a kid. How am I supposed to not stress out?"

"Well, for one, you can't do worse than his actual parents. Even if you're living in a hotel, he's better off."

 _That's really sad._ Bickslow thought, and then groaned, sinking further into the water. Laxus was really bad at pep talks. "Thanks bro." He said sarcastically.

"No prob."

8.

Bickslow groaned, again, as he sorted through the newspaper listings and the various flyers he'd picked up downtown. Thankfully, there was a small section of the post office dedicated to house listings, and people from all over the city would put multiple flyers there for people to take and look at.

It made it tremendously easier than home searching in Magnolia, but it was still a headache.

He'd never done this sort of thing for a family before.

Claire had lent him one of her empty notebooks to help organize his thoughts, which both helped and made him more stressed at the same time. In the past he and Claire had kept their finances separate, which made the searching process significantly more difficult. Not to mention her recent sister rivalry made him wonder what her income at Blue Pegasus would be like, since she would likely avoid work just to avoid her. On the other hand, she had hinted more than once that she had accumulated quite a bit of wealth from her S-Class jobs at Fairy Tail, and on the off chance she was holding out on him, he looked at some of the more upscale places.

The added guilt of accidentally handing his nephew over to his drug addict/dealer father made his eyes wander to the nicer places. He still hated himself for that, and he thought back to all of his times with the man, wondering what signs he'd overlooked. He seemed like a genuinely good guy, Michael had been happy and healthy, there was no indication that he was being mistreated or that his father was using. Maybe he had his drug use under control, was a functioning member of society and successful dealer, up until he miscalculated a dosage?

Just because someone does drugs, does that make them a bad person?

 _No, letting your 9 year old son find you dead with a needle in your arm makes you a bad person._ Bickslow thought bitterly.

Since they didn't have the space to get all of Michael's things, Claire was currently out shopping for him. Cloth shopping, to be more precise- Michael loved crafts, particularly sewing, so they'd asked him to make fancy outfits for his babies. He was actually really good at it. Getting supplies was a good way to get his mind off things, and the project would keep him busy.

It also offered a chance for Bickslow to have a little alone time. Being alone was never something that Bickslow preferred, but for once, being around people had started to suffocate him. Even his babies were too much right now.

Although, ever since that stupid seith mage attacked him, it never really was the same with his babies. He loved them so dearly; he would give up anything and everything for them, and it broke his heart that he hurt them. They trusted him, and he let them get hurt. He didn't even know what happened, and he didn't need to, because he could sense it.

 _I need to stop feeling mopey, it's not going to help anything._ He took a deep breath, sighed, and leaned back over the table of papers. _Maybe we could get a roommate…._

When Claire and Michael returned later that night, the little man was tired and yawning loudly into his hand. It was only 9 PM, but he had woken them up at 6 AM insisting he was awake and they should be too, so it was his bed time.

"You guys get some cool stuff?" Bickslow asked when they returned. Both of them were carrying two bags, and set them down against the wall.

"Yeah." Michael said mid-yawn.

"Our babies are going to look dashing for work." Claire told him. "How about we show him what we got tomorrow, and head to bed now? Go get your pj's on."

He nodded, tiredly going over to his duffel bag on his twin-sized bed. The fire mage walked over to her fiancé, who looked tired and stressed out, and kissed his forehead.

"How's the search going?"

"Eh." He muttered.

"Anything I can do to help?" Claire asked, taking a seat next to him.

"Are you good at financial stuff?"

"I'm not _bad_ at it…." She replied awkwardly. "I take it that we need to do financial stuff to figure out what we can afford?"

"Yep." He replied, leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms over his head.

"Should I make some coffee for us?"

"Yep." He repeated.

9.

Laxus had offered to babysit for the night, which led the couple to the bi-weekly Blue Pegasus 'after party'. Michael had enough arts and crafts to keep himself busy, so that all Laxus had to do was feed him, make sure he didn't die, and get him in bed by 9 PM. The kid was pretty self-sufficient.

Bickslow felt old. Glancing over at the jiggling breasts on the other side of the room, he knew that two years ago he'd be openly ogling like an idiot, like every man in the room, and trying to sleep with her, but now he just shrugged and went back to his drink. They were perfectly nice breasts and she was attractive, but that's all he thought before he tried to return to the conversation with Hibiki. His companion wasn't as dismissive, eyes bulging as they landed on the girl dancing on top of the bar, and he was openly gawking at her.

Which, considering that this was apparently Carol's third 'topless bar dance' since she joined Blue Pegasus, he was a little surprised that she still got such strong reactions. Every man he talked to said that they had sex with her, and after what he'd heard from Claire and seen for himself, he didn't doubt it. She loved sex, she loved nudity in general, and she encouraged others to join her. Apparently, Jenny and a few others at the last party had a few too many drinks and actually joined her.

The only thing Bickslow was a little surprised about, was that none of the women seemed jealous of her. A part of him hoped that that was because she was bisexual like her sister and had slept with most of them, but in actuality, he just guessed that they enjoyed her vitality. He hadn't heard a single negative comment about her from his guild members.

Knowing that his conversation with Hibiki was over, he looked around to find someone else to talk to. Everyone was so busy cheering for Carol, singing along with the songs, and generally just having a joyous time with her as an entertainer, that he found himself a bit lonely for conversation. He loved this job because it required socializing, and he loved the after party because he could talk to his coworkers and have a good time. Now it had become a strip club.

At the sight of Claire returning from the bathroom, he smiled.

While she made her way towards him, she also watched her sister dancing on the bar, both fascinated and confused by it. "Is it just me, or is she using her water magic to do that?" Claire asked once she'd reached her, and the seith mage looked over at her sister, curious by what she meant. When he looked closer, he realized that her skin and curves were moving very subtly to highlight her attributes in the right light. It was a subtle, and at the right angles it was very clear, but she managed to combine belly dancing and her water magic beautifully.

"Huh, guess she is."

"She's definitely gotten a bit more… confident, in the past year."

"Did she do that on your world?" Bickslow asked.

"Kind of. She'd do it for small gatherings and parties, but nothing this big." She replied, and took a sip of her soda. "Guess I know what she's been doing on this world."

"Is that a hint of jealousy?" Bickslow questioned, honestly curious as to her reaction to the situation. If he saw his sister dancing on a bar, he definitely wouldn't be okay with it. More than likely he'd force them off stage and take them home.

Claire seemed to honestly ponder it, watching her sister continue dancing. She really was beautiful: her movements elegant, curves to die for, body moving perfectly in sync with the music, and her water magic made her look like a sex goddess. Claire turned back to her fiancé, looking him in the eye. "Do you think I'm attractive?"

"Of course I do." He said immediately, and leaned down to give her a kiss, his hand reaching to cup her cheek. After a moment he pulled away slightly, and she smiled.

"Then no, I'm not jealous." She spoke honestly, and they lingered with their noses touching, smiling goofily at each other.

"Do you want to head out? I have a feeling that I won't get to socialize with your sister hogging everyone… and some one-on-one time with mommy sounds really nice right now."

"I was thinking the same about daddy." She chuckled, and gave him a quick peck on the lips before pulling away. They quickly left the crowded guild hall, dropping their glasses off on the way, and entered the near empty street. A few people sat on the sidewalk chatting, and off to the side of the guild a couple was making out.

Claire and Bickslow walked down the street, hand in hand, leaning against each other and enjoying their nightly walk.

10.

Claire regretted going to work the next day.

While she'd been away traveling, Carol had started telling people stories about their time back on their home world. Not all of them were bad, and some of them she had already told, but it was strange to have so many people know about her now. They would make references to parts of her past that she didn't tell them, try to make jokes about how her sister was a nudist and she wasn't, and worst yet, was that now nearly every male staff member would hit on her. Some of the girls did, too.

To top it all off, she was able to catch the whispers about her suit that she wasn't supposed to hear. Some of Carol's stories involved Claire's bikini days, and some of her more 'wild' parties where she danced in her bra with her sister, which made them wonder and ask why she covered up so much now. Then, Carol would insist that her sister looked great in bikinis, and promised to someday get her into a dress.

Halfway through the day, Claire requested to see what S-Class jobs were available now. Since she was gone Laxus had accomplished two of the available ones, and since then a couple more appeared. One of them was taking down a dark guild, and judging by its location and size, it would be a quick and easy job, especially if Laxus joined her.

"Are you looking at these jobs because you want to, or because your sister is making you uncomfortable?" Master Bob asked. It was technically Claire's break, and she was spending it perusing the five S-Class jobs spread out on the bar in front of her.

"Both." She replied.

"It really is a shame that you don't reach out to her more. She thinks the world of you."

"She likes the person I used to be, not the one I am now."

"Maybe if you let her get to know you, the new you, like the rest of us do…"

"Every time I try, she calls me a liar. She's happy in her ignorance, and she makes the people around her happy." Claire spoke, and still looking at the flyer she was interested in. "I'm not going to act like what she remembers me as, and I'm not going to pretend like everything is okay. She chose the dragon over me almost two years ago, and she's choosing him again now by refusing to accept what he did."

"If Bickslow did something wrong, wouldn't you be a little defensive about it? I mean, she was in love. I know it's not right, and it's a little hard to understand, but love blinds us sometimes."

"You know what Master Bob, you're right." Claire spoke, sitting up and looking at him. He blinked in surprise, not expecting such a ready response.

"I am?"

"I'm sure it was really painful for her to watch her soul mate die. It must have been excruciatingly heartbreaking to watch the love of her life devoured by a dragon. It must have been so hard to go all the way to Onibus, get a job, and get laid every other day. It must have been painstakingly difficult to get drunk and cry, mourning that loss."

Master Bob watched her warily, knowing by the tone of her voice that she wasn't serious, but unsure where she was going with it. "… yes, losing a loved one would be painful for anyone."

"You know what is also painful? Getting stabbed repeatedly, harpooned, drugged, and hunted by assassins when you've lost so much blood your healer says you should have died 5 hours before. So… yeah, no, I'm not really feeling sympathetic for her loss. The dragon that sacrificed my family for his own selfish reasons, and consequently the lives of hundreds of innocent people, is dead. Hell, I should be celebrating right now that so many people have been avenged! I'll celebrate by taking this job, and I'll stop by Magnolia to ask my brother to join." She said, grabbing the flyer she'd been eyeing and holding it up to him.

"Claire…"

"Master Bob, I'm a parent now. I don't have the time or energy to squabble with my sister because she can't accept reality, so I would appreciate if you stopped trying to fix our relationship. I appreciate the sentiment behind it, but I'd rather just work."

He sighed. "Very well, I understand. How is that little boy doing, by the way? Finding his father like he did must have been devastating." He asked, changing the topic of conversation. It wasn't unusual for him to be involved with the lives of his employees, and although he sometimes overstepped his boundaries, he had a big heart and loved listening. Claire genuinely enjoyed her conversations with the man, whether they were serious or light-hearted, and the only times she got annoyed was when it involved her family. Which, as she had her team confirm for the guild master, was simply a topic she was touchy on in general.

"He's hanging in there. He's gotten quiet again, and it's not helping that we don't have a place to stay. Moving around a lot can't be helping him…. Bickslow has been house searching with him today."

"Are you two looking for a place in town?"

"Yeah."

"I'm surprised you're not house searching with him. Are you low on money?"

"No. Once he's narrowed down the search to his top three, he's going to take me with him to make the final decision. He's a lot better at house hunting than I am, and I think he wanted some one-on-one time with Michael."

"He really does care about that little boy, doesn't he?"

"Oh yeah. Loves him to death." Claire agreed, and for the rest of their break, chatted about their plans along with some casual conversation about the clients.

11.

Bickslow and Michael were having a 'guys night' with Fried, so Claire stayed the night at Ever's. The fairy woman had started drinking early that day, and consequently passed out around eight thirty, leaving her rather bored. Realizing that she hadn't been able to talk to Laxus much lately, at least not without other people around, she decided to call him up on their communications lacrima.

She'd also decided to make a sandwich right before calling him.

"What do you want?" Laxus asked, sitting at his dining room table and looking tired.

"I'm bored. Tell me about your day." She requested, and took a bite of her sandwich. The blond sat there for a moment, not saying anything, and then shrugged.

"Alright. I spent the day training."

"How's Gajeel doing?"

"I wouldn't know. He moved to Crocus with Levy last month." He replied, and she choked on her sandwich. He'd even timed it when she was taking a bite, and smirked at the small victory.

"Since when?!"

"June."

"Why didn't you say anything?!"

"You and Bickslow were busy with packing and moving." He shrugged. "I didn't see a rush in telling you."

"Wait, are you two still together?"

"Well, Levy decided to take a job with the Magic Council, and it required moving to Crocus. Gajeel was offered a job too and want to stay with the kid. So… they got a house together. In Crocus."

"I'm sorry, Laxus."

"We knew it would be near impossible to see each other between his child and work, not to mention my work, so we broke it off."

"I'm so sorry. How've you taking it?"

"Eh." He shrugged. "Working out."

"Wooould taking a job your sister cheer you up?" She asked with a hopeful grin, and he chuckled.

"Depends on the job." He replied, and she held up the flyer to the communications lacrima, despite knowing that he probably couldn't read it.

"Take out a dark guild by Shirotsume. At most it could take a week."

"A dark guild, huh?"

"It looks pretty weak. Easy work for good pay." She explained, and set the flyer back down, going back to her sandwich.

"I thought you liked hosting better that those jobs?" Laxus asked curiously.

"I kinda did… until Carol started working there. What do you think about her?"

"Our sister?" He asked, and looked up at the ceiling with his arms crossed, mentally debating on his thoughts about her. "Well, if she was an assassin or working with Kelsey, she probably would have done something by now. I heard you guys talking about her sleeping with Fried, so I don't really like her for that reason."

"Okay, so I'm not over-exaggerating on that, right? Like, it's Fried. I mean sure he deserves to get laid, but he should have had his first time be with someone special that truly cared about him, not my sister. Our sister."

"Yeah, it was a dick move on her part."

"She's calling me a liar now, by the way. To our colleagues and friends."

"They all know about Bacchus." He said immediately. "Who the hell didn't know about him? He's not someone you easily forgot."

"Not all of them realized we were related, and the way she's phrasing it makes it sound like I'm being an ass hole because she's leaving out key details." She ranted, and continued venting some of her frustrations to him. In this case specifically, he really knew the depth of why she was frustrated with Carol, and that's because of The Book of Zeref. It confirmed how they got here, what the water dragon 'Joseph' had done, and at the heart of it all was Carol. She was the only one perfectly untouched by death and destruction.

And Claire couldn't prove it without revealing too many secrets, so she bit her tongue around the water mage.

12.

She wasn't sure how she got into this situation.

When she remembered, it didn't make it any better.

After spending the night at Ever's, Bickslow requested another 'guys day' with Michael, and Ever had been awake and happy when she heard that, promptly dragging them back to the guild hall.

"Why the hell would you use condoms? They suck, even on this world." Carol asked, making a face of clearly disgust. They were in the break room towards the back of the guild hall, and upon their arrival, most of the faculty had left to give them privacy despite Claire's insistence they don't.

"Because birth control doesn't work for my dragon anatomy." Claire commented, and then looked up at Carol. "It shouldn't be working on you, either."

"What are you talking about? Of course it works. I mean, I head to go through a few when I first got to this world until I found one that wouldn't give me terrible cramps, but I did and it works great."

"Do you by chance have the box with you?" She asked, and a small part of her hoped that her theory was right. Another part said it was wrong to find amusement in her potential pregnancy, and it would be terrible to see her sister trying to raise a child, but her initial reaction would be priceless.

Carol pulled it out of her purse and handed it to her. "The original brand is really popular but gives me cramps, so I found an off-brand version that's basically the same without whatever made the cramps."

Claire looked at the ingredients on the box, and turned it around and looked at the images and packaging, recognizing the name of it. It had been brought up during the Fairy Tail birth control discussion in the communal baths, and although she'd been bored and trying to ignore them at the time, evidently something stuck. "It's not giving you cramps because it doesn't work. Is this the only form of protection you've been using?"

Her eyes widened, and then narrowed, and she snatched the box away. Claire kept a straight face, keeping her gaze set on her.

"You might want to do a pregnancy test."

"You're just jealous that _I_ found a birth control that works."

"I met another human-dragon counterpart that's been here for 80 years, and she's never been able to find a functioning birth control. What are the odds that you'd stumble across one in a matter of weeks?" Claire may have exaggerated the age of Porlyusica (she actually had no idea exactly how long she'd been on this world) and hinted that she'd tried more than one birth control when she really didn't know how many she tried, but her point was valid. Medications that messed with their magic had painful side effects, and if Carol wasn't getting those side effects….

"And where is this person? I'd like to meet them."

"She bailed when Fairy Tail disbanded. If you had stayed at Fairy Tail, you could have met her."

"I don't believe you, but just to be safe I'll check, and prove that I'm not pregnant." Carol huffed, grabbed her purse after roughly shoving the box inside, and then stormed out of the break room.

The fire woman finally broke into a smile. "Ooh, what was that about?" Master Bob asked as he floated into the room. He made his way to the little tea stand, getting his usual drink.

"Carol found out she's been taking sugar pills for birth control." She replied, and the older man gasped, nearly dropping the steaming hot water in his hands. One of his hands covered his mouth, and he looked at her with wide, slightly excited eyes.

"She's pregnant?"

"She might have lucked out and isn't pregnant. It's entirely possible. Buuut since she's been having sex with… well, everyone, I kind of doubt it."

"Someone at Blue Pegasus could be a dad?" Master Bob chuckled, and set down the tea kettle he'd been holding to avoid spilling. He was grinning, just like Claire, although he was a bit more giddy. "Oh, my, that's going to have quite the repercussions. You might be an auntie soon."

Her smile faltered a little at that, recalling her other two nieces that had passed away. "She'll probably get an abortion."

"Depending on how far along she is, it could be too late." He pointed out.

"What's the rules on abortion in this world?"

"After 3 months of pregnancy, you can't terminate the fetus. Oh, this is going to cause such a panic!" He giggled, and clasped his hands together. "I might just close down the bar tomorrow to make the announcement!"

"You might want to wait until we hear the results before announcing anything."

"I'll make an appointment for her to meet the doctor. This'll teach my boys to wear a rubber." He chuckled darkly, and for the first time, Claire saw a flash of Makarov behind those rosy red cheeks. _Is being sadistic part of a guild master's job…?_

Nonetheless, the Groh sibling was a little too happy that her sister was forced to face reality, even if it was just a little. She couldn't leave for her job with Laxus for a few days, and since she was stuck there, she might as well make the most of it.

13.

Claire sat on the side of the infirmary, reading a magazine. Since she was family (and now the resident expert on female human/dragon anatomy) she had been allowed access to the room while Carol got her 'pregnancy check'. _Finally, I'm not the one being treated._ For the most part it was boring, seeing as Carol explained a little too in depth her sexual prowess, and then aside from that it was medical questions. The fire mage suspected that the doctor was a bit sadistic as well, or perhaps had conspired with the guild master to teach her a lesson, and Claire was just happy to have a front row seat.

Outside the infirmary, half of the male staff was crammed into the door, trying to eavesdrop on the results. News traveled fast, and Master Bob had been a little too hasty in spreading the 'joyous news'.

"Congratulations, you're pregnant." The doctor said with a bright smile, and Claire looked up from her magazine at her sister. A small cylindrical device was being removed from her lower belly, and Carol was gaping up at her.

"No, there has to be a mistake. Okay, wait, abortion. I want an abortion."

"If you would like an abortion, I'll need a signed letter of consent from the father. You are about one month along, which gives you two more to decide what you want to do."

"Can you find out who the father is?"

"Yes, but we'll have to check the DNA with every possible father."

14.

Claire was a little disappointed that the 'pregnancy scare' wasn't as scary for her sister. By the end of the day they had checked half of the guild's male staff before they found him, and he quickly signed the appropriate forms.

By 5 PM, Carol emerged from the infirmary with her arms raised in the air. "Un-pregnant! Booya!"

"Congratulations. What are you going to do now with your prize, Carol?" The fire mage asked, mimicking a talk show host. The water woman rolled her eyes in response.

"Get laid. Duh."

"You know that you have to wear condoms now, right?" Claire hadn't been waiting outside the infirmary for over two hours for nothing. She knew her sister's views on the rubbery material, and watching her life crumble around her would be worth the wait. Carol had always detested condoms, and had tolerated them on their home world because she had to (most of the time, anyway) so when she came to this world she did away with them. They didn't have to worry about STD's here, so there was no reason to wear condoms and be on birth control.

"Why the hell would I do that?"

"Because birth control doesn't work. Over 90% of the medication on this world is magic based, which is what we're pretty much allergic to."

Carol's arms fell, and she watched her sister for a moment, trying to decide if she was serious or not. She'd just planned to start trying birth controls again until something worked and didn't make her feel like hell. A life without birth control? Well… what kind of life was that?

"I mean, you could get an abortion every three months instead, but that sounds pretty expensive and sooner or later, you'll get knocked up with someone that won't sign that pretty little form."

"I'll just wear condoms until I find a better birth control. Problem solved. Just because you've given up, doesn't mean I will." Carol huffed, and turned on her heel walking away.

"Hope the pain is worth it…" She muttered, and set the magazine back into her back pack.

15.

Claire smiled.

Which, as Ever had started to realize, meant that something bad happened to her sister.

"Why are you smiling?" She asked the checker woman. They were both sitting in the warm waters of the Blue Pegasus communal baths, enjoying the hot steamy water after a very long day. Evergreen had been working for the entirety of the day, picking up shifts and covering for every male staff member that randomly ran off with no notice, and by the end she was exhausted.

"You heard about Carol today, right?" Claire asked, and the brunette shook her head. "I'm kind of surprised, since Master Bob was blabbing it to everyone… but it turned out she was taking sugar pills for birth control, and got knocked up."

"No," Evergreen gushed, her hands flying to her mouth and eyes wide. "How far along is she?"

"She got an abortion."

"An abortion? Really?" Ever asked, her shoulders slumping at the news. "I never saw her as the type of person to do that…"

"Anyway, I was smiling just now because I overheard Carol chatting with someone in the locker room about trying other birth controls. She's going to be in fucking agony until she gives up on trying to find one."

"So… she has the same condition you do? Like, birth control just doesn't work for you two?"

"Because of our dragon magic, we also have a few dragon characteristics: one of which is that whenever outside magic messes with our eggs, our own magic will attack it like an enemy, and it hurts us like a motherfucker."

"Did you tell her this?" Ever asked, attitude flaring at the thought of her friend being in pain. She remembered what happened when Claire took the birth control Mirajane recommended- she was doubled over in pain for hours, and considering her tolerance for pain by that point, it meant that it was going to be even worse for Carol.

"Of course I did. She doesn't believe me. She still believes that her boyfriend took us to heaven, that our family is alive and well on our prosperous planet, and everything is rainbows and sunshine."

"Can you really blame her for not wanting to accept the truth, though? Even you've had a hard time with it." Ever asked quietly, now getting a bit serious. She loved Carol, she thought of her like the sister she never had, and Claire wasn't as fun, but she'd been a friend and teammate even when she cussed her out. Evergreen knew that she wasn't always easy to get along with, and despite her faults, Claire stayed by her side and called her a dear friend.

"Let's hope that Kelsey is as considerate when she catches wind of her being here." Claire spoke, and the brunette blinked in confusion. "Our assassin sister has tried to kill both Laxus and I on numerable occasions. You really think she's going to stay in the shadows when she finds out that Carol is alive?"

"You think she's in danger?"

"Even Laxus couldn't defeat Kelsey. What do you think?"

Ever watched her for a moment, the gears in her head clicking as she processed what she was telling her. In all her time with Carol, she never really considered the danger aspect- she was so excited to have a girly friend to talk and hang out with, and on top of that reunite her leader's family, which both her and Fried had been excited about. She never considered that she was in danger.

"I don't know for sure that she will attack her. All I know is that she's powerful, and what relatives don't join her, she tries to kill. Carol is an easy target."

16.

Claire found herself sitting at the bar with Master Bob, hanging out instead of working. Bickslow was hogging Michael and spending their days house hunting, and with nowhere else to go until tomorrow, she ended up at the guild hall.

Talking to clients wasn't as fun as it used to be. Sure, it had never been her favorite thing in the world, but there had been a few that she enjoyed chatting with more than others. Now that Carol had messed up her dynamic with them, she didn't really want to host anymore. She realized it was a bit immature to let her sister push her around like this, and if she was more mature, she'd push past it and do her job anyway.

But, alas, she didn't have the energy to put up with it. She didn't _need_ the money, and no one was forcing her to work, so she instead sat at the bar drinking with her guild master and occasionally helping out with small tasks. When she wasn't doing either of those things, she would busy herself with reading quietly.

Ever and Fried would sometimes stop by and chat on their breaks, but with the sudden decrease in working male staff, they were busy. Apparently the pregnancy scare with Carol had thoroughly shaken them, and while some sat at home crying, others were frantically going to ex-lovers to make sure they weren't pregnant, too.

"Claire?" The voice brought her out of the book, and she turned, glancing up at the arrival. A smile tugged at her lips, although a slightly sad one, realizing his state of appearance.

"Goldmine, long time no see." She said fondly, and stood up from her stool to give him a hug. He was carrying a box, which he set on a nearby chair to reciprocate the hug. "It's good to see you."

"You, too." He replied, and they pulled away, smiling sadly at each other. Goldmine's health had visibly deteriorated in their time apart; his hair was greasy and pulled back in a ponytail, dark bags were under his eyes, and when she hugged him could feel that he was more bony than usual.

"How have you been?"

"Not too great, honestly. I just… I cleaned out Bacchus's locker the other day, and thought you should have this." He explained, picking up the handles of the simple cardboard box, and then holding it out to her. She glanced inside, recognizing most of the belongings as her brothers, and was bombarded by the less than pleasant scent of her now dead brother.

"Thank you, Goldmine. That was very thoughtful of you." Claire spoke, and carefully took the box from his shaking hands, setting it on the bar to the side. "Why don't you join me for a drink?"

"I can't stay, I just… wanted to drop this off. You look good, by the way."

"Thanks." She replied, still wearing her usual suit. Although she wasn't working, her guild master requested anyone in the guild hall to dress formally regardless of their reason for being there. "You should stop by sometime when you're not busy. I'd love to catch up."

"I'd like that." He spoke, and even though she said that, she knew that he wouldn't go through with it. The man looked like a kicked puppy whenever she was around, and she had no doubt that he felt guilty about her brother's death, despite her insistence that it wasn't his fault.

At the sound of someone laughing, he glanced across the room, locking eyes with her sister. She was laughing with some customers, and although something about her was familiar, he couldn't place it. "She's my sister, Carol. Apparently she was waitressing in Onibus when everything happened."

"Does she… know?" He asked, unable to look away.

"The dragon that transported us here told her that she and I were only people summoned. She thinks Bacchus is alive and well on our world."

"You haven't told her?"

"She won't listen to me. She doesn't believe that Laxus is her brother, either." She explained, and the man took a step towards the water mage, but Claire reached out and grabbed his arm. "Nothing good will come out of talking to her, Goldmine."

"Bacchus spent 18 years of his life searching for his family…" He said softly, his eyes watering up.

"I know."

"And she's…"

"Yeah." Claire said, keeping a firm grip on his arm. He'd started leaning into her more and more, and she wondered if he was going to collapse.

Unfortunately, Carol need to get drinks for her clients, so she stood up and walked over to the bar. She smiled and waved at the people she passed, and when she got to the bar portion, rested her elbows on the bar and leaned forward to make her order to the bartender. Master Bob was on his break, so a mage Claire didn't know very well had taken his place.

Realizing that the older man was staring, Carol looked over at him and smiled. "Hi, can I help you with something?"

"No." Claire told her, glaring and silently pleading her to not interact with the man.

"Then why is he looking at me like that?" She asked awkwardly, and flashed another smile at him. "Are you a friend of Claire's?"

"You're… so you're Carol." Goldmine asked finally, regaining his composure and balance. Claire kept her hand on his arm just in case, feeling the small tremors continue wracking through him.

"That's my name, don't wear it out." She giggled.

"You're Bacchus's sister." He said, and her smile faltered.

"Excuse me?"

"Corey. Corey Riley Groh. He was a close friend of mine."

 _Fuck everything ever fucking ever fuck…_ Claire cursed in her mind, drawing a blank for a good cursing phrase. This situation was too intense, and to make it worse, they were still at work.

"How about we not have this discussion while she's at work?" Claire asked him.

"Corey is on our home world." Carol spoke, her voice quivering slightly. The fire woman glanced back over at her, watching the hostess stare blankly at him, the pieces of the puzzle clicking in her head.

"He spent 18 years searching for you… you and your family, and he died under my protection before he could meet you. I'm sorry you never got the chance to see the strong young man he became." Goldmine spoke from the heart, and although he had never been great at expressing his emotions, everything he felt showed through right then. The pain, guilt, and sorrow was enough to finally break through the wall Carol had put around her.

"You're… that's impossible. You're mistaken."

"I know it's hard to accept… and I take full responsibility for his death."

When Claire saw a fast moving object heading for the man's face, she instinctually reached out and grabbed it. She latched into Carol's wrist with an iron grip, causing the girl to cry out in pain. "This isn't funny." She muttered, her eyes watery and downcast.

"I know you feel responsible Goldmine, but you're not. Carol, go back to your job." Claire spoke, and released her sister's limb abruptly, causing the woman to stumble. Using her water magic, she absorbed the tears back into her skin, and without another word, grabbed the drinks the bartender had prepared and went back to her table.

"You shouldn't have stopped her." Goldmine sighed.

"The blood of your comrades is on her hands, not yours." She spoke, and although he was confused by her words, looked away sadly. "I miss Bacchus, too. If you want to honor his memory, stop blaming yourself for what happened."

"I was their guild master, Claire." He spoke softly, and finally removed his arm from her grip. "Their lives were in my hands, and it was my job to protect them. No matter what, nothing will change that."

As he walked away, she watched him solemnly, wishing she could help him. In background, she heard the faint laugh of her sister, who was trying desperately to act normal. Claire's gaze turned back to the dreadlocked woman, and even though she could pull off the façade exceptionally well, she could tell that she was different. Goldmine had gotten through to her, and even though that's what Claire had wanted, a small part of her was that her innocence had been taken away from her.

"Are you alright, deary?" Master Bob asked as he floated back to the bar, although didn't retake his position as bartender. He took a seat next to Claire, and took another sip of his water.

"Goldmine stopped by." She sighed, and looked over at the box of Bacchus's belongings. _Seems like when people die, all that's left is crap they bought or made…._

"Oh, I wish he had stayed to say 'hi'. I'm worried about him."

"He's not doing too well. He also talked to Carol."

"Oh dear," Master Bob muttered, and glanced over at the woman in question. "She seems okay."

"She's not. She's going to finish her shift, and when she gets home, it's going to sink in and she'll finally get it. Goldmine told her everything."

"Oh dear," He sighed, watching Carol chat away with the clients and laugh as if nothing was wrong. "I suppose I'll have to reduce her hours this week. Such a shame."

"I don't know how much she'll be able to work. I really have no idea how she'll deal with it." Claire admitted, and turned in her swivel chair, closing her book and pulling the box closer to her.

"What's that?"

"Bacchus's belongings." She answered, tilting the box and peering inside, wrinkling her nose up in disgust. "It smells like dirty underwear and booze."

"Shouldn't you do that with your siblings? It seems like a family thing to do." Master Bob asked.

"I doubt Laxus will mind." She shrugged, frowning as she looked inside. "I wish I had a stick or something…" She muttered, and amazingly, the bartender came over and handed her a straw.

"Will this work?"

"You are my new favorite person." Claire said with a grin, reaching out and taking it. Keeping the box tilted given the height difference, she poked around inside and moved around some of the lighter objects with her surprisingly sturdy straw. A few empty bottles, a few full bottles, some more full smaller bottles, some dirty underwear, a few little nick nacks Claire recognized from their missions together, and one object caught her attention.

A framed photo of them together, smiling. She pulled it out, careful to avoid the garments inside, and held up the photo. "Aaw, that is so sweet," Master Bob cooed, and fire woman smiled. In the photograph they were on the top of a cliff, his arms around her shoulders and grinning like a kid, while the was the same. In the background was beautiful scenery of the mountains, a volcano, and the sun getting close to sunset giving a slight orange glow.

The picture after that, which Claire had, was of Claire panicking as she began to fall, and Bacchus laughing hysterically at her. Laxus told her that it personified their relationship perfectly.

After smiling and staring at it for some time, she set it to the side and went back to perusing the box. There was another framed photo, but it was a group photo with Laxus as well. Bacchus was in the middle, hanging on the shoulder's of his siblings with the same childish grin, meanwhile Claire gave a photogenic smile and Laxus had a matching one.

Master Bob had picked up the photo she had set down, smiling fondly at it. "He wasn't as bad as everyone says he was, was he?"

"Oh no, he definitely was. He was a major ass hole- he shoved me off the cliff after taking that photo." She chuckled. "But he had his moments. He was terrible, but he was also my brother, and he had a good heart."

17.

"Laxuuuuuus." Claire whined on the communications lacrima, a sandwich in her lap and sitting in the same place as their last conversation. He simply stared, giving her a deadpan expression, holding back a chuckle at her childish behavior. Since Fairy Tail had disbanded, he would never admit it, but he kind of missed that aspect of the guild.

"Whaaaat?" He whined back, and she grinned at his response. Unable to hold back the smile, he finally let it tug at his face, letting his serious façade crumble. "Do you want me to entertain you by detailing my day again while you eat? Because that's getting old really fast."

"Actually, I have serious things to tell you, which you'll either not care in the slightest or you'll be mad at me. In case it's the latter, I have a sandwich to keep me from getting too sad."

"Serious things?" He asked, the smile faltering slightly.

"I would have told you sooner, but then things happened, Carol happened, Michael happened…"

"How serious is the serious thing?"

"Depends on you, really. I don't think it's too serious, but you could think differently."

"Okay… what's the serious thing?"

"So, a long time ago, Erza gave me a key for a storage room filled with mom's things. I kind of avoided it until the other day when I met Carol, and after seeing her, went to the storage place to check out what mom had left."

"Huh…. What'd you find?"

"Boring stuff. A couch, desk, a few rugs, some incense. It smells like her, Kelsey, and Carl before they went wacko, so I think she got the storage room before then and just forgot about it."

"… huh." He muttered, getting quiet for a moment.

"While you're pondering, I'm going to anxiously await your reaction by eating this sandwich." She announced, and started biting into the slices of bread filled with good things.

"Did Carol go with you?"

She shook her head.

"… does she even know that our parents are dead?"

She shook her head.

"… huh."

Once she'd swallowed a particularly large bite, she took a sip of her water. "Speaking of dead relatives things, Goldmine also dropped off a box Bacchus' stuff he cleaned out of his locker. Hope you don't mind, but I also looked around inside it, too."

"Anything good?"

"Booze, old photographs, dirty underwear, somewhat clean underwear, a few nick-knacks from his travels. I might take the photos out and put the rest in storage with mom's stuff, and when you're ready, you can go through and take the things you want. The only thing I'm claiming is one of the rugs."

"Sounds good."

"Are you mad?"

"Not really." He shrugged. "Kinda wish you'd told me about it sooner, though. How long had you been holding onto it?"

"I dunno. Before the guild disbanded." She shrugged, truly unable to recall when Erza had given her the small key.

"You know it could have been a trap, right?"

"I was careful." _Kinda._

"So, is there anything else that you've been keeping from me?" He asked, and at the question, Claire looked up at the ceiling pondering it. She had kind of hoped and expected that he would shrug off the whole thing, but by his tone in voice, he would be a bit snappy at her for a while.

"Goldmine talked to Carol today, and I think she believes me now about Bacchus. OH!" She spoke rather exuberantly. "Carol got knocked up."

He groaned, sinking into his seat.

"And then she got an abortion."

His expression changed to confused, giving her a weird look. "Our sister killed a child?"

It always surprised Claire when people on this world would be randomly (at least for her) conservative on certain things. The most prime example was his grandfather –their grandfather- having such a strong reaction to Laxus dating a man, and there had been other less extreme circumstances of this. "She was only a month along."

"So? That's murder."

"… you feel that strongly about abortions?"

"As soon as the sperm and egg meet, the child starts developing a soul. Ask Bickslow and he'll back me up." He told her, and not really sure how to react, she took another bite of her sandwich. "Killing adults is one thing, but a child that's only been alive for one month? Next time I meet Carol I'm kicking her ass."

"… is that soul thing proven?" Claire asked curiously after gulping down the bite of food.

"Your boyfriend can see souls, remember?" Laxus asked, and she made a mental note to ask Bickslow in the future. She had always felt the same as her sister on the topic of abortions- that they should be avoided at all costs, of course, but ultimately going through with a pregnancy wasn't always the best course of action for the mother. They weren't raised to believe in the 'soul' thing, and science had proved that brain function didn't actually happen until later on in the pregnancy… or something like that, Claire hadn't put much thought into it. Most of her adult life had been dating women so she didn't worry about it. She definitely hadn't believed the whole 'soul' thing when it was brought up by religious fanatics on her world, and now, it hurt her brain to think about.

Babies… before they're born… have souls?

People have souls?

It's proven?

"… you okay?" Laxus asked after a moment, watching as she stared off into space with a look of horror.

 _I work with souls. I have souls. I have a soul. Bickslow has a soul. Laxus has a soul. People have souls. Babies have souls. Souls are a quantifiable thing in this world- it's not just religious faith or mumbo-jumbo that can't be proven. It's not just a concept or idea._

 _It's a fucking thing._

 _People have souls._

 _Babies have souls._

"Claire?" Laxus spoke. She just sat there looking terrified and unmoving, and it was starting to weird him out.

"… it's a thing. Souls are quantifiable and proven things on this world." She muttered.

"No shit." He replied. "… were they not on your world?"

"No."

"… so why are you so surprised now? You're a fucking seith mage." He told her, and normally she would have corrected him, because she technically wasn't a seith mage. Seith mages had the gift. They could see souls. Seith mages controlled souls , they could see souls, they worked with souls, they formed bonds with souls, they worked with souls- "Did it really not occur to you that everyone has a soul?"

"But… babies… and, other babies, and dead souls…" She muttered, unable to form a complete sentence with how utterly mind blown she was. She really shouldn't have been surprised- hell, she'd had similar mental debates about the human soul multiple times- but it had never completely clicked for her.

Until now.

When she first came to this world and worked with Bacchus, she never really felt that much remorse or guilt when it came to death. It was just a natural part of life, and like Porlyusica, she felt little pity for the death of humans. There was a part of her that never really connected the to the people of this world, that never really understood that aspect of human life- the idea of it dying and disappearing, and how it could be sad for people. Death was part of nature- everyone died at some point, and afterward, their soul moved on or became stuck on this world. She accepted what happened after death- it was the living part she had never quite connected.

 _People… souls… dead things… living things… souls…._

With the appearance of her sister, she'd slowly started feeling that remorse. Not for the people that _she_ killed, but for the lives that her sister took. She had told Goldmine that the blood of his friends was on Carol's hands, and in some ways it was a little extreme to blame her sister, but it also wasn't.

Just like Deliora and countless other demons that Zeref had created and summoned, Kelsey had murdered hundreds of people. Reading the book she'd been summoned from had started help her understand how truly dangerous and evil she was, and she'd even started to doubt that 'the Joker' killed her nieces- it was more likely that after Kelsey had started a family, she reverted to her demon nature and slaughtered them, creating a false story to explain her actions. For her, it was a better 'origin story' than 'I just randomly woke up one morning wanting to kill people'.

Kelsey feasted on the blood of mortals and souls of animals, and had the ability to absorb dragon magic. Claire's only comfort was that dragons on this world were extremely limited, and it was a miracle she'd been able to find the one she did. With any luck, the iron mage would be stupid enough to go after Acnologia and get herself killed.

All of the people she slaughtered, all of the children that will never be born, all of the families torn apart by that demon… it was all because of Carol and her soul mate.

Their brief happiness cost the lives of hundreds of people. Hundreds of souls.

Plus the one that she killed the previous day.

Dead.

"What did you do to mom?" Riley asked as he floated next to her, having returned when he sensed Claire's distress.

"I dunno, I mentioned that people develop souls before they're born, and then she got all quiet and muttering stuff." He told the floating vessel, rather confused himself about what was going on with his sister. Sure, he'd seen her upset before, but she usually snapped out of it pretty fast. "Is she okay?"

"I think you broke mommy." The wandering soul informed him, and nudged his wooden body against her left temple, causing her head to give slightly.

"No, I can't have broken her. We have to work tomorrow." He huffed, crossing his arms and leaning back in his dining room chair. "Claire, stop being broken." He ordered.

Riley nudged her cheek, humming softly. "I'll be fine by tomorrow." She muttered quietly, staring off into the distance. Her brief and sudden epiphany was starting to fade slightly, but her head felt incredibly spacey and it was hard to focus on any one thing. "How are souls made?"

"Maybe you _should_ have gone to that safe sex seminar." Laxus told her.

"But… souls…"

"Eggs and sperm have very small pieces of our souls in them, and when they meet, they create a new soul and body."

"… huh…"

"Mommy's brain is all spacey n stuff." Riley giggled, and circled the fire woman's checker smiley head.

Claire finally sighed in aggravation, and took a bite of her sandwich. Her brother chuckled at her suddenly sour disposition. "So you're still good to do the job tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll be good. I just had a minor revelation that hurt my head a little too much." She said, covering her mouth with her hand. "I'm glad that Carol's dragon buddy is dead, though. Thanks to that asshole hundreds of people are dead, and even more will die until Kelsey is taken out."

"Well, when you make deals with Zeref…" Laxus trailed off. "Nothing we can do about it now. If you want someone to blame, Zeref is a good one. Or you can accept that the Joseph was responsible and he was rightly killed, avenging all the people that ended up dying for his actions. Either way, try not to dwell on it."

"It's hard not to when Carol keeps claiming how amazing and wonderful he was." She muttered, and sighed. "Have I mentioned that I'm really looking forward to working with you?"

"Nope, but I think beating people up will cheer both of us up." He said, and she finally grinned, liking the idea of something simple. So much of her life was complicated, and some straight forward ass-kicking was just what she needed. It was a waste not to actually put her training to good use- even when she was traveling with Bickslow she spent a good portion of the time training, and it usually worked out for him to either join her or find something less terrifying to do, like talk to their new wandering souls.

"I miss the bar brawls at Fairy Tail. I feel so rusty."

18.

Two days later, the fire mage whistled the theme song to 'The Adam's Family' while she strolled into the dark guild headquarters, blending into the crowd of drinking mages having fun. They sang, laughed, and brawled not entirely unlike Fairy Tail used to.

Her and Laxus's orders were simple: storm into the guild hall, destroy it, and hand over the dark mages to local authorities.

"Ya know, I almost feel a little bad," Claire spoke to the bartender, who glanced over at her while he cleaned a glass.

"About what?"

"Destroying this guild. It reminds me of my old one." She replied. Currently wearing a hat and rather punkish outfit, there was nothing obvious to identify her, so the bartender laughed at the idea.

"Destroying this guild, huh? Little girl like you?" He said with a smile. "What kind of drink you want?"

"Got any fire shots?" She asked, and burned the cheap hat off her head, watching the man's eyes widen.

"Y-you're-"

"Yeah?"

"The Destroyer of Souls." He whispered, and she grinned.

"What!? The Destroyer of Souls!?" A man at the bar yelled, and jumped to his feet, only to stumble back and fall.

"I prefer 'The Dragon', but that works, too." She chuckled, and pushed against the bar, ready to have some fun. A man stumbled towards her, having been punched by someone else, and she effectively kicked him square between the shoulders, launching him clear across the room. The kick was less than graceful for the poor guy, as he broke several chairs and tables in his traveling and bashed into a woman on the other side of the mess hall.

They turned to look at her, and she smiled.

"Too much?"

While she had fun inside the building, Laxus hung out outside, sitting calmly on a large boulder, electrocuting any and all mages that tried to escape. Riley helped patrol the perimeter, able to take down the few escapees that attempted to get out through the back door or windows.

If he hadn't seen her turn into a dragon just a few months earlier, he probably would have been joining her inside. As it was, he knew that she was more than capable of handling herself, and as he listened to her fight, could tell she was having a good time. Those mages were no match for her, and he'd trained her to be that way.

She actually reminded Laxus of himself just a few years earlier, back when the Thunder Legion was making a name for itself. He used to love the look of recognition that came with his name, with his team, and the resulting terror; and those that weren't terrified _learned_ to be terrified. So long as she didn't go overboard like he did, he saw no harm in it. Well, aside from the physical harm of the dark wizards, but they had it coming.

Another body shot out from the now broken window, flying several meters in the air, and landing a few yards from the lightning mage. He groaned in pain, so he hit him with lightning magic, knocking him out.

He briefly wondered if Carol had the potential to be as physically strong as her sister. Every sibling he'd encountered was immensely powerful, aside from Carl which was a mystery, and he wondered if she held the same strength. _If she had the proper motivation and trained, probably._

From what he could understand, she wasn't violent in the slightest. She used her magic to get laid and look pretty, which was actually fairly common in the magical world, and he wondered if she would end up motivated to get strong like the fire mage currently taking down a dark guild nearly single-handedly. Claire told him that she had no training whatsoever until she came to this world, yet she managed to pick up fighting exceptionally fast. Within two months of being on this world she was selected for the S-Class trials, and she passed them the second time around.

Their family was a product of the Book of Zeref. Whether it was planned or not, all of them ended up with great power.

Finally, the last of the mages stumbled out of the large doors, collapsing seconds afterwards. He was a particularly large guy standing 7 feet tall, with broad shoulders and muscles that rivaled Elfman's, and his tiny sister did a cartwheel and landed on his chest.

"Is that it?" Laxus asked, and she shrugged.

"That I could find. I don't really feel like playing Hide-and-Seek." She shrugged. "Are we good to signal the authorities in?"

"Yeah. After they've taken these losers, we'll destroy the building." He nodded, and she hopped off of him in a playful skip, drop kicking a small pebble from her pouch and kicking it into the sky. It exploded a beautiful shade of purple and pink in the sky. "Have fun in there?"

"I think this job was a little too easy, but yeah, I had some laughs." She said casually, walking over to sit next to him on a nearby boulder. The lightning mage chuckled, seeing that she'd distressed considerably in her half hour of beating up dark mages, and she even seemed a bit more light-hearted. "Did you have any trouble out here?"

"Nah." He said easily. "Did you use your magic at all?"

"A little. I mostly used my fists." She commented, watching as the local law enforcement arrived and started gathering the fallen mages. Riley was still patrolling the area for any stragglers, in case any more tried to escape. "I think I'll do S-Class missions more often."

"When Carol eventually does figure out what happened to our family, do you think she'll end up like you?" He asked curiously, and she shrugged. As they waited for the bad guys to be taken away, and they had to stay close in case something went wrong and they needed to help, they kept chatting.

"I doubt it."

"You always said that you two were similar, that you were practically twins."

"I was wrong." She said simply. "You and I are more like twins than she and I are."

"In age, sure."

She glanced over, a little surprised by the answer. To be honest, her team and friends gushed about how similar they were so often, she'd just assumed they were right and didn't think too much of it. "We're both S-Class mages, we apparently have the same eyes, we enjoy solitude… people tell us we're so similar all the time."

He chuckled, crossing his arms. "We like beating people up."

"We both have sexy scars from our demon sister."

"We like drinking."

"We're both bisexual."

"Blond." He said with a smirk, and she grunted, pursing her lips at the memory. "I guess we do have a lot in common. How'd that hat thing go, by the way?"

"Awesomely." She said, instantly perking up and grinning proudly. "I walked up to the bartender, and he had no idea who I was until I burned hat off, and then he got super scared and it was awesome."

"Seems like a waste."

"Burning the hat?" She asked, and he nodded. "Pffft, I've burned worse things." She laughed.


	36. Chapter 36

**Author's Note (from the present!):** Thank you all for the faves, reviews, and follows! Also, reading so much hate for Carol made me laugh! It's so interesting to write such dark, dumb, twisted, or just unusual characters, and then not get feedback for them until so much later! Carol has evolved to be such an interesting and tragic character (in the following variations and final version in the books). Hooooh, she, uh, well if you hate her in _this_ version, you will definitely have some words for the final version, should any of you choose to read it. Each version of her just gets more aloof, frustrating, and tragic. If anyone is interested in learning more about her character, send me a message and I can give you more details!

On a similar vein, I find great amusement and joy when you guys post reviews about how much you hate a character or got frustrated by them. Some of the main characters were continued into the books I've been working on, so hearing that feedback is actually SUPER useful! I love hearing what you guys think of the characters- good, bad, or anything in between!

Also, small comment on the spelling of names (can't remember if I've commented on it) but that's probably the result of watching the subbed versions of Fairy Tail (and they will mispell names sometimes) along with just general translation mishaps. Like for example, in Boku No Hero Academia, I've been coming across a lot of instances where the names will be spelled slightly different in some areas, and I realized that it's just a translation thing. (like I've found Todoroki's first name spelled as "Shoto" and "Shouto", and that's likely because of the small accent with the hiragana spelling of his name) Also, I'm sorry if the mispellings wig you out! I simply don't have the energy to go through and fix them all every time I do a post. (Sidenote: I've been working on Boku No Hero fics that I might post soonish!)

 **Author's Note (from when I wrote this):** For the record, regarding the abortion topic and souls: after I brought back in Carol's character, I remembered Claire's problem with birth control, and how it would also be a problem for her sister as well, which is why I included it. In regard to the soul issue, I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other whether an unborn child has a soul or not, I just thought it would be an interesting topic to explore in my story since Bickslow is a seith mage.

If Carol's character had gotten pregnant back on her home world, I don't think she would have taken the issue as lightly. Ever since she turned Claire away for her soul mate, she started ignoring her issues instead of dealing with them, such as when her dragon mate died. She ran to find some semblance of what her life used to be by working as a waitress. When she found out she was pregnant she just wanted things to go back to the way it was, and the easiest way to do that was an abortion. Sex is always something that she's enjoyed, but by this point she's using it to escape her world instead of embrace it.

Fairy Tail timeline: So, for the manga I haven't caught up to the Avatar arc, although I read a little of the latest chapters about Mavis telling her story about Zeref. Since I haven't seen the Avatar arc I'm skipping around it in my story, so don't be surprised if I end up completely ignoring it.

* * *

 **Walking Cliché 36**

 _Consequences_

When Claire returned to Clover Town, Bickslow had technically narrowed down the search to three houses to rent, but his heart was set on one in particular. To the fire woman's surprise, Michael was less than opinionated on the matter, and instead insisted that she 'just choose one already!' so that the house searching could be over.

The someday seith mage had been dragged along by his uncle all over town in search of their new home, forced to hang out in empty houses with nothing to do while the man chatted with the owners, and to Claire's further amazement, Michael was also tired of ice cream. Bickslow had kept a solid diet of healthy foods for the main meals, but in between and the end of the day they'd get ice cream to reward mostly Bickslow for getting things done, and Michael had had more than enough.

In her absence, her sister's status at Blue Pegasus had faltered. Although she was still immensely popular, the knowledge that she aborted her child spread fast, and most people now felt at least a little uncomfortable. Carol had that type of personality that it was hard to stay mad at her, so in actuality it didn't irreparably damage her relationships with her friends and coworkers, but there was a new awkwardness in the workplace.

1.

Claire missed moving trucks from her home world.

"Fucking primitive fucking WAGONS!"

"Sweetie, calm down." Bickslow chuckled, kissing her cheek as he walked past her. They were in the process of loading their belongings from the storage unit into their transport unit, in this case a large wagon that they rented, and Claire was less than excited about it.

In reality, it really wasn't _that_ bad, she was just tired and didn't want to deal with it. Their babies would be doing most of the work using Claire's magic, which was good, but their ropes to tie down their belongings was too short and their 'tarp' covered less than half of it, so that if it rained, their stuff would get soaked. In order to keep the most important things from getting rained on, she tried to prioritize what would be more 'okay' to lose, along with trying to keep the more fragile stuff from breaking, and all the while Bickslow laughed and moved something to mess everything up.

"Can't we just make two trips?" She finally asked, glaring at her fiancé. "Or get another tarp."

"If it'll keep you from burning all of our stuff, sure." Bickslow said with a nonchalant shrug. "I mean, it'll be a bit more work to get there, unload, and then come back and do it again, but I don't mind that much. And it's your magic we're using to pull it."

2.

After a day of moving half of their things, the trio was tired. Halfway through his second slice of pizza Michael fell asleep on the dining room floor, meanwhile Claire and Michael quietly ate their share of food.

Most of their stuff was in boxes or unpacked, and they had yet to move their mattress, so for the night they were stuck with sleeping pads. Michael, in his love for arts and crafts, had made paper lanterns to hang around the house, which ended up being immensely useful.

"Can I ask you something?" Claire spoke quietly, hoping not to wake the sleeping brunette. He was a pretty heavy sleeper so she wasn't too worried, but she would feel bad if she woke him up with the question she had.

Bickslow looked up at her curiously, a little surprised by the hesitation in her voice. At that point in their relationship they usually just blurted out things to each other with mixed results, so it was strange to see her so nervous. "Of course."

"Laxus mentioned something that surprised me a lot more than it should have… I was just wondering, how early does a person's soul develop?" She asked, catching him completely off guard. After all the research into seith magic she'd done, she knew more about the technicalities of his magic than he did, and it was rare that she'd ask something so basic.

"Uh… depends on the person." He said after a moment, and took another bite of his pizza to ponder a good answer for her. "I mean, technically when the, you know, guy and girl do the thing and then the baby results,"

"Sex."

"… yeah." He glanced over at Michael, making sure he was asleep. "Anyway, sometimes when the two pieces of the souls meet, they'll instantly match and form a new soul within the body. Other times, the soul takes much longer to form than the body, and I've heard in rare cases that it can take a couple of years for the two pieces of the parents souls to mesh into a new one. In even more rare cases the parent's souls die out but the body keeps going, and usually these people don't live for very long after birth."

"Interesting."

"Why do you ask?"

"Carol got an abortion." She replied, and the seith mage choked on his bite of pizza. "When I told Laxus he got really pissed off and said it had to do with the fetus's soul, and I realized that I hadn't done any research on that, so I thought I'd ask you."

"Why the hell did she do that?"

"You know how birth control doesn't work for me?" She asked, and he paused, waiting for her to rephrase the question. "I mean, how birth control has painful side effects for me?"

"Yeah."

"Turns out Carol thought she was taking birth control, but when I told her that our dragon physiology prevents us from taking it, we found out that her birth control was fake. Took her to the doc and she said she was one month along, and with the dad's written consent they would do it. They tested half the male staff at Blue Pegasus before they found him."

"And you let her do that?" He asked incredulously.

"It's not my body, and even if I tried to stop her, you really think she would have listened to me?"

"You could have tried."

"I didn't know souls formed that early." She replied, and took a bite of her pizza, not looking at him. He grunted, setting down his half eaten slice, and thinking about what she said.

"So if you didn't know, she definitely didn't know." He muttered, sitting cross-legged with his head resting tiredly in the palm of his hand.

"You said that souls sometimes develop later."

"They sometimes develop early, too." He replied, and they both sat in silence for a while, Claire slowly and quietly eating her slice. After a few minutes, Bickslow sighed, going back to his food. "I'm sorry, I'm extra grouchy because I'm tired."

"I am too, no worries."

"I'm kind of surprised you didn't know that about souls, though." He commented, looking up at her. "I mean… you did so much research a while back…"

"My research focused on dead souls… it never really clicked for me what living souls were like." Claire hated not knowing things, and after using seith magic so much, it made this all the more embarrassing for Bickslow to look at her that way.

Bickslow saw her pout, and for once, it wasn't a joking pout. It was a genuine, dejected, sad pout, and he hated it. "You're not perfect, and I mean, dead souls _are_ what we deal with. There wasn't a reason for you to research souls that are still in a body, and I mean, considering how many different things you research you know tons of stuff. Hell, you use three completely different magics on a regular basis and you're actually good at all of them."

Still pouting.

"Tell me why your sad so I can make it better."

"I'm just tired… sorry…." She muttered, and gave a heavy sigh.

"You know, I snagged one of the Christmas bottles from storage today…" He said, and when she looked up at him, he wiggled his eyebrows. The smile on her face appeared, and the seith mage jumped up and ran over to the kitchen.

3.

Claire liked the house that Bickslow had chosen.

Granted, he had her look at the 'top three' so that she could veto it if she really hated it, and didn't officially tell her which was his favorite so that she would get an unbiased opinion. Nonetheless, is was pretty easy to figure out which one he liked best just by the way he talked about it, and ultimately, she thought it was also the best one out of the bunch, too.

It was fairly close to an elementary school, and once they were more settled both Claire and Bickslow would go and meet the teachers. The school year had already started and Michael had missed quite a few tutoring sessions since Fried started working at Blue Pegasus, leaving him a little behind, but he'd almost caught up to his grade level. Hopefully they could work out an arrangement with the teachers.

The neighborhood was decent. Most of the neighbors seemed to keep to themselves, which both Bickslow and Claire liked, it was a slightly lower income block. It was average, and safe for Michael to play outside and even a few other kids rode their bikes up and down the street.

The house itself was unique and had its quirks, which matched their own personalities well. It was a two-story house with light green paint and dark brown trimmings, with an extra artistic flare that she couldn't put into words. The general shape of the house was odd, with its angles just a little too pointy (or perhaps it was designed to simply look that way) and artistic swirly shapes at the ends of the gutters and various other places.

It was an odd, artistic house, and Claire wouldn't be surprised if they'd gotten a good deal on it for that reason. They had honestly gone a little above their ideal budget when choosing the house, but it was worth it.

Claire was currently sitting on the front lawn with Bickslow, a blanket beneath them as they rested and leaned against each other, while Michael remained busy learning knots. Fried had given him a house warming present on knot making, and Bickslow suggested that he learn how to make hammocks with it.

It felt all too surreal right then, for both Claire and Bickslow. Getting a house together had been a huge step even though they were technically renting it, and after Claire had looked at it upon arrival from work, it only took a week to get the paperwork signed, deposit paid, and their belongings into the house. They still had to get Michael's belongings from Magnolia, but that was a headache for later.

Adopting Michael had been a possibility ever since his grandparents signed the paperwork. Even though they'd had high hopes that his dad would raise him, there was always the chance that it wouldn't work out. Bickslow made it clear that he wasn't going to desert his nephew, and Claire made it clear that she would stay with Bickslow. So even though it was tragic what happened to his father, the couple had been mentally prepared for the possibility of raising Michael.

Along with the possibility of raising Michael, there had also been the unlikely chance of Bickslow's parents wanting to hand off Nathan and Samantha to them. Last they heard from them, Nathan had been a handful, and they were threatening to send him to military camp like Michael.

Their decision to get a slightly bigger house than they needed had been partially because of that possibility- that they might end up with more kids. It was a three bedroom house, three bathroom, spacious living room, dining room, and the kitchen was a little small, but it worked for their needs.

 _Kids._

Until he met Claire, Bickslow always thought he'd be a loner. His babies were his family and that's all he needed. Sure, he had the Thunder Legion, but their relationship was casual at best despite their years of working together. When Fantasia happened they opened up a little, and when Bickslow fell for Claire, he started realizing that his world didn't have to revolve around himself and his babies. Bit by bit, he changed.

He now had friends outside his souls. Hell, his new job required that he socialize to get a paycheck, and people actually liked talking to him. He had a family- a growing family at that- and it included his babies. Ultimately he didn't have to choose between his babies and a living family, and that made him happy. Ironically and much sooner than they planned, they ended up adopting just like they'd been telling people.

Claire was in a similar boat.

She had never really thought that she'd be a loner, per say, but she never expected to have kids. Hell, she never would have guessed in a million years 99% of the things that happened to her on this world, so she really wasn't _that_ surprised by the turn in events. Even though she acknowledged that, and for the most part she wasn't that bothered by it, it was still weird that she'd gone most of her life unable to picture herself as a mom and suddenly she was one. It wasn't traditional, and she wasn't married yet, but she'd decided to be a parent with her fiancé and get a house with him.

At the moment, their lives were stable and coming together.

"This would have been a lot easier if our friends had helped…" Bickslow muttered out loud, without thinking. Claire nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it was pretty lame that they held a grudge against us for not helping them move. Not our fault they did it when we were gone."

 _What, are we chopped liver?_ Riley asked her, and she chuckled, hearing Bickslow groan as well.

"Of course, the babies were amazing when they helped. We couldn't have done it without them." Claire spoke, suspecting that Bickslow was also getting chewed out by his group. "How are you holding up with the telepathy thing?" She asked, turning to look up at the seith mage. His eyes were closed, and he sighed, moving his head to lean against hers.

"It sucks when they all talk at once."

"I'll bet."

They hadn't really gotten the chance to talk about their new souls since they got back, considering the recent drama. Over their travels they'd accumulated 3 new souls to their collection, making Bickslow's babies a total of 7. It didn't really drain his magic, but it was emotionally difficult to be connected with so many at once. If it got to be too much for him he'd planned to give one or two of his already trained babies to Claire: Pippi and Puppu.

"Is it time to transition Pippi?" She asked him, and Michael snickered, like he always did whenever 'Pippi' or 'Puppu' were mentioned.

"Let's wait a while longer." He replied.

"Alright, but don't strain yourself too much. We've got a lot going on right now, and I don't want you getting overloaded."

"I can handle it."

4.

After two days of moving and unpacking, Claire and Bickslow decided to take Michael to work. While Bickslow worked, Claire went to the spa to relax, and Michael got to meet their coworkers and hang out with Master Bob.

The seith mage was more than thrilled to host again, as he hadn't had the chance since their return from traveling, and his babies were happy at the non-heavy-labor work they were able to do. All of their babies despised moving since it required so much heavy lifting, and most of their duties had been moving back and forth over and over again with various objects to and fro the house. At least with hosting they carried things, but they were light and they got to entertain guests.

Bickslow's only issue with work was their newest member: Carol.

It wasn't just his fiancé's dislike of the woman that made him irritable around her. In fact, when it came to people in general, he was pretty good at tolerating them or at least acting civil even if he didn't care for them. Ichiya was a prime example of this: when they weren't in front of clients or fellow coworkers they both actively hated each other, and when they were in public, they acted civil. They had a mutual loathing for each other, and only their closest friends had any clue about it.

He wished that Claire hadn't told him about the abortion, but even if she hadn't, his coworkers would have. It was the main gossip at the guild hall and it was impossible not to know.

He was a seith mage. His life revolved around souls, living and dead, and he'd interacted with hundreds of wandering souls. He knew what happened to a baby's soul when it was killed at the wrong time of its development and it was tragic. One of three things happened to her child's soul: it hadn't developed a soul at all (no harm done), it formed a weak soul and simply disappeared from existence (not moving on), or it formed a soul and became a wandering soul.

When it came to unborn souls, it was usually the second that happened.

The idea that she created a soul just to destroy it made him sick. At the very least she could have checked if the baby had formed a soul, and he would have gladly stopped by the infirmary to check for her, but she didn't.

As he entertained his clients, he tried to not be obvious when she passed by his table. When they had to interact, he tried to bite his tongue and hold back that glare, although the tone in his voice was all too obvious. Just knowing she was in the building made his blood boil.

Towards the end of his shift, he had one last break, and Carol asked to talk to him in private. If she hadn't done it in such a public way he would have declined, but when he saw the look on his boss' face, he knew he couldn't.

So he followed her to the currently empty break room, leaving the door open, and waited for her to say whatever she wanted to say.

"Look, Bickslow," Carol started. "I don't know what my sister has told you, but I'm really not as terrible as she makes me out to be."

"When you got the abortion, did you check if the soul had formed yet?" He asked, not bothering with pleasantries. She rolled her chocolate brown eyes, making an aggravated huff as she placed her hands on her hips.

"You people here are so religious."

"It has nothing to do with religion." Bickslow spat. "Claire was pretty surprised when she learned that people develop souls so early, so I'm guessing no one has filled you in on it since you came to this world."

She looked up, unsure by what he meant.

"What you did, what I'm assuming you did since I don't know how far along it was, was create a soul and then destroy it. You brought something into existence only to deny it the ability to fully form and move on."

"It wasn't a soul, it was a fetus. It didn't even have brain function, so really, it was the equivalent of a tumor when I terminated it."

"Do you have any idea what my magic is?"

"All I know is you make those _things_ float." She answered, gesturing to the flying totems behind him. He took a step towards her, towering over her with their vast height difference, and just the proximity made her uncomfortable.

"I use seith magic, specifically Human Soul Possession Magic. I can see your soul right now, and if I wanted, I could control it with a simple spell. In fact, these 'things' behind me are wandering souls, which I found and put into dolls." He spoke, and as he stared into her eyes, activated Figure Eyes. Instead of fully controlling her body, he simply kept a loose hold on her soul so that she could feel the power he possessed.

It was exceptionally rare that he did this, especially nowadays. Since Fantasia he had been cautious when showing his magic, and this was the first time in months that he'd used it on someone outside of battle.

Her soul quivered under his grip, and without a word, he knew that he'd gotten the desired effect.

"What happened between you and Claire is your business. What happens to human souls is _mine_." Bickslow didn't bother hating any of his malice or dislike of her, he let it drip from his tongue like poison.

If she could have, the dreadlocked woman probably would have run, but she was glued to the spot. Without another word, he turned, letting go of her soul after he left the room.

Claire gave him a questioning look when he returned, to which he merely leaned down and kissed her cheek. Neither of them said anything, and Bickslow started asking Michael how his day has been.

5.

Claire was tricked into spending the day with Evergreen.

… and Carol.

After her spa day, and previous days of unpacking and moving, she really didn't feel like finishing the job. Half their house was still unfurnished, unpacked, they still needed to get Michael's things (he was running out of patience), and in the millions of things they needed to do… both Bickslow and Claire voted to not do any of those things for one more day.

When Bickslow came to work and Claire went to the spa, Ever stopped her, insisting that they hadn't gotten to hang out in 'forever', and that they needed to catch up. Saying 'no' to Ever when she was this insistent rarely worked, so she just went with it. Only when they were leaving for the mall, did Carol 'happen' to be going in the same direction.

"You _need_ to have a house warming party." Ever insisted as the trio stopped at a small bar for drinks. It was near the entrance of the shopping center, somewhat crowded on this Saturday afternoon, but they were able to find a small round table to sit at. Two of the walls were open to let people wander in and out, and there were several tables just outside in the sunshine for people to drink. Ever and Carol got more than a few looks for their revealing dresses. "It'll be a great opportunity for a party, and you'll get free stuff. You should do it before you go super shopping to fill up your house with stuff, that way you don't get repeats."

"That requires actually throwing a party. I don't have the energy for that." Claire argued.

"Oh come on. We'll help with the food and preparations, Fried will too, so it won't be _that_ difficult."

"So you're willing to help throw a party at our house but when we asked for help moving into it…"

"Oh come on, it was only fair." Ever rolled her eyes.

"Are you sure that you want to move into a house with this guy?" Carol asked, and both women turned to her. She had been mostly silent for their entire time together, and Claire had been kind of hoping she'd stay that way.

"Yeah." Claire answered curtly, and just in time their drinks arrived.

"How much do you actually know about him?"

"A lot."

"Bicks is a good guy." Ever spoke up, and quickly slurped up a third of her margarita glass.

"I don't like him." Carol said decisively.

"Okay." Claire shrugged indifferently.

"He said that he controls souls."

"Yeah. He's good at it."

"How can you date someone like that? He controls souls."

"At least he's not a mass murderer."

"Hey, after we finish our drinks, why don't we head to the party store and get supplies for the big event? I'll pay for it! Well, most of it, it is for your house, afterall." Ever laughed loudly.

"I may have been gone for a long time, and I'm sorry you had to deal with our brother's… death, on your own," Carol spoke, and reached her hands across the table, taking Claire's hand and holding it in her own. "But I'm here now. I want to be there for you, and I don't want to see you make a big mistake. If you're afraid to leave him, I-"

The fire woman snorted in laughter, taking her hand back and sipping her drink.

"I know people that can get you out. Powerful people."

"Pretty sure Claire isn't being forced to stay with him, Carol." Evergreen said with a small smile of her own. Just the idea of Bickslow trying to pick a fight with her was amusing, and she remembered the couple's last public fight with each other.

6.

"How'd your day go?" Bickslow asked that night, as they unloaded the grocery bags in the kitchen. After Bickslow's shift ended and Claire met up with him and Michael, they all went grocery shopping for the first time together. Since they were creating a new system for where things went, they asked Michael to do something else while they put away the food.

"Pretty good. Apparently we're going to have a house warming party."

"Uuugh," He groaned loudly. "That means we have to unpack our shit."

"We've got a week to do it, at least. Technically we can just shove most of the boxes in our room if we run out of time." She told him, and he nodded thoughtfully, liking the idea. "Ever and Fried are going to help with the party, apparently."

"They'll help throw a party in our house, but when we-"

"I know, I know," She interrupted. "I'm annoyed by that, too. Oh, and speaking of annoying, my sister thinks you're abusing me, and that if I want to get out, she 'knows powerful people'."

"Wait, she thinks I'm abusing you?" He asked, stopping in the middle of the kitchen with a loaf of bread in his hands.

"You did take control of her soul, honey," She told him, and he pondered it, nodded and went back to moving around the room. "Ever and I laughed in her face, a lot, and for the rest of the day she kept trying to get info about our relationship."

"Your sister is really something."

"At least she's not accusing me of lying anymore. I think she's even got a lunch date with Laxus soon."

7.

To Claire's dismay, both Ever and Carol decided to move up the party date without consulting the couple. They didn't find out until Fried stopped by that morning to talk about party arrangements, what he could do to help, and so forth.

So instead of a week to get their house ready they had all of today, and then most of tomorrow, until that night. Bickslow, Claire, and Michael had to shove the boxes into their rooms for the time being, get decorations up, plan out the food, and figure out how many people Ever and Carol decided to invite.

Michael was probably the most upset.

He'd been looking forward to making decorations, and had everything planned out for the week- but when Fried told them the news, he promptly had a meltdown and broke into tears. When Bickslow tried to calm him down, he immediately ran to the stairs, to his room, and slammed the door shut. He didn't come out for most of the day.

Carol and Ever showed up at around 5 to help with decorations, to which both Claire and Bickslow were tempted to kick them out instead. The decorations they'd bought the previous day were in bags in the living room, untouched.

"How many people did you invite? And why the hell did you move up the date?" Claire asked, to which they both side stepped answering and went straight to the exploring the house. Neither had gotten the chance to actually get a solid tour yesterday, so they were both excited to look around.

"This place is… quaint." Carol said as she walked around.

"It's not bad." Ever added on her arm, they were linked as they wandered, making comments about this and that and finishing each other's sentences. Carol would sneak in the occasional insult to Bickslow's direction, and he would just stand there and seethe, since the pair was moving and talking so quickly that he didn't get to respond.

"Do they have any idea how inconsiderate and bitchy they're being?" Bickslow asked his fiancé, who had resigned to sitting on the floor of the living room with her back against the wall. Ever and Carol's opinions of the house could be heard from every room they visited, and they didn't bother holding anything back.

"Doubt it." Claire muttered. "Two single women in their early 20's with no responsibilities… except a job where they hang out and socialize all day."

"They've done apartment hunting before?"

"For themselves." She muttered, listening as the giggling girls gushed about how terribly small the bathrooms were.

"Can't we kick them out?"

"You're going to try and kick Ever out?" She asked, looking up at her grumbling fiancé nearby.

"I miss Fairy Tail." He finally muttered.

"Same."

8.

When the party happened, Bickslow and Claire put on their best 'happy' faces for their guests, which was their entire guild. Unfortunately they weren't the cleanest guests, as Claire found herself picking up napkins and paper plates tossed carelessly on the floor for most of the evening.

"Where's Michael?" Laxus asked, and took a bite of the chips and dip.

"Crying in his room. Ever and Carol ruined his 'big night'."

"Oi! That is _not_ for the party!" Bickslow yelled in the kitchen, and both Claire and Laxus watched as a group of men ran out of the room carrying a bottle of their extremely nice stash. On their way through the room, Laxus discretely snagged the bottle from their hands, and looked at it. They'd drunken half of it, and he recognized it as the Christmas present he'd given them.

"Was this at least open when they got into it?"

"No. We were saving it." She replied, and he growled in annoyance. She could hear her fiancé cursing in the kitchen, and she didn't even want to know how much of their Christmas present had been snatched.

"Claire," Carol stumbled over, smiling with a half empty glass in hand and handsome man next to her. "I'd like you to meet Jose, he works at the guild."

Claire reached out and grabbed the glass in her hand, and took a sip of it.

"Rude, much."

"This isn't the alcohol we got for the party."

"Oh come on, that was cheap crap. I got into the good stuff I found in the kitchen- it's not like you were short on it. Anyway, he's single, and-"

"Where is the rest of it?" Claire demanded.

"Here and there, I- hey!"

Claire started moving through the house, her eyes darting around the rooms and nose out for the expensive alcohols. Laxus followed close behind, and they started locating and gathering the bottles. "Party's over- everyone out." She started telling people, and Laxus simply nodded and pointed to the exit.

"Claire, it's a party, lighten up!" Carol told her, and upon hearing that people were being kicked out, Ever came to see what was going on.

"Out! NOW!" Claire yelled at the water mage, so frustrated that she felt like she'd burst. "And anyone with bottles of booze, LEAVE THEM or so help me I will kick your ass!"

"Same here." Laxus added, and with his added threat, people started hurrying out of the small house.

"What is your problem?" Carol asked. "It's just booze."

" _Expensive_ booze that we got from our last Christmas at Fairy Tail! These were gifts from people we care about, people that _we_ consider family and you were giving it out without our permission like it was candy! I have a crying 9 year old child upstairs upset because of you and Ever and a trashed house that we _just_ started renting! You have done nothing but insult our house and my future husband and that is not okay! Either get the hell out or I will force you out and believe me when I say that you do not want the second option."

Carol gaped at her for a moment, truly surprised by the outburst from her sister, and stood there in the middle of the hallway. That was the most that she'd ever said to her in a short amount of time, and everyone up and down the hall had stopped to watch the drama taking hold.

"Did I stutter?" Claire asked after a minute of awkward silence, and the dreadlocked woman set down the glass she was holding on the stairs next to her.

"Overdramatic much." She muttered, and walked out of the home with her head held high.

"I'm sorry about the alcohol. I didn't know she got into it without asking." Ever told her sympathetically. "I'll help you clean up."

"Thank you. I'd appreciate that." Claire sighed, and went back to ushering people out of her new home, kicking a few people along the way. After they were gone, she reconvened with Bickslow, Laxus, and Ever in the living room. The damage to their house could have been worse, and it didn't look like anything was too broken, but they'd found a few new holes in the walls and trash was everywhere on the ground.

"How much was left unopened?" Claire asked her fiancé.

"None." He sulked, and Claire's shoulders slumped.

"I'm so sorry, Carol said you said it was okay, and I figured that you guys were happy to share with everyone." Ever apologized quickly, still holding a pile of partially full and discards plates she'd picked up from the floor.

"We weren't." Claire muttered, and sighed. "And now that they've drank half of our good liquor, we've got a shit ton of fucking cheap liquor that no one touched." She cursed, eyeing the unopened bottles of wine, champagne, and beer on the main fold up table they'd bought yesterday. That Claire and Bickslow paid for.

"Well, I mean…" Laxus spoke. "It doesn't have to stay untouched. This night doesn't have to be a total loss."

"If you guys want to relax and hang out, I'll start cleaning up. Drink some wine, eat some food, maybe bring Michael down from his room?" Ever asked hopefully, accidentally dropping the plates when she tried to clasp her hands together. "I'll clean that up, too."

"We won't make you do _all_ of the work… but if you want to do most of it, we won't stop you." Bickslow told her, some of his anger fading at how genuinely bad his friend felt. Ever got carried away sometimes (a lot), but when she messed up or went too far, she did try to make up for it. She knew what Fairy Tail had meant to them because it meant the same to her, and she knew that they'd been saving their Christmas gifts for a special occasion. She had just hoped that _this_ was their special occasion. "I'll go get Michael and let him know the party is over. He'll love the guacamole Fried made."

"Since this is already opened, do you mind if I try it?" Laxus asked his sister, holding up the bottle of Scotch.

"Go for it. I might have a taste, too."

It wasn't long before the small group was in the living room, sitting on the couch and floor, and drinking. After about an hour of watching Ever run around the house frantically trying to clean everything up, Claire and Bickslow decided that she'd done enough and that she should join them.

Michael was happy that everyone had left, and filled up his plate with as much food as he could. While Ever was cleaning she unfortunately discovered that some of his lanterns he'd been exceptionally proud of got broken beyond repair, and a couple of them had been doused in alcohol. She subtly put them in the garbage bag she'd been carrying with her, planning to tell Claire and Bickslow, along with promising to make it up to her favorite kid at a later time.

"So, before you guys shoot this idea down," Claire spoke. "this wouldn't be a rushed thing or anything, but just an idea to keep in mind. What if we had a small get together with our Fairy Tail friends? We can have enough time that Michael can make all the decorations he wants, it won't be rushed, we invite who we want, and we can offer our nice alcohol so that it doesn't feel completely wasted."

"I'd be down for that." Bickslow said. "Who would have thought they'd have more class than Blue Pegasus." He added, looking over at the house warming gifts they'd gotten. Most of the guests didn't bring anything, Master Bob got them a blender, and the rest was extremely cheap bottles of wine. All of them were from the food market downtown called _Apple Stash_ , and Claire knew this for a fact because she'd bought the same kind for the party at $2 each. Their guests had enough taste to drink their nice alcohol, but couldn't bother to get them at least half descent wine. If they didn't know for a fact that all of their guests were extremely well off financially, it wouldn't have been as insulting.

"What about you, Michael?" Claire asked. "Would you be up for seeing our friends from Fairy Tail again?"

He nodded quickly, smiling with his mouth full of food. "-akaroph?" He said, and Bickslow told him to swallow before speaking.

"Makarov?" Claire asked, and he nodded. "Last I heard he was traveling, but I'll ask around and see if he's back."

"Mira will probably be able to come. Same with her siblings." Laxus said, causing the boy to beam.

"It would be great to see everyone again." Ever added with her own smile.

9.

When Bickslow went to work the next day, everyone said that he had a nice home and thanked him for the party, but he heard the whispers that he wasn't supposed to hear. Most of the staff knew, or he supposed forgot, that his souls could hear what they said.

People didn't like being kicked out, and they didn't like Carol being yelled at. Even Fried was on her side, despite not having been at the party (he had planned to show up later), and it made the seith mage grind his teeth. Some of them made comments about the couple being ungrateful for their presence, for Carol and Ever's contribution, and more than a few were peeved that Bickslow didn't thank them for the wine they brought. He honestly didn't bother remembering who brought the bottles, and the only person he thanked was the guild master, who had put the time and effort into getting them something useful.

No one apologized for getting into their nice alcohol, not even the ones he'd caught taking the alcohol from the very back of the cupboard, where they'd had to take out various items and crawl back there to get. The others he could at least understand since Carol gave it to them, but that small group had no excuse. Ichiya was among them, which he kind of expected, but Hibiki? John?

"I'm sorry that your party didn't go so well last night." Master Bob apologized, talking to the seith mage on his break. "Did anyone stay to help clean up, at least?"

"Ever did. She felt terrible and cleaned up half hour house, so I'm not mad at her. This sucks." He grumbled, and leaned his elbow on the counter with his hand holding his cheek. "I really liked it here."

"You still have friends here."

"I thought I did…" He muttered sadly, looking over at the people in the guild hall. It was a normal day at Blue Pegasus, with guests laughing and chatting happily and hosts and hostesses smiling charismatically. When he first came to the guild he was a little nervous, namely because socializing wasn't his forte and he hated going without his visor, but he'd soon grown to love it. They liked being around him, he learned how to talk to people, and he fit in with his team almost immediately. _Easy come, easy go…_.

Back at Fairy Tail, his team was a team. At Fairy Tail, they helped each other no matter what, they were rough around the edges but they cared for each other and went the extra mile. They screwed up and they weren't pretty, but they had beautiful hearts.

This guild…

They were nice, and they were pretty, but they were also shallow. Going the extra mile was a foreign concept to them and they really didn't understand what hard work was, because they would smile and pay for someone else to do it. Most of them had lived sheltered and closed off lives, given a good education, and never had to worry about a paycheck or if they had enough to get by.

He suddenly understood why Laxus disliked being a host here. Bickslow didn't get it back then, but he suddenly did now. It was fake.

"They may not be the best at showing it, and they are a bit spoiled… but they're still good people." Master Bob defended, watching the mage carefully. When he'd asked the Thunder Legion to join his guild, he'd honestly been a little worried that this might happen, but hoped that their variety of jobs would keep them from feeling too different from the other guild members. Laxus had been the first, followed by Claire, and now Bickslow was beginning to realize it, too.

"No offense, but… they're kind of shallow."

"Unfortunately, yes." The guild master agreed, and the seith mage looked up at him in surprise. "I've tried to make them a bit more grounded over the years, sending them on jobs to try and expose them to less fortunate areas to try and open their eyes. I love my guild, I love the dresses and suits and beauty involved… but, yes, they are shallow. They're young and naïve."

Bickslow thought about his guild master's words, looking back to his comrades.

"It's very different from Fairy Tail in that respect. Most of their beauty was in their hearts, and I had hoped that the Thunder Legion could bring some of that to my own guild."

The blue-haired mage felt rather nostalgic that moment, missing his old guild. He missed getting into a brawl with his friends, only to have a drink and laugh with them minutes later. He missed watching Makarov teach Michael how to sew, how Romeo used to play with him even after he learned about his gift, and how other members of his guild would interact with his nephew like he was family. Master Bob interacted with him, and sure the other guild members here would say hello or compliment his adorable suit, but they didn't _really_ talk to him. Fairy Tail had been his family.

"Am I right to assume that you'll start taking the S-Class jobs with Claire and Laxus?" Master Bob asked after a moment.

"Yeah." He answered after a moment. It was ironic that after so many times of worrying over Claire and insisting that S-Class or other almost as dangerous jobs weren't the answer, that she could work here or do something less dangerous for an income, that he was now doing the same. Sure S-Class jobs were risky, but Laxus and Claire were the strongest mages he knew, and they were the only traveling jobs available through the guild. Bickslow himself was pretty damn strong, and he knew how to keep out of dangerous situations.

"I'll fix the schedule so that you don't have regular shifts anymore."

"Thanks, Master Bob."

10.

Their mattress was ruined.

At some point during the party, someone spilled half a bottle of wine on it, and no matter what they tried it wouldn't come out. The stench was terrible, and whoever did it also got something else smeared into it, which they didn't try too hard to figure out what it was. Since they had been so rushed the previous days they hadn't gotten the chance to put sheets and blankets on it, so not only did they not get the chance to sleep on it, but there was nothing to protect it from spillage.

Bickslow and Claire sat on the other side of the room, on the floor, with their backs leaning against the wall and staring at it.

Michael had been picked on that morning by some of the neighborhood kids, and locked himself in his room. Claire had tried for most of the day to talk to him and get him to come out, but he wouldn't budge. When Bickslow came home from work he managed to talk him into eating a sandwich and hot soup Claire had made earlier that day, and after eating the meal quietly in his room, Michael still wouldn't come out.

"You think Carol would pay for the damage?" He asked after a while. At the party she had been walking around in a skirt, while her breasts had been decorated in paint and glitter. The latter covered most of their previously white, now red wine stained mattress.

"Probably not."

"Didn't think so."

"I'm a little impressed she had found the time. We were supervising the party and somehow shit got messed up."

"We were supervising the _entire fucking guild_ …. I had seen the bottles of booze being passed around, but I thought other people had brought it."

"Same."

"I feel bad for all the times I didn't help clean up after the parties at Fairy Tail."

"They had cleaning magic to help them, so it wasn't as bad."

"Ah…. I told Master Bob I'll be doing jobs with you and Laxus now. Hope you don't mind."

"But you love hosting." She commented, surprised.

"I did, but… I think the party and how they acted with Michael showed their true colors. I don't think I could enjoy working there knowing how shallow they are. Besides, they hate us for throwing a lousy party."

"Seriously?"

"Even Fried is mad at us."

"Well, that's not too surprising, since he's boning Carol."

"What!?" Bickslow exclaimed, jumping to his knees and kneeling in front of her. "Since fucking when!?"

"When we were traveling, apparently. It's not the first time she's slept with a gay guy."

"But I mean… Fried? _Our_ Fried had sex with the baby killer?"

"Unfortunately."

"Noooo…" He groaned, falling forward so that his face rested in her lap, and burying his face between her legs. It was a really weird position for both of them, and Claire couldn't help but smile at the sight of her fiancé's butt in the air like that. After a moment he shifted so that he was laying on his side, head still on her lap, and pouting as he resituated to go back to staring at the mattress. It was currently tilted and leaning against the opposite wall so that they could study it in silent contemplation. "I hate your sister."

"Should we go to Magnolia tomorrow to get Michael's things?"

He sighed tiredly, eyes closing softly as she started petting his soft blue hair. "Yeah."

11.

"Shit." Bickslow let out, and Claire was so similarly shocked, she didn't even catch that he'd cursed around Michael.

"I'm sorry about the mess… we had to search everywhere." The police officer stated.

The all stood by the doorway to Michael's old room, gaping at the terror within.

It hadn't just been 'searched', it had been gutted and destroyed. Posters torn, clothes thrown carelessly around the room, some of the floorboards ripped up, toys and art projects broken- nothing was left 'unsearched'. Even his books were on the floor and open, and muddy shoe prints were on the torn crumpled up pages.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" Claire asked, looking over at the police officer. Over the years she had gotten pretty good about holding her tongue around law enforcement, but come on. It was a little kids room.

"Some of the guys get a little carried away… I'm sorry," He spoke, and he really did seem to mean it. It wasn't his division that had done the search, and he'd mentioned earlier that he had kids of his own.

"Bickslow, why don't you and Michael go down to the park and I'll see if I can salvage anything?" She suggested, and the seith mage nodded, putting a hand on Michael's shoulder and leading him away back down the hallway.

"I'm so sorry buddy, I had no idea it would be that bad." Bickslow told him. "Do you want to piggy back ride there?"

Claire sighed, knowing it was going to be a long day.

12.

When they got home, they were surprised at the uninvited guest walking through their house and shaking their head angrily while muttering.

It was their landlady.

"Less than a month and you've already put holes in my walls!" She yelled, pointing to one in particular in the living room.

"We had a house warming party the other day," Claire tried to explain, setting down the light box of belongings on the floor. Unfortunately, the landlady shook her head feverously and pointed at a stain on the carpet, and list off all the problems she'd found with the house. All of them were extremely minor and it wouldn't take much time to clean up, and they'd planned to get it done over the weekend.

Technically it was illegal for her to enter the home without notice, and it was written so in the contract, but as Claire and Bickslow tried to reason with her they didn't bring it up to make her more angry.

After 20 minutes of talking with her, Michael having run upstairs as soon as they got there, the couple found out that they were being kicked out. They had one month to move.

Later they would find out that she only did it for her grandson, who was moving back into town and needed a place to live. The landlady had been wrong to enter the house without permission, but there was no getting around the damage (no matter how minor) because it gave her the right to evict them. They managed to convince her that they would fix the damage in order to get their deposit back, and if Claire hadn't read the contract so carefully, the older woman would have tried to kick them out that night.

Once the landlady had left, both Bickslow and Claire went up to Michael's room and sat on his mat on the floor with him, contemplating their next move.

13.

Claire heard screams coming from inside the guild hall, and quickly ran inside to investigate. As she made it past the doors, a man almost knocking into her after being thrown, her eyes locked on the person that threw him.

A wide smile fluttered across her face.

"Natsu, stop scaring the customers." She told him, and the pink-haired mage looked up at her, a matching smile on his face. He turned from the woman he'd been towering over menacingly, his fire magic activating.

"What the hell are you going to do about it?" Natsu asked with a cocky smirk.

"Don't hurt her!" A woman yelled, and both of them looked in surprise, watching as a certain dreadlocked woman stood between them with her arms spread. Her eyes were wide, body shaking as she stood between the two fire mages, obviously terrified of the man. Considering that the man was standing there, shirtless with his muscles bulging and fire magic dancing threateningly along his skin, it was no surprise that Carol was scared of him.

The majority of people in the room were cowering from him, and Claire could only guess that he'd been his usual rambunctious self.

"Are you kidding? I'm going to kick her ass!" Natsu announced, pointing to the woman behind her with a confident smirk. "I've been training, and I'm tons stronger now!"

"She's my sister!" Carol yelled. "I won't let you hurt her!"

"… eh?" Natsu squeaked awkwardly, looking between the pair. Lucy, who had been standing nearby overlooking the horrible event, started laughing with Happy.

"Calm down, Carol. As if this punk could lay a hand on me. His fire magic is weak at best." Claire antagonized, and several of her guild member's eyes widened at her words.

Natsu ran around the water mage so fast she didn't see him move, and he launched his fist at Claire's face.

She easily caught his hand, and the resulting collision sent an energy wave through the entire building and a quarter of the town.

"Not bad." Claire commented, and then shifted to pull him into a hug. They both laughed as he hugged her back, and the entire room stared with wide and disbelieving eyes. "Dude, you have no idea how nice it is to see a friendly face."

"Can you take these hooligans out of the guild hall?" Master Bob requested, and she nodded with a smile, keeping an arm around the dragonslayer.

"Yes, sir! C'mon guys," She spoke, waving Lucy and Happy over to them, and guided them all out of the Blue Pegasus guild hall.

14.

Later that day, Claire came back home with a smile on her face, and strolled over to her fiancé in the dining room. Michael was sleeping near him, a pizza box was nearby, and house listings were surrounding them.

He didn't look up from the house listings, looking depressed as he sat there, lazily looking over the pages upon pages. Searching the first time had taken so long, and now they had to go through it all over again… their other 'top two' choices had already been taken off the market.

"Why are you looking for places in Clover Town?" Claire asked, peering over at the pages.

"I assumed we wanted to live near our guild."

"Well yeah. Which means we need to get Magnolia listings." She said, trying to sound casual as she spoke. The man looked up at her, and she'd hoped to be more subtle about it, but she couldn't.

"Why? And why do you look so happy? We just lost our house."

"Which is pretty good timing." She said, still beaming at him. He didn't even think it was possibly for her to mouth to get that wide.

"… why?"

"Fairy Tail is back."

He stared at her for a moment, processing it, and then a similar smile overcame is face. Reaching forward, his hands on either side of her face, he pulled her in for a deep kiss, overjoyed by the news.

15.

The next day, Claire, Bickslow, and Michael all entered the new guild hall.

Most of their friends were already back, and the guild hall wasn't as great as it used to be, but it was definitely home. Even Laxus was there.

"Claire! Bickslow!" Lisanna cheered happily, and a good portion of the group looked up from their conversations to greet them. Soon enough they were pulled into a round of hugs and laughs, and joined their comrades for a drink. Michael, who had been rather timid and shy around people as of late, had even smiled and talked to the adults. He was still quiet, but he was getting better, and the improvement didn't go unnoticed by his aunt and uncle.

"Why the hell aren't you losers married yet?" Macao demanded. "Haven't you two been engaged forever?"

"We've been a little busy." Bickslow answered with a smile. He was back in his old work outfit, visor and all, and he was more than happy at the nostalgic atmosphere. Everyone had changed in their 10 months apart, but they were still Fairy Tail. "To Fairy Tail!" He announced with a raised beer mug, and everyone in the guild did the same.


	37. Chapter 37

**Author's Note:** Since I didn't update last month, double update. ;)

Also: This chapter is _25,482 words._ That is absolutely ridiculous. This chapter is ¼ of a novel.

* * *

 **Walking Cliché 37**

 _Halloween_

The revival of Fairy Tail was a joyous one. Everyone had a newfound appreciate for it while they'd been apart, and they were closer than ever now.

Finding a house in Magnolia was significantly easier than in Clover Town. Claire and Bickslow managed to find a pleasant place to live, and barely managed to get moved out by the end of the month. Their landlady had visited them almost every day for the last week to remind them of when they needed to be out, so they were more than glad to get settled back into Magnolia.

With their new house, they made sure that the owner wouldn't be able to evict them so easily. He seemed like a nice enough elderly gentleman, so they hoped that they wouldn't have any issues. After moving twice in such a short amount of time, they really did not want to do it again. Not for a while, at least.

They weren't too keen on a 'house warming party' again, so they simply got into their half empty Christmas alcohol and spent time together. Michael was more than a little excited about decorating the house (especially his room) and both his uncle and Claire wondered if he'd end up being an interior decorator when he got older. They tried to limit his more creative ideas to his room and promised to keep them in mind for the rest of the house, and kept in mind some of his more rational suggestions.

For dinner, the trio ended up eating a delicious casserole that Mirajane and Lisanna had made them. The sisters had stopped by earlier that morning to see their new house and catch up, and it was a pleasant chat. Both Claire and Bickslow suspected that more guild members would be stopping by over the next few days, and the gesture touched both of them immensely.

It would take a while until the guild was back to its former glory. More than half of the guild members had moved and wouldn't return, and their clients had started going to other guilds. None of that mattered- their family was back together.

"We should get plates and silverware tomorrow." Bickslow suggested, and they all nodded, taking turns eating out of the container Mirajane had provided.

"Before or after we stop by the school?" Claire asked, and he shrugged. "After would probably be better."

"Okie doke."

"Can I go, too?" Michael asked.

"… you want to look at plates and silverware?" Bickslow asked. _What kind of 9 year old wants to do that?_

He shrugged, looking down and taking another bite of his food.

"There's nothing wrong with that, at all, I think it's awesome you want to go." Bickslow added quickly. "I was just a little surprised. After we talk to the principal at your new school, we'll swing by the guild hall and pick you up. Do you know what you're going to work on with the guild master tomorrow?"

"Paper lanterns for the house. I can't believe so many got lost in the move…" He muttered.

"Have you decided what colors you want your room to be?" Claire asked, seeing that sad look appear in his eye. He instantly cheered up and started talking animatedly about color schemes and paint, obviously excited about his extravagant plans for his room.

1.

Claire was less than impressed by public schools on this world, but she tried to stay civil. Originally she was going to do most of the talking at the school they visited, but upon realizing that she wouldn't be able to say anything positive, Bickslow took over. He was much more relaxed on the subject, especially since Claire could tutor Michael if she was that unhappy with the school, and ultimately he wasn't that worried about his education.

School would be a way for Michael to make friends with kids his own age. So long as the school wasn't teaching him 'wrong' things, and were open-minded to Michael's 'gift', he would be happy. As much as Bickslow loved the kid, he really wasn't that bright, and if he didn't do well in school it wasn't the end of the world.

The school itself was pretty large, since it was the only elementary school in the town. Magnolia's High School was considerably smaller since most kids dropped out their freshman year.

When they left the school, Claire's arms were crossed and she was chewing on the inside of her cheek, meanwhile Bickslow casually walked with his hands in his pockets. _Man, I missed this._ He thought happily, clad in his cloak and visor.

"That school was pathetic." She grumbled.

"The education part, yeah, but they were nice enough. I think Michael will like it." Bickslow told her, and although she didn't say anything, he knew she was having her doubts. "I've heard that this school is a lot better than Clover Town's, so we lucked out. Plus he won't have to deal with all the snobbish people… school will be a good way for him to make friends."

"Yeah…" She sighed, and finally uncrossed her arms.

"If you're worried about his education, you could always teach him your data compression magic."

"… he might enjoy Archive Magic…" She commented, and looked up at the fall sky. It was mid October, and the leaves were beginning to turn. "It might get him more interested in reading."

"That's the spirit." He said with a grin, and reached out to hold her hand.

Their guild hall was a 20 minute walk from the school, and it was nearly noon by that point. Once they reached their destination, they were more than a little surprised by who Michael was doing crafts with.

To the side of the mess hall, a fairly large group of mages were making paper lanterns. There was pens, crayons, glitter, and plenty of other supplies for the project. Elman held his excessively large lantern up, rather proud of the bulky and weird shaped object. "My lantern is manly! What do you think, sis?" He asked, turning to his little sister.

"It's great, big brother." She giggled.

"Oh yeah? Mine's tons awesomer!" Natsu yelled, standing up on his seat and stomping his foot on the table. He held a poorly made 'dragon' shaped lantern, which looked to be puking red glitter.

Upon their arrival they were both rather amused by the sight- until Bickslow realized who was sitting next to Michael.

Carol.

She had a light blue Fairy Tail emblem on her upper breast, and a tribal style dress draped across her body. Her mid back length hair sparkled against the light, since there were blue and white beads mixed into it.

"Michael," Bickslow spoke, getting his nephew's attention. He looked up from the conversation with Carol, smiling up at his uncle. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah!" He said excitedly, and dropped everything to jump out of his seat and run over to his uncle. Bickslow knelt down to give him a hug, and threw a glare in Carol's direction even though she couldn't see it.

"Why are you here?" He asked once he'd stood. Michael had moved on to give his auntie Claire a hug as well, and then went on to greet their babies.

"She's Claire's sister!" Natsu announced, temporarily distracted from his argument with Elfman about whose lantern was better. Neither of them were good quality, so it was rather amusing to watch them fight over it.

"I know. She worked at Blue Pegasus with us." Bickslow spoke, not bothering to hide his malice for the woman. He didn't want her anywhere near his nephew, and he didn't care she was related to his fiancé. She destroyed a soul.

"I wanted to stay near Claire." Carol answered simply. "We've lost so much family I didn't want to lose her, too."

Laxus had told her recently about their parents, and gave her a summary of most of what had happened to their family. He had skimmed some of the gory details and edited the story to leave out any suspicion regarding their link to the Book of Zeref, since he still didn't completely trust her. The lightning mage had been indifferent to her joining the guild, and had apparently forgot to mention it when he had dinner with Bickslow and Claire the night before.

"Fairy Tail isn't as glamorous as Blue Pegasus. I hope you like it here." Claire spoke, although lacking any enthusiasm for her sister's arrival. When Carol had thought she was in danger from Natsu, she had put herself between them to protect her, but it didn't erase the other things she had done. At the moment, Claire was particularly sore about the destroyed mattress that kept them sleeping on the floor until their new one arrived next week.

The water mage looked back down at her lantern, visibly sad by the response. "Thanks."

"Where are you guys going?" Mirajane asked, seeming rather chipper.

"Shopping for the house." Bickslow answered, still tense from their new Fairy Tail member.

"Plates and silverware!" Michael said with a wide grin, and they all chuckled.

"Oi! Weird fire girl!" Natsu yelled, pointing at Claire. "Which one do you think is better?"

"Michael's." She answered, to which both men slumped. Bickslow hoisted his nephew up to sit on his shoulders, and with a wave of goodbye, the trio headed out.

2.

Erza wasn't sure what to make of the new addition to Fairy Tail.

The pair was currently the only people in the communal baths of Fairy Hills, the Fairy Tail Girls Dormitory, and it wasn't surprising considering the late hour. It was a little past midnight, and the building was quiet at that late hour.

Carol had struck up conversation, and informed Erza of what she had been doing since they first 'met'. She chatted quite a bit about her time on this world, and the red head listened quietly, observing the young woman. She reminded her a lot of Lucy personality wise, although much spacier and sexually active.

Erza had little respect for those that abandoned their comrades. She valued heart more than anything else in a person, and she could find few redeeming qualities in the woman. Her values were in her appearance, and her reasons to connect with Claire were selfish: she just didn't want to be alone. The requip mage understand the emotion exceptionally well, and knew that people didn't want to be alone- she herself didn't do well with too much solitude- but that was her only motivation for joining this guild. She didn't seem to have an interest in Claire herself, who she's become, or helping her; nor did she have any interest in personal growth.

She accounted for her personal bias for the woman. Erza had been the one to keep Claire from jumping off the cliff chasing after her sister- the woman now sitting next to her in the bath happily chatting away- and she had also been the one to see those tears. She had seen a lot of people cry over her years, and holding that fire mage while she wept was one of the most touching moments she'd ever had with another person. What she felt had been true pain. She saw the heartbreak, sadness, and depression she went through following that event. Carol tore her heart in two, and Erza couldn't see a hint of remorse in those sparkling brown eyes.

 _Perhaps she's just good at hiding it…._ She wondered quietly to herself, and after a good half hour of talking about her life in Onibus and Clover Town, she finally asked Erza a question. "So, how long have you been with Fairy Tail?"

"Since I was a child. I grew up with the guild." Erza replied, and the dreadlocked woman smiled softly at her. Her dreads were currently wrapped and tied above her head in a beautiful black and blue cloth.

"Wow, that's a long time. So you were here when my sister joined?"

"Yes."

"It seems like she's made a lot of friends here."

"Yes, she is a remarkable woman."

"What do you think of her fiancé, Bickslow?" Carol asked. Erza hadn't missed the discord between them earlier that evening, as it was practically impossible not to, and chose her words carefully. After he had broken into her bathroom window and she had discovered his frequent unauthorized visits into the Girls Dormitory, she still disliked the man, but knew better than to judge his entire character based on those actions; especially when the brunette was fishing for negative perceptions of the man.

"He has a good heart and treats your sister well." She answered, and the water mage didn't seem to like the answer. Carol pouted slightly, looking away, and then returned to her neutral disposition.

"Am I the only one weirded out by his legion of souls?"

"No, they make most people uncomfortable. Since he met Claire he's been opening up more, and much more friendly to his colleagues. Do you mind if I ask why you two dislike each other so much?"

"He absolutely hates me for getting an abortion. Scared the hell out of me in the break room when I tried to confront him about his beef with me."

"Considering his magic, that's not too surprising. Terminating a soul is extremely serious, and it makes sense that he would be more sensitive to the topic."

"I was only one month along. That's not enough time for anything to develop, despite what people say." She explained, suddenly sour. They were both quiet for a moment, and after a moment of deliberation, Erza decided to tell her what was on her mind.

"If you're at Fairy Tail to make amends to your sister, I commend you and wish you luck. However… you should know that I was there when you chose your dragon friend over your sister," Erza spoke, her voice becoming stern and harsh, contrasting greatly with her previously casual tone. "I held her back from jumping over the cliff to chase after you, and I watched over her when her only family deserted her on a world she didn't yet understand. I've watched her grow, I've watched her fight, and I've watcher her become the powerful warrior she is today. If you do anything to hurt her again, I won't hesitate to cut you down."

To emphasize her point, the requip mage summoned 20 of her swords and aimed them at the nude and terrified water mage. Her brown eyes widened in fear, nervous sweat rolled down her skin, and she sat there shaking for several seconds.

"Fairy Tail is a family, and we look after each other." Erza spoke, and once she was sure that her point was made, she made her swords disappear. Without another word she stood, casually grabbed her towel as she emerged from the water, stepping out of the bath and wrapping the white fabric around her.

Carol watched, still shaking in fear, unable to move or speak.

3.

Bickslow and Claire were finally getting the opportunity for a routine.

Michael started school that Monday, and Claire would walk him to the school 30 minutes away. It wasn't an ideal commute, but if they could find the time they would get bikes.

After walking him to school, she would then jog to Laxus's house, and they would proceed to do a morning jog together, followed by some training, and meet back at the guild hall by 2 PM for a late lunch.

In that time, Bickslow would have the house to himself. The time would mostly be dedicated to training his new souls, but some days would be chill time, and he was immensely happy at that. He loved Claire, he loved Michael, and he also loved his new house- especially sliding around in his socks buck naked while singing girly pop songs.

A little before 2 in the afternoon, he would walk over to the guild hall for lunch with his team. They had a new chef at the guild, so they were all looking forward to better food.

At 3 they would head over to Michael's school, pick him up, and do some more shopping for the house. Bickslow and Claire would honestly prefer to get it done earlier in the day, but the kid got upset when he wasn't involved, so they waited for him. It was a good bonding time for them anyway, so it worked out.

After shopping, they would drop their stuff off at the house and head to the guild hall again so that Michael could hang out with their friends for a while.

Then they would have dinner at the guild, and afterwards, head home. If he had homework he would do it then, and once they were done furnishing their new home, the 'shopping time' would be replaced by homework.

The new parents were rather proud of this schedule. Some days they could mix it up a little and it was definitely flexible. It would allow Michael to finally get some stability, to actually feel like he was home. He had been moved around so often with varying degrees of solidarity, that Bickslow wanted so badly for him to have a place to call home, and to have a warm and loving family that accepted him. Bickslow knew that he couldn't be a perfect parent no matter how hard he tried, but he was going to give it an effort.

At 2 PM, Laxus and Claire walked into the guild hall, still in their workout clothes. They didn't bother going home to shower and change, since there were showers at the guild hall and they were running a little behind schedule.

Kana whistled when they walked in, admiring their workout clothing. Laxus was in a pair of shorts and grey muscle shirt, which left little to the imagination. Claire wore compression capris and a sports bra with a sweatshirt wrapped around her waist, which also left little to the imagination. Since both siblings usually wore more conservative clothing, and they were exceptionally fit, they got a lot more appreciative glances than they'd expected.

"Claire! Your sister doesn't think you can beat us in a fight." Gray yelled, getting her attention. His shirt was missing, as usual, but his pants were still remaining. Natsu was next to him, and nearby, Carol was smiling.

"She hasn't seen me fight before. That's not too surprising." Claire replied as she walked over to them. Laxus continued to the showers, and Bickslow hadn't arrived yet.

"I've gotten a lot stronger this past year. You might be surprised." Gray said with a cocky smirk. Claire chuckled at his eager attitude, and looked over at her sister, who was openly staring at her. She looked horrorstruck as she looked at her, and the fire mage suddenly felt uncomfortable in her workout clothes.

"How about we test that later? I need to shower, and I'm meeting people for lunch." Claire spoke, and when she realized that her sister was trying to speak over her, looked at her questioningly. "Sorry, what'd you say?"

"What are those marks on your skin?" Carol repeated, taking a step forward and continuing to stare at the marks on her muscled flesh.

"Scars."

"But… how?" She asked, looking up at her with wide and worried eyes.

"Stab wounds, mostly." Claire replied, and both Natsu and Gray watched their interaction with intrigue. "Illegal iron magic," She said, pointing to the one on her arm. "Harpoon, fucked up and immensely painful harpoon, other harpoon, iron rod, iron rod, iron rod, Laxus punch," She listed off, indicating to each one. When she heard Gray shudder at the mention of the 'fucked up harpoon', she looked up, and saw a matching scar on his upper chest. "Oh yeah, you have a matching one."

"That fucking sucked." Gray groaned, remembering the injury all too well. He'd gotten it at the Grand Magic Games, and it prevented him from competing. Thankfully he'd been unconscious when it was taken out; he had woken up to Claire screaming bloody murder when hers was taken out, and it took him weeks to be able to sleep after that.

"How did you get hurt so many times?" Carol asked, her eyes tearing up.

"Almost all of these are from our sister, Kelsey. The harpoon not from our sister missed my heart by a centimeter, and I got that by taking out a powerful dark guild." She said rather proudly. When her sister just stood there, beginning to cry while looking at her, she rolled her eyes. "Shit happens. I had to survive on this world by getting stronger, because not all of us had the luxury of serving drinks and getting laid everyday." Claire snapped, and walked away to go take her shower. She resituated the backpack on her shoulder, feeling rather self-conscious with the water woman's eyes still on her, and tried to ignore the urge to put her sweatshirt on.

"She's changed a lot since she joined the guild." Gray spoke, and the brunette turned to look at him, wiping away her tears. "I didn't know her very well when she first joined, but she became one of the strongest mages in our guild in a very short amount of time. Some of us have been training to be an S-Class mage for most of our lives, and she accomplished it in basically a year."

"My fire magic is more powerful than hers." Natsu huffed.

"How many times has she beaten you?" Happy asked nearby.

"Next time I fight her she's going down!" He yelled, fire magic blazing as he laughed maniacally, imagining his victory all too clearly.

4.

After lunch, Bickslow and Claire headed over to the elementary school to pick up Michael. Arriving at the same time as several other parents, they nodded and greeted them, although didn't get the chance to start any conversations. Their little man was running towards them full speed, and Bickslow kneeled down to meet the hug halfway.

As the boy's body collided with him, Bickslow made an exaggerated 'oof' sound and leaned back slightly at the impact. "You're getting strong, Mike!" He commented, chuckling softly. He went to unwrap his arms from him, but found that the brunette kept his face planted between his neck and shoulder, crying. "Don't worry, dude. First days in a new place are always hard."

"Are you a Fairy Tail wizard?!" A small third grade boy asked nearby, pointing up at the fire mage. Her emblem was on the left side of her neck, black, and extremely obvious.

"Yes. I'm a fire mage." She replied, and some of the other kids nearby gawked and whispered 'woah, cool!' to each other.

"I am, too." Bickslow added, letting his tongue hang out and show off his emblem. The kids had an even stronger reaction, talking about how cool it was to have a tongue tattoo, and they were getting a small crowd. Some of the parents watched nearby, waiting to pull their kids away if they needed to.

"Do you guys know the Salamander?!" One of them asked.

"Yeah, he's best friends with Michael." Claire spoke, nodding to the child still in Bickslow's arms. The brunette slowly peered up at her, and then at the group of kids that were suddenly clamoring for his attention and asking him what the infamous fire mage was like.

"Michael was just going to the guild hall to see him. Is there anything you want him to ask Salamander while we're there?" Bickslow asked, continuing to stay crouched down behind Michael and gently nudge him to the group of excited kids, although he wouldn't budge. Upon his question they all started talking at once, debating on what they wanted him to ask the fire mage.

5.

Lisanna discovered that she enjoyed spending time with Carol.

The young Strauss sibling had tried to make a connection with Claire regarding their world traveling experiences, but that hadn't ended well. Carol, on the other hand, was much easier to talk to on the subject. They laughed, joked, and chatted about some of the similarities of their worlds, and not all of it was technology. A lot of it was social, and Carol had some interesting insight on the differences of people sexually on the different worlds.

Both of them laughed loudly, sitting to the side of the mess hall and enjoying their drinks. Shortly after the water mage's rather awkward conversation with her sister, the Strauss sibling had walked up to her and started a conversation. Lisanna could relate to the woman, having an S-Class sister as well and lost her parents. She could tell that even though Carol focused on more shallow topics in conversation, it was a front.

Carol had found out that her parents and little brother were dead. On top of that, she learned that after she essentially left her little sister for a dragon, she'd assumed falsely that Claire was okay. Claire had always been responsible, she'd always been resourceful and independent, and there had been no doubt in her mind that the checker woman would be okay. When she learned that her little sister had been stabbed, punched, and nearly killed several times, it made her feel guilty.

"Laxus is really protective of her, you know." Lisanna spoke, noticing that the mage's gaze had wandered to the woman in question. Claire, Bickslow, and Michael had just arrived to the guild hall for dinner with their friends.

"Huh?" Carol asked, turning back to her.

"Laxus, your brother. He's really protective of her." She repeated, giggling when she saw the fire mage thoroughly mess up the lightning mage's hair, and grin sheepishly at the resulting glare. "Even though she can handle herself in a fight, he'll use his lightning magic to attack people that try to fight her. Natsu used to get knocked out by his magic a lot when he used to challenge her everyday."

"It's still hard to believe that he's my brother…" Carol spoke, going back to her drink. "I had lunch with him a while ago… he's a scary guy."

"He's a little intimidating at first, but he's a big softie. Don't get me wrong, he can be terrifying when he wants to be, and he's by far the strongest wizard in the guild- well, maybe tied with Guildarts- I mean, he defeated one of the Ten Wizard Saints, and that's saying something. Claire can be really scary when she wants to be too, though. Not just with her fire magic, but she's crazy smart." Lisanna explained, and Carol looked up at her in surprise for the last part.

"Claire is smart?" She asked, and her friend giggled. "I mean, she's not an idiot, but she wasn't _that_ bright when we were growing up."

"Anyone that's able to take over Fried's enchantments has to be crazy smart. Even Fried couldn't undo the damage she did. It also shows just how resourceful she is, too."

"'Enchantments'?"

"Rune Magic. It's an extremely complex type of barrier magic, and Fried is the only mage in the guild that uses it. Levy uses a similar kind, but she's still working with the Magic Guild in Crocus." She explained. "I'm not sure what specific kind of magic Claire uses, but she's able to use some form of word magic. I've heard that it's quite beautiful."

"How about I go ask?" Claire suggested, and the white-haired mage blinked up at her in surprise, watching the water mage get up and start walking over to the small group enjoying their dinner. Hoping that it wasn't a bad idea, Lisanna jumped up to join her.

When they reached the table, they looked up at the new arrivals, and everyone but Bickslow and Claire smiled up at them. It was a fairly large group consisting of the Thunder Legion, Team Natsu, and a few other mages from their guild. "Hey Claire, Lisanna was just telling me about some word magic you use. I was hoping you could tell me about it sometime?"

Claire gave her a blank look for a moment, and then shrugged. "It's the closest magic equivalent to computers I've been able to find."

"You found computers on this world?!" Carol asked excitedly.

"Well, a computer without internet." Claire rephrased, and the water mage's enthusiasm went down.

"What the use of a computer without internet?"

"Limitless data storage, for one." Claire answered, and seeing that she was still unimpressed, she summoned her small keypad.

"Honey, just ignore her." Bickslow whispered, but she ignored his suggestion, summoning her data compression magic.

Showing off her magic, she opened all of her documents (the Book of Zeref was in a different storage place) at once, and filled the entire guildhall with floating pages and words. Within the rainbow fire dancing beautifully in the air, a fire train rolled through the space and twisted and turned around the room, and Michael openly 'woah!'d at it. Most of the guild hall residents watched in wonder at the spectacular display of her magic, some of them venturing to reach out and touch the flames, finding that they didn't burn.

After a few seconds, she collapsed her magic again, and went back to eating.

"Can you do it again!?" Michael asked, looking up at her with wide and fascinated eyes.

"I can do one better and teach it to you, if you want." She told him, and he nodded enthusiastically.

"You want to learn that but not seith magic?" Bickslow asked, surprised. When they'd talked about teaching him magic in the past, he'd been disinterested in it. Sure, he loved Bickslow's babies, but as for getting his own he had zero interest.

"My magic is prettier than yours." Claire said with a teasing smile, and stuck her tongue out at him. Just like that, the water mage was ignored as the mages went back to their conversations and dinner, and she walked back with Lisanna to their previous table.

6.

Laxus, Makarov, and a few others watched the fights taking place with interest.

It's not like there was anything better to do.

It was Tuesday, and the siblings had accidentally gotten to the guild hall an hour earlier than planned. With nothing better to do, Claire took them up on their challenges to fight, and they took it outside.

"Her fighting style has changed a lot." Makarov commented, sitting next to his grandson on the picnic table. Neither had really talked about their previous conflicts, and simply ignored past aggressions.

"Not that much. She's off her game today." Laxus told him, and the guild master looked up in surprise.

"Even when she's not on her 'A game', she's able to fight Natsu and Gray effortlessly." Makarov chuckled.

"She's insecure about something… I'm guessing that something rattled her recently." The blond continued, and the old man looked up at him with interest.

"Oh? You can tell that from watching her fight?"

"I understand people best when they fight. For example, I can also tell that Gray is particularly stressed by something, because he's letting himself get way too distracted. Claire has been draining his magic in significant quantities to trick him up, and every time he over thinks the situation without fail, and she takes advantage of it. Natsu figured out that she's insecure and simply toying with them to make herself feel better, so he's playing along and acting more frustrated than he is, hoping that it'll lower her guard and she'll trip up."

"Natsu actually has a plan?" Makarov asked in surprise, and the young man nodded.

"Well, a loose one, anyway. He's watching her every move for an opening and studying her fighting style. He and Gajeel did the same thing during the Games against Sting and Rogue." Laxus told him, and Makarov nodded, recalling that fight. "Claire knows that Natsu is good at watching his opponents and matching their fighting style, so she's purposely being overly cautious to keep him from overpowering her. In a way, they're just messing with each other right now. Claire makes sure to best him just enough so that he knows she's more powerful, and he tries to trick her into showing her more powerful cards by mixing things up and trying to catch her off guard. Which, actually is a pretty smart move, since she has a kneejerk reaction of hitting things too hard when she's caught off guard."

"A habit formed from training with her brothers, no doubt." The guild master chuckled, and he shrugged.

"Probably. That and her history with Kelsey."

"Speaking of family… what do you think of Carol?" He asked, keeping his voice low. They hadn't discussed the new mage as of yet, except for the time they agreed to not tell her that they were technically related.

"… she's determined to stay with Claire, which is admirable. Other than that, I don't think much of her."

"Do you think she's working with Kelsey?"

"No. I think she's just oblivious and ditzy." The lightning mage commented, continuing to watch the fight between Natsu and Claire. Gray had been knocked out moments before. "Now that I think about it, it's probably what rattled Claire. She went a bit overboard showing off her magic yesterday."

"That was an impressive display…" He commented, and glanced over at the water mage currently watching the fight. She was biting her lower lip nervously while her sister fought, looking nervous and tense. "Carol isn't much of a fighter, is she?"

"No." Laxus chuckled.

"Why is Claire intimidated, then?"

"I didn't say she was intimidated." He clarified. "She's insecure, and feels that she needs to reaffirm her position as a fighter in the guild… Carol has been questioning her life choices and bringing up a lot of bad memories lately. Not to mention Claire is a parent now and dealing with a bunch of crap, so that no doubt plays a part."

"I'm glad that she and Bickslow are embracing the parenting life. Michael deserves loving parents like them." He spoke with a fond smile, and Laxus had a matching one.

"Anyone else feel like a fight?" Claire asked once Natsu had fallen, and looked around at the small crowd. Most people were out on jobs that day, so the people present were minimal.

"Me." Carol spoke, stepping towards her with her arms crossed. Claire looked at her surprised, and her surprise quickly turned into an entertained smirk.

"This should be funny." Laxus chuckled, and felt Erza's magic as she walked to stand next to him.

"I was unaware that Carol could fight." She commented.

"She can't." Laxus said with a smirk.

"You sure you want to fight?" Claire asked the water mage, clearly entertained by the gesture. The dreadlocked woman got into a fighting stance, a weak one at that, and the bystanders watched curiously.

"It's how people earn respect around here, right?"

"Not really. It's just a fun pass time."

"Well, I could beat you as a kid, and I can do it again now."

"I'm not one to turn down a challenge." Claire said with a shrug. "Come at me, bro."

Carol did as she asked, running at her with her fist aimed for her face. It was all too easy to dodge, and as Claire spun past her in an overly fancy move, she shoved the woman's shoulder to make her knock her off balance. Instead of a solid shoulder, her hand dipped into water, and watched nearby as her sister turned to try and attack her again.

"Interesting, your body turned to water."

"I can set my magic to turn into liquid whenever someone hits me- Joseph taught it to me before he died. You can't land a single hit if you tried."

"Neither can you." Claire countered with a smirk, easily dancing around her sister's clumsy attempts to punch and kick her, hands in her pockets and chuckling at her sister's growing frustration. After a small while, Claire started tapping her in various places to see if she could find a weak spot in her magic, and eventually, she did.

Her magic was set to liquefy her body when she made contact with foreign magic. In other words, it was a perfect defense against mages or normal civilians that happened to have any magic in them.

So if Claire hit her with no magic….

The water mage was sent flying and smashed into the wall of the guild hall, startling everyone that watched along with the people inside. Claire and Carol had been fighting for almost a full minute before she ended it with the one hit.

Fried was the one to run over and check on the groaning woman, who was seeing stars and laying sprawled on the ground.

"That's a pretty good defense." Claire complimented to her sister, who was obviously in pain and not listening.

"You went too far, Claire." Fried told her, and the fire woman shrugged.

"She's durable. She'll be fine." She said simply, and doubting that anyone else would want to fight her, she made her way over to the small group on the picnic table. "Hey Erza, how's it going?"

"It's going well, thank you. What was the defense you were speaking of?" She asked curiously, having been curious about the woman's water magic. Juvia had a similar ability, but they seemed opposite, somehow.

"She can make her body liquefy in the presence of foreign magic. Even the slightest detection activated it."

"Interesting. Juvia's magic works the opposite- her body liquefies whenever she's hit with enough physical force, and whenever something is amplified with magic, it'll harm her."

"That is interesting. They'd probably learn a lot from each other." Claire commented, and Erza nodded in agreement.

"Do you feel better after kicking her ass?" Laxus asked curiously.

"Not really. I think I'm more pissed off, now." She muttered, looking over at her sister, who Fried was in the process of picking up with the assistance of Lucy.

"Why?"

"She said she learned that from Joseph… who knows what else he taught her." She said in all seriousness, and the group looked at her in surprise, and then glanced back to the unconscious girl. Erza and Makarov didn't quite know the seriousness of her words, but Laxus did. Joseph had a known association with Zeref.

"He's the dragon that brought you to this world, right?" Erza asked, and Claire nodded.

"Yes. He was incredibly dangerous."

"Have you two learned anything new about this dragon? All that I know is that he summoned your family to this world." Makarov asked in a hushed voice, looking between the siblings. They both exchanged a glance, deciding it was time to leak their earlier agreed upon information.

"We think he worked with Zeref." Laxus spoke, and both of their eyes widened.

"Are you certain?" Erza asked.

"No." Claire answered. "And we can't disclose our source, but… we're, like, 99.99% certain." _Only lying by .01%..._

"How were they involved with each other?"

"We think they made a deal at one point. Information on Carol in exchange for something else. Whether they had further dealings outside of that, we have no idea." She explained, and really, it wasn't that far off. Laxus and her had been concerned when they first realized that, since Zeref created the book to summon them he may have asked for something in return, and that 'something' could potentially be bad.

"The water dragon went to Zeref for information on her?" Makarov clarified. "Do you know what he gave in exchange?"

"No idea."

"So Zeref could have a weapon from a dragon somewhere?" Erza asked, and they nodded. "Do you think Carol would have any idea what it is?"

Claire snorted. "He fed her bullshit about our family being safe and sound on our world, and she didn't ask questions. I doubt he told her anything… She thinks he was a saint." She scoffed, chewing the inside of her cheek.

"I'll question her about it tonight. She likes to visit the dormitory baths at night." Erza decided. Claire seemed to stare off into space for a moment, and then turned back to the requip mage.

"Has she been making friends here?' She asked curiously.

"She and Lisanna seemed to hit it off yesterday, and most of the men in the guild enjoy her presence. Why, are you worried about her?"

"I may not like her, but I don't want her to end up like our mom, either." Claire answered, looking back to the guild hall. Nearly everyone had gone back inside, and she presumed that Carol had been carried to the infirmary.

"Your mom?" Erza asked, and then her eyes softened, remembering what happened to her. Makarov was the only one that didn't know, and he looked between the trio curiously.

"My mom killed herself because she couldn't handle living on this world. Carol has been finding out a lot in a short amount of time, and eventually she'll realize just how much blood is on her hands. Can you keep an eye on her, since you both live in the dormitory?" She asked the red head, and she nodded.

"There's also the risk that she'll lose control of her magic." Laxus added. "She could put people in danger, and we have no idea how strong she actually is."

"You have a point. When she first came to this world I found her in jail for destroying a couple of buildings." Claire added.

7.

Bickslow woke up to the sound of rapid knocking on their bedroom door.

He groaned.

More knocking.

"We really need to stop letting him sleep with us." Bickslow grumbled, rolling onto his back and sighing tiredly. When they first took Michael in they slept together because his dad had just died, and they had slowly started encouraging him to sleep in his own room. With the arrival of their new beds yesterday, it made it easier for them to sleep, and they had hoped that it would be an easy transition.

Last night he slept through 'til morning, but evidently that wouldn't happen this night.

"We can have a conversation with him about it tomorrow."

"He needs to learn how to manage his nightmares on his own." He grumbled, and Claire turned on her other side, raising her eyebrows at him.

"You're judging someone else for having nightmares? Really, honey?" She asked, and he groaned, slapping his forehead tiredly.

"Shut up, I'm tired."

"Then go let him in so we can go back to sleep." She grumbled just as tiredly, and rolled back to her other side, snuggling back into the sheets. Bickslow sighed, again, and reluctantly got out of bed to let the panicked sounding boy inside. Upon opening the door Michael wrapped his arms around the man's waist, crying into his stomach, and Bickslow picked him up and carried him over to the bed.

8.

"Everyone laughed at me." Michael pouted, slouched over as he fidgeted with his hands in his lap. After picking him up from school, instead of doing their usual shopping, they decided on going straight home.

"What happened?" Claire asked, sitting cross-legged on the floor near him. Bickslow sat in the middle of couch next to the boy, one arm hanging over the back and a leg folded beneath him.

"I made a friend… she was really nice and pretty, and her name was Stacey…"

"Did they think she had cooties or something?" Bickslow asked.

"No one else could see her." The brunette said, his lower lip trembling. Bickslow's head moved so that he could rub his temples with his hand, feeling bad for his nephew. Claire looked between the pair, unable to make eye contact with either of them. "They thought I was making her up…"

"I had kept an eye out for any wandering souls when I was there, but I must have missed her." Bickslow muttered, keeping his eyes closed as he mentally berated himself.

"Hey, this isn't the end of the world." Claire said cheerfully. "Let's logically analyze the situation and see if we can find a remedy for it. We can't change the past, but we can affect the future. Tell us exactly what they said."

"They said I-I imagined it." Michael stuttered, his eyes red and watery.

"And of course we know you did not. You just have an extra sense that most people don't have, and it allows you to see souls. Kind of like X-Ray vision or heat vision." She explained, and through the tears, the 9 year old smiled. "What else did they say?"

"The teacher said that she's my i-imaginary f-friend."

"We'll have another talk with your teacher." Bickslow told him.

"Anything else?" Claire asked.

"They called me lame…"

"What do the boys in your class like to do?"

"I don't know…" He muttered awkwardly, and shifted in his seat.

"Hey," Claire spoke, and reached up to hold his hands, making him look up at her. "Starting school is difficult, especially when you've never gone before, and we're proud of you for doing this. If you stick with it, I promise that you'll make friends, and you're going to love it. You're not alone, and no matter what, Bickslow and I will be there for you."

"You promise?" He asked, and she smiled up at him.

"I promise. Pinky swear?" She suggested, holding up her pinky. He smiled, linking his own pinky with it.

"Hey, I want in on this pinky action." Bickslow spoke, joining in with his own pinky, and soon after started a tickle fight with him. They laughed and played for a short time, and once Michael had cheered up, he admitted another problem he'd had at school.

"I saw my brother yesterday."

"Nathan?" Claire asked, and he nodded.

"He wasn't allowed to talk to me, but he did, so don't tell anyone…"

"What did he say? How is he doing?" Bickslow asked curiously, although he suspected the answer wouldn't be pleasant. He knew his parents all too well.

"He's going to runaway, and he wants to come here." Michael answered, and the couple exchanged a look. "Can he? Please?"

"We have talked about it…" Bickslow trailed off, looking at his fiancé for an indication of her feelings on the matter. Honestly, he had hated growing up with his parents, and he had no idea how his nephew and niece were being treated there. He also hated the idea of his family growing up with the demons he called 'mom' and 'dad', and had expressed the worry to Claire on multiple occasions.

Adopting children was a big decision, and they had been considerably worried when they took Michael in. He had an extremely troubled past, and they were both terrified of not having the proper resources to help him.

And again… they really had no idea how Nathan and Samantha were being treated there. For all they knew Bickslow's parents had turned into loving grandparents that doted on their grandchildren, or they were the same as when he was a child, getting drunk and screaming at each other every other night.

"How about I visit your parents next week and see how they're doing?" Claire suggested. "They've been adamant about not staying in contact, and I don't want to make any promises to you without knowing the situation better."

Michael grinned at her.

"And if Nathan does come here, we won't turn him away." Bickslow added. "He can't live here, though. Not until we talk to my parents."

"More babies?" Riley asked, popping up and joining them. They'd been so busy lately that they didn't get to hang out as much with their wandering souls.

"Nathan's not a baby. He's my big brother." Michael said proudly.

9.

"How about sexy Egyptian lady?" Bickslow asked, holding up the costume to her body.

"No." She replied immediately, and he made a small 'aaw' sound. They were currently shopping for Halloween costumes with Michael, and each of them had different reasons to be excited for the holiday. Bickslow was ecstatic because he was working at a haunted house this year, and last year was the first in 5+ years that he'd missed working there, so he was extra excited to work on _his_ holiday again. It was a notoriously scary haunted house, in fact one of the best in the country (according to _Sorcerer Weekly_ and several other magazines), and the seith mage prided himself in it. This would be the first time that Claire could really see him in his element, and he was determined to scare her at some point in the night.

Michael, which this utterly baffled his uncle, was less than interested in trick-or-treating. His uncle provided him with so much sugar on a daily basis that there was no reason to get more of it. The young brunette was, instead, interested in the costumes. More than anything he was excited to attend the guild hall Halloween party and then his uncle's haunted house, just to see the costumes and make up.

Claire… well, it reminded her of her home world, and she was a little interested in the haunted house. She had never been to one on her home world, nor this one, so she was curious whether it would actually scare her. She loved zombie, vampire, and other creepy crawly video games, so she expected that she would enjoy this, too.

"Sexy vampire?" Bickslow asked, holding up another skimpy dress to her body.

"Why do you keep pulling out the 'sexy' costumes? And why aren't you looking for a costume for yourself?"

"I already have mine." He said, letting his tongue hang out. "What do you have against sexy costumes?"

"I don't want to dress slutty on Halloween."

"Why not? Why'd you stop wearing those sexy dresses, by the way?" He added, realizing that she'd stopped wearing dresses in general. At Blue Pegasus they wore a specific style of dress, and since Claire's body only really looked good in one style they wouldn't have liked, he understood why she chose the suit. But there had been other formal times when she could have worn a dress, and didn't….

"Wearing dresses makes me feel like a 16 year old, so I stopped wearing them."

"But you don't look like a 16 year old in them…" He said sadly, and pouting. Snaking his hands around her waist and letting his cloak cascade around down her back, he discretely cupped her very nice ass. The part of the clothing store they were at was pretty secluded, so he wasn't too worried about getting in trouble.

"Bickslow…" She giggled, turning and giving him a stern look.

"When you wear sexy dresses you do not look like a 16 year old." He said more firmly and keeping his hands on her. He moved his hands across her body, keeping one arm wrapped around her and bringing her flush against him, meanwhile Bickslow went back to pulling out skimpy outfits. "Sexy nurse?"

10.

Apparently, up until 10 PM, the infamous haunted house had a 'kids version'. It was more of the classic and tame haunted house, with plenty of dancing skeletons and devils prancing about. Overall it was very artistic and costume oriented, which made Michael more than happy. When Claire and Michael went inside she was pretty sure that she recognized Bickslow as one of the skeletons, and figured that that was his 'Halloween costume'.

The seith mage had convinced her to buy the stupid nurse costume. Granted, she got to alter it to be a 'zombie nurse' costume, but still. He got to wear black from head-to-toe with glow in the dark paint on it.

She had never seen so many 'sick' guild mates before in her life when she arrived at the mess hall with Michael, and she heard more than a few men cough around her when she had to wait in line for a half hour for the haunted house, trying to get her attention. It technically wasn't Halloween yet, but in Magnolia people liked dressing up early for it, and Michael had convinced her to wear a costume with him so that he wouldn't look stupid.

Laxus would likely never stop making fun of her for it, and Rufus did a drawing of her, which a surprising number of people tried to get their hands on.

October 25th, 1:00 AM

After 10 PM, the haunted house 'got serious', as Bickslow put it. It wasn't about the classic Halloween basics, and instead about getting screams.

And they sure as hell got them.

While Claire waited in line, she had heard more than a few screams come from within the mansion. For the entire week leading up to Halloween, this haunted house was fully booked. Every other night it was open to the general public, where they would wait in line for sometimes an hour to get in; while on the other nights it was restricted to people that paid extra in advance to not wait in line as long, and one person of choice from each staff member. Claire was one of the latter.

Every year, Bickslow chose a different person. He'd gone through his entire team plus two other random friends. All of them screamed at least once, if not multiple times, although Laxus would never admit to it.

Most of the people she waited in line with had paid a lot to come to this, and wouldn't shut up about how amazing it was. They were haunted house enthusiasts that attended this haunted house every year, and apparently they never failed to scare them. It was supposed to be _the_ most elaborate, terrifying, and horrifying event of the season.

Bickslow told her, _promised her_ , that he would get her to scream at some point in the night.

"You must be Bickslow's girlfriend." The woman accepting tickets said with a smile. She was covered head-to-toe in tattoos, and her booth was in the style of old fortune teller machines.

"Yeah, this is my first time going to a haunted house."

"Ever?"

"Well, I came here a few hours ago with Bixy's nephew," Claire explained, and the green-haired woman smiled.

"He said that you would be difficult to scare, and to try extra hard when it's your turn. The staff actually turned it into a challenge, and when you got here, I was supposed to notify everyone."

"Goody."

"It'll be another 5 minutes until you can enter. We have to have enough space between each person."

"I understand." Claire replied, and stood there awkwardly.

"Nice nurse costume." She said after a moment. The checker woman was wearing a dress that was a little too short and showed off her cleavage, and she wasn't sure how she let Bickslow talk her into wearing it. She suspected that he just wanted to show off his 'hot girlfriend' to his friends.

"Thanks."

After about five minutes of standing around and hearing screams of terror through the mansion, she was finally able to enter. She was instructed to enter through a door, and like the 'kids version', she would proceed room by room through the entire mansion.

To her annoyance, when the door slammed shut on its own, she was left in complete darkness. Standing in the middle of the room for a moment, waiting for some kind of light to come on, she sighed. This was the 'mummy room', if she remembered correctly. "Was I supposed to bring a flashlight?" She asked, staring into the darkness and unable to find any source of light whatsoever.

Feeling a presence in the room, she realized that a wandering soul was in the dark space.

"Hey dude. Or girl. If you're in a vessel, can you glow or something? Or, I guess I'm technically not supposed to know you're there…" She rambled, sensing that the wandering soul was touching her arm. "I wonder if you're just a friendly ghost helper, or if another seith mage works here?" She talked to herself, and when she was simply met by more silence, she sighed.

It didn't smell pleasant, and she suspected that they had rotting road kill all over the mansion to add to the rotting corpse atmosphere. To most people, even those with sensitive smell, it was pretty convincing. For someone that had actually been in a decrepit crypt with half dead corpses writhing in agony, it was easy to tell the difference.

Carefully, she reached her hands out in front of her and started navigating the room. Heels clacked against the ground as she walked, and she hoped that there was nothing on the ground for her to trip over. She was pretty good with heels, but she doubted herself when she couldn't actually see her feet.

"Getting bored…" She spoke, and finally found a door. When she felt around for the handle, she realized that it didn't have one, and was replaced by a metal circle. "Lame. Still bored.

Her hands touched something hairy, and she flinched away, going around it.

Finally, something happened.

Two hands landed on her upper arms, holding her in place.

And… stood there.

"Sup." She spoke, and reached her hand up to start tapping various parts of the hands, arms, and chest. It was a man in a suit of armor, probably to keep people from hurting him when he did that. "This is like a poorly planned sex game."

Well, at least she didn't expect what happened next.

The suit of armor snorted, and then started chuckling, and it turned into full blown laughter. Probably upon realizing that he'd ruined any chance of scaring her in that room, he turned on the lights, which basically lit up the room with black lights. The suited man was covered in strange glowing colors, and he let go of her, still laughing and doubling over in his hysterics.

She smiled triumphantly as the door opened, and she felt rather proud for tripping up one of the 'experts' of the haunted house.

"Charisma: +1." She said softly, and walked out of the room to the next one. Between each main room, there were waiting rooms so that people wouldn't accidentally catch up to each other. A door leading into the next room was open, and she could hear someone inside. Walking into the hospital style room, or dentist style, she looked around to see where the person was.

When she got close enough she smiled, realizing that it wasn't a person.

It was her babies.

The sound kind of freaked her out, because it was the exact same sound they made when they were bound to decaying corpses last year, but she was just proud that they were able to reenact it so well. Smiling, she walked over to the 'person' in the dentist chair, who was leaning back with his face half off and teeth full of extremely sharp and grotesque metal. Halfway between the door and the chair, the door slowly closed, and when she looked back to her babies, they had fallen from the chair. Their make up was exceptionally done, and whoever did the manikin did a good job. It looked very realistic, and only someone with enough experience around dead bodies would be able to see the small imperfections.

Her babies walked towards her like the classic half-zombie reaching towards her, as there was a soul in the head and each hand of the 'body'. Its hands screeched on the floor as it gripped the smooth white surface, staining it with blood as it moved.

"Aaw, babies, I'm so proud of you. You're doing such a great job." She cooed, crouching down and holding her arms out to them.

"Moooommy, you're supposed to be scared of us." They whined in unison and breaking character.

"I'm a zombie nurse, it's okay for me to hug fellow zombies." She said, and fell to her knees as they hugged her, humming against her skin and avoiding scratching her with the metal mouth.

In the observation room, Bickslow smacked his palm against his forehead as his coworker howled in laughter.

The next room was filled with creepy crawlies, which, annoyed Claire more than anything. There was a giant spider, lots of little spiders, giant centipedes, the ground looked like it had been covered in vegetation (she cursed at Bickslow when she had to take her shoes off) and plenty other bugs she didn't recognize. A few snakes slithered across the ground, and she kicked one of them into the wall when it touched her foot.

Most of the haunted house went on in that fashion, and although she was impressed by the time and effort they put into it, wasn't 'scared'. She probably laughed more often than not, and managed to get a couple of other staff members to break character like the first one. Those were probably her favorite moments.

It was too much like the video games she played on her world, and it felt more nostalgic than anything.

By the end she had had a good time, but the entire thing went on for a lot longer than she would have liked, and she walked home yawning tiredly.

11.

October 26th, 12:03 PM

As promised, Claire walked to the Yoshino residence and knocked on the door.

She had kind of hoped that no one would be there at that time of day, and she could simply leave her note and head home. The note was an envelope with a letter addressed to them, asking if they could meet sometime in the near future to discuss Nathan and Samantha.

To her misfortune, the door clicked and swung open, revealing a very tired looking Mrs. Yoshino. She was in a paisley red and white dress, 5 year old girl in her arms, and her hair was a mess. Bags were under her eyes and her skin looked pale and ashen.

"Hi, Mrs. Yoshino. I don't know if you remember me, I'm Claire Groh."

"I remember." She said simply, and standing there like she was ready to slam the door in her face. The little girl in her arms waved cutely at the fire mage, smiling as she remembered her checker hair.

"Look, I was hoping that we could talk about Nathan and Samantha sometime? Michael really misses his brother, and-" Claire spoke, and as predicted, the blue-haired woman slammed the door in her face. "… we could have lunch sometime. You know what? I'll just leave this letter here. It has our new address and if you change your mind, I have contact information inside, and of course you can contact me through the guild." She continued, talking through the door.

The door clicked again, indicating that it was locked.

"I hope you reconsider. Bickslow really cares about his family, and so do I." She spoke, and set the envelope on the door.

12.

October 26th, 2:10 PM

"You're doing the haunted house again!" Bickslow announced when he arrived, staring down his girlfriend who had a spoonful of soup in her mouth. She blinked up at him as he sat down, confused as to why he seemed angry.

"… okay." She shrugged indifferently.

"Why the enthusiasm?" Fried asked curiously.

"She didn't scream once the entire time last night, and made half of the staff laugh during her walk. They have never done that before. Well, except Jane, but she's a giggle freak. Claire made them laugh!" He said exasperatedly.

"You weren't scared?" Evergreen asked, surprised.

"Eh." She shrugged. "I mean, the effects were great and they did a bunch of classic video game stuff, which was awesome, but it didn't scare me. Most of the anatomy on the corpses were pretty realistic, so kudos to whoever did that. I see why your haunted house is so popular."

"But it didn't make you scream." Bickslow said, glaring from beneath his visor with his jaw on his palm.

"… well, think about the person you're trying to scare." Laxus spoke, and the seith mage turned to him. "Claire, remember that zombie job we did?" He asked her, and she grinned goofily at the memory.

"Yeah, but it wasn't just zombie stuff. There were spiders, ghosts, vampires, demons, you name it we have it. None of it scared her. She didn't even flinch at the jump scares."

"Bacchus pretty much made her desensitized to any and everything." Laxus told him.

"And then you further desensitized me in training…." Claire added, looking at him pointedly. He merely smirked and went back to his soup.

"We've never had someone not scream. _No one_. We even test it on each other before the opening to make sure that it's solid." Bickslow spoke, going back to the haunted house.

"It probably didn't help that I made the first guy I met fall to the floor laughing." She said, and Bickslow tried not to smile. His colleague had to replace him after that because he couldn't stop laughing.

"So you really weren't scared?" Ever asked again.

"I'm pretty sure you made me partially deaf from all of _your_ screaming." Bickslow said, turning to her.

"Are you guys talking about the haunted house?" Carol asked as she approached them. Fried instantly scooted over and invited her to join them, to which Bickslow glared behind his visor and Claire visibly stiffened. The brunette sat between her sister and Fried, and she set her bowl of soup on the table space in front of her.

"Yes, we are. Have you gone before?" Fried asked politely.

"I was invited to go tonight." She replied with a smile.

"Bickslow works there."

"That's cool. I haven't been to one in years, so I'm excited to check it out. Have you been to it, Claire?"

"Yeah, I went last night." She replied, going back to her soup.

"Oh man, I wish I had been there. You've always been a scaredy cat with that type of thing- remember 8th grade?" She asked with a laugh, and the checker woman nodded.

"Yeah."

"It was always so weird." Carol spoke. "Claire loved the creepiest video games, but when it came to real life, she was such an easy target. Remember when we got those monster masks and scared the hell out of Corey?"

"Yep. So Bickslow, I stopped by your parents house today. I left a note telling them to contact us." She asked, looking up at her fiancé and ignoring the dejected pout from her sister.

"They weren't home?" He asked.

"Your mom slammed the door in my face, so I left the note and said I looked forward to hearing from her."

"Sounds like something she'd do."

"Why'd you talk to his parents?" Ever asked curiously.

"We want to check up on Nathan and Sam." Bickslow replied.

13.

October 26th, 8:23 PM

Claire sat in the living room of her home, clad in her pajamas and slippers, leaning back in the love seat and staring at her current dilemma.

Nathan was there.

The ten year old arrived on her doorstep five minutes earlier with a backpack. His brother currently sat next to him with pleading eyes, and she was slightly conflicted on what to do. First thing she would do is hear him out, second was take him home.

"Do your grandparents know that you're here?" She asked, even though she suspected the answer. The short brunette shook his head, sitting up straight with his chin up.

"If they know I ran away, they'll send me to military camp."

"So why'd you run?"

"I can't live in that hell hole anymore." He told her, and she raised her eyebrows at his language. His gaze was determined, set, and stayed locked with hers.

"Are they abusing you?" She asked bluntly. Under normal circumstances she probably wouldn't be as direct with a child his age, but she knew what he was like from what Michael told her. He was the one that looked after his little brother and mother growing up, and had likely seen horrors she couldn't imagine. Nathan was smart and wise beyond his years.

He didn't answer her, so she guessed that the answer was more complicated than that- or maybe she overestimated his maturity level.

"Walk me through a normal day for you, Nathan. Tell me about your grandparents."

"… what if you don't believe me?" He asked, suddenly skeptical of her. She shrugged.

"So long as you don't lie, don't worry about it. I'm a woman of evidence, so anything you tell me I'll try to confirm before taking action."

"What if there's no evidence?"

"If there's absolutely no evidence, I'll stay neutral. However, if what you tell me is serious enough or I deem it necessary, I'll involve law enforcement. My concern is your safety and well-being." She explained. "In other words, I'm an adult, and if you're in trouble I'll help you."

Nathan squirmed in his seat for a moment, avoiding her gaze, and then looked up again with a determined stare. "My grand-" His words were interrupted by a loud banging on the door, which caused the boys to jump in alarm.

"Open this damn door, you demon freaks!" A loud and angry man yelled from the front door. Claire got up and walked over to Michael and Nathan.

"I'll take care of this, alright? It's going to be okay." She told them, placing a comforting hand on their shoulders. Nathan looked especially frightened, and she gently held him down to keep him from going anywhere. "Remember that fire magic I have?" She asked him, looking him in the eye. It was hard for him to look at her with all the yelling from the man at the door, but he did, and he nodded. "I'm one of the strongest mages in a world. That man doesn't stand a chance against me. So stay here while I take care of him, and I promise you, he won't harm you."

He nodded, and she leaned in to give both of them a kiss on their temple. Unfortunately Riley was working with Bickslow for the night, or else she would have asked him to watch the boys, but she figured they would be okay if they had each other.

Claire abruptly opened the door, not surprised by the man she found on the other side.

Mr. Yoshino stood there, eyes wild, and reeked of beer. He wore a stained gray shirt and jeans, his face was unshaven, and he stood at 6 ½ feet tall, towering over her. "Where the hell is my grandson?"

"Mr. Yoshino, please calm down."

"Where the HELL is my GRANDSON?"

"Either calm down or I'll restrain you until you do calm down." She told him, and before he could grab her, she grabbed his wrist and bent it at a painful angle, causing him to fall to his knees. "You may be taller but I am much stronger, Mr. Yoshino. Threats will not work against me." She seethed, and he stared up at her enraged.

"Return my grandson or I'm calling the cops."

"I'll make the call if you're willing to wait outside. You're intoxicated and caused damage to my property. So you should either calm down now, or you'll spend the night in a jail cell."

"Go to hell."

"Go fuck yourself." She said, and pushed his wrist further to make him cry out in pain. "Go home. If Nathan shows up, I'll let you know."

She kicked him down the few stairs leading up to her porch, and watched him leave while grumbling under his breath, holding his injured wrist.

Closing the door and locking it, she listened for the boys in the living room. "Michael? Nathan? He's gone." She walked back into the living room portion, and her shoulders slumped when she saw one of the boys missing. Her adoptive son looked guiltily at his lap, fidgeting with his hands as tears fell onto his sleeves. "Where did he go?"

Not surprisingly, Michael said nothing. Claire smelled the air and followed the boys scent to the back door, and when she peered into the backyard, found that there was no sign of him. She stood in the open door for a moment, letting the cool fall breeze roll into the house. It was dark outside, even with their pathetic porch light, and it was also cold.

"Nathan, if you can hear me, Mr. Yoshino is gone. You're always welcome here, please be safe." The fire mage spoke into the darkness, and after waiting a few seconds, closed the door.

14.

October 27th, 3:00 AM

Thankfully, Laxus was babysitting that night.

Even though she knew that he would look after Michael, she couldn't help feeling nervous about leaving him alone. She felt bad for the entire thing and hoped that Nathan was alright. After she had contacted Bickslow about it, she searched backyard and the surrounding streets for the runaway child, calling out his name and hoping that he had stayed in the area. Nathan was alone and probably scared, and with his drunken grandfather running around, she didn't want to think about what could happen. Both Laxus and Bickslow assured her he would be fine, as Magnolia was an exceptionally safe place and the only 'bad people' were the violent ruffians of Fairy Tail, which if any of them found the little brunette they would take care of him. Not to mention this apparently wasn't the first time that Nathan had run away from home, and he always turned out fine.

More than anything now, she didn't want to be walking to the stupid haunted house at 3 in the morning in a skimpy nurse costume. It wasn't even a zombie costume anymore because she didn't want to put the stupid make up on.

Claire, unlike Nathan, and going to 'get the scare of her life'.

"Right on time." The fortune teller said with a smile. "You ready to be scared?"

"If I fake scream, can I go home?" Claire asked, and the woman laughed. As she continued laughing, she disappeared into darkness. "I'll take that as a 'no'…" She muttered.

The house felt unusually vacant, with the usual screams unheard. The fire mage guessed that this was an after hours project, and wondered if the staff were actually up for the challenge or if Bickslow just talked them into it. Although, she supposed that she would make for a good guinea pig if any of the staff were hoping to try out some new material, so she hoped that this wouldn't be a complete waste of time for them.

Unlike the other two times she had been in this house, as soon as she entered the massive closed doors, there was no indication for where she should go.

And, unlike last time, the massive front room wasn't a tourist section. Earlier there was a gift shop to the side neatly open and overflowing with people, signs pointing to everywhere, and an 'enter' sign to the door she was supposed to go to. This time, however, nothing was clearly labeled, it was dark, and she guessed that the entire staff was in that room.

The black lights were on, and everyone was moving in the darkness with their glowing skeleton paint sometimes peeping through. It wasn't scary per say, but it was immensely cool to have waves of people swarming around her in the darkness and occasionally grabbing her ankles or arms. It was surprisingly quiet, too, which she gave them major props for.

"Even with my heightened hearing it's hard to pick up on you guys. Nice." She said with a grin, and walked further into the house. "Now, should I go the previous route, or-?" Before she could ask, her legs were sweeped out from under her and she was carried to a different room.

"Ow…" She whined after they tossed her on the floor and shut the door, leaving her alone in a room. There must have been secret doors leading into every room, which was to be expected, and she found herself in a room that was halfway through the walk. _At least this will be shorter than the last two tours…._

In the middle of the room was a small round table with a crystal ball on it. In front of it was a piece of paper saying "DO NOT TOUCH!", and it wasn't there yesterday.

Yawning, she pushed herself onto her feet, and walked over to the ball. She glanced around first, making sure there wasn't anything else obvious she was supposed to do, and then tapped the smooth object.

She fucking hated illusions.

In front of her the floor turned into a grotesque, tar like substance that swallowed the table and ball. She found herself unable to move, her stupid 4 inch shoes caught in it, and slowly sinking.

From within the bubbling tar something reached out to her, and as she sunk lower, something grabbed the back of her calf. "Mom…" One of them groaned, although it was such a strange sound, she doubted that's what it actually said. Nonetheless that's what she heard, and her heart sunk.

Small creatures started emerging from the tar and reaching out to her, and all she could see were the dead children in her life. Her two nieces, the baby that Carol aborted, Michael, Nathan, Sam….

They continued reaching for her, grabbing her, and pulling her down.

She felt depressed.

 _So many dead babies… and I couldn't do anything for them…._

Once her head had been submerged, she found herself back in the untouched room, still touching the 'DO NOT TOUCH!' crystal ball. She removed her hand, pouting and now feeling sad, and looked around the room for an indication of where she should go next. One of the doors burst wide open.

Leather straps immediately attacked her ankles and wrists, pulling her into the air and then strapping her down to a metal slab in the next room. It was much rougher than anything in her earlier experiences, so she guessed that Bickslow had given them the okay to be a little less gentle. "Not again. This might be scarier if-" Before she could further comment, a strap covered her mouth, and she squeezed her eyes shut when a harsh light shined on her face.

Like most of the house, it smelled like death in the room, but it was particularly strong in this one. She could hear drills and other eerie sounds nearby, which, considering that she had been in this position before in real life, it wasn't that realistic….

"Alright, Miss Groh," A voice now spoke, and moved the light slightly so that she could make out his form. "You've been scheduled for a heart transplant, and after I take the organ out…" He began to explain all the 'horrors' he would perform on her. She started taking mental notes on the parts he was blatantly 'wrong', or just a little off on, and after a few minutes of him trying to be scary, he took the strap off.

"If you're trying to go for a necromancer feel, you might want to focus more on…" She spoke, and started listing all the things he'd done wrong. Although he was a little surprised at first, he then took out a small notepad and started taking notes. "… which, if you're going purely for theatrics, you did a pretty decent job, but if you find yourself operating on a doctor or anyone that knows anatomy, you're more likely to make them laugh when you…"

"Uh… thanks?" He asked towards the end. "Mind if I ask how you know so much about necromancy…?"

"The leader of the Ghoul Guild is a necromancer, and he tried to recruit me a while back. Used his body possession spell to keep me still and listen to his entire process."

"Really? He just… sat you down and explained everything?"

"Pretty much. I can't go into detail about the circumstances, but that pretty much covers it." She said, and they sat there in silence for a moment, just laying/standing there. "So, uh, how's your day going? I hope this wasn't too much of a bother for you guys, I know that Bickslow can get carried away sometimes."

"Oh not at all, we were pretty excited about this. Just like I am about cutting out your organs! Mwahahaha!" He laughed theatrically, and when she merely smiled up at him, he sighed. "Really? Nothing?"

"I think you're doing a great job?" She said with an awkward shrug. "I might be a little more into it if I hadn't just gone through the illusion room. It made me kind of depressed."

The man took the paper barrier off his face, so she could actually see him for the first time. "Really? Depressed? The girl that sets that up usually does a really good job- I've never heard of someone saying they got _depressed_. Scared and sometimes a 'meh', but never depressed. Oh, I'm Simon, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Simon, I'm Claire. And I have a bad history with illusions, and the small creatures made me think of dead children, which was depressing. I have a little boy at home right now and his brother is missing."

"Do you and Bickslow have a kid together?"

"Yeah. Well, kind of. He's Bickslow's nephew and we adopted him."

"Oh that is too cute. Bickslow doesn't talk much about his personal life, well most of us don't, but I never pictured him as a dad. Anyway, good luck finding his brother, I should probably let you move onto the next room."

"Alright, well have a nice night." She said, and pulled at the restraints, but found that they weren't moving. Instead, the table beneath her started to move.

"Thanks, you too." He waved, and watched was she sped off on the dissection table. "Thanks again for the notes!"

The table sped up and zoomed out of the room, and she found herself a little more than unnerved by it. This was probably the 'scariest' part she'd seen so far, as it felt like the mode of transportation beneath her would collapse any second and send her flying.

Which, is exactly what it did.

After traveling through room after room, and practically the entire mansion, the front of it buckled and fell, the straps came undone, and she went flying into the air. Now, this wasn't the first time she'd been spontaneously flown into the air (thanks to her brothers) but it was the first time this had happened in a mini skirt and heels, and she was a little nervous about how she'd land.

She found herself flying into an empty ballroom, which was much more lit than most of the house, and there didn't seem to be anything to catch her.

As she plummeted to the ground after grazing the ceiling, she felt her body catch on webs. Everytime she broke one another was there to catch her, and it felt like she fell through 50 of them before she softly touched to the ground, safe and sound. "… huh." She muttered, and looked around, curious by this set up.

Carefully, she moved back to her feet, finding that there were spiders moving along the sides of the room, and she could sense a ton of wandering souls in the immediate area. Looking around, aside from the spiders, she couldn't really find anything creepy or odd about the situation.

She rubbed her arms and legs free of the webs, which were still clinging to her, and continued looking around.

"What are you planning…?" She wondered, feeling curious about the sheer number of souls around her. They seemed to be moving, possibly in a clockwise direction around her, but she couldn't be certain. It was odd, to say the least, and she hadn't sensed so many wandering souls in one room before. _I wonder how many seith mages are part of this…?_

A sign blinked on above one of the doors, signaling 'EXIT'. "… alright…" She muttered, and started walking to the stairs on the other side of the ballroom. She got closer and closer to the mass of souls, and paused just in front of them, making a whining sound.

There was no other route to the 'EXIT' sign, so she would have to go through.

"Here goes nothing…" _This is supposed to scare me, not hurt me, so-_

As she submerged into the soul wall, she was dead wrong.

It felt like her entire body was hit by a truck, and her senses completely overloaded in those seconds. She fell, holding her head and curling up into a ball to try and reduce the space that it would hurt, but it didn't help. Her 'extra sense' felt like it was being torn to pieces, and with it her entire body felt it had been submerged into a snowstorm. When her eyes blinked open, it looked as if she was in a tunnel of rainbows and colors, and if she wasn't in so much pain, she'd think that it was beautiful.

All she could hear was a roaring thunder.

After what felt like hours, something grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her out of whatever the hell she'd gone into.

"You okay?" A feminine voice asked.

"What the hell was that?" Claire asked, still curled up in a ball. She felt sore all over, and the sensation wasn't unlike hearing a massive explosion way too close by, except the ringing in her ears was across her body.

"We call it the 'soul train'. All of the seith mages put their wandering souls in this room, and they move in a large circle around whoever is inside."

"A little warning would have been nice…" She muttered, trying to recollect herself and sit up, but the sore sensation was still there and it hurt. It felt like someone threw a million razorblades at her. "Hurt like a goddamn fuckerfucker…"

"Bickslow mentioned that you could sense souls, but not see or hear them…. It probably just overloaded that ability. We usually don't use this on people sensitive to souls without warning, but those people can usually see what they're walking into…." The woman watched Claire for a moment, wondering just how bad her condition was. Children would sometimes react this way, but she couldn't recall a time it happened with an adult. Her coworker specifically told people that they didn't need to go easy on her, that she was an S-Ranked mage at Fairy Tail after all, and yet here she was curled up on the floor like a kid. She reached for her communications lacrima and pulled it to her mouth. "Bicks, you should come over to the ballroom."

In the next room, Bickslow blinked in surprise and then sulked. He'd been waiting perfectly still for the past five minutes waiting for Claire, excited for her to go into _his_ room, and now it was ruined. He reached for his own communications lacrima hanging from his belt. "Is she okay?"

"The soul train took her out."

"Soul train? Really?" He asked, and after a moment, he sighed. Jumping down from his perch he went over to the door and walked through, going into the ballroom. As he walked forward and looked down at the dance floor, he could see the rainbow of souls still moving around in a large circle below, while his fiancé was curled up on the floor next to his coworker in a skeleton suit.

"I thought your girl was going to be a challenge?" The skeleton woman asked as he made his way down the stairs.

"I thought this was about scaring me, not causing physical pain." Claire growled back, and the skeleton chuckled.

Bickslow had gone through the soul train hundreds of times, and although the first few times had been a little intimidating, he'd learned to grow indifferent to it. Sometimes it was kind of fun to walk into a river of rainbows and glowing colors, and he'd heard of his coworkers getting high and laying around in it.

When he got to Claire he sat down in front of her, taking his mask off in the process and getting a good look at her. She was shaking, curled up in a ball, and her eyes mostly stayed closed but occasionally blinked open. "You okay?" Bickslow asked softly, and reached over to touch her cheek. She flinched at the contact.

"Can we go home now? I'm freezing cold, my everything hurts, and I'm worried about Michael and Nathan."

"Have you heard of the soul train hurting anyone, Carla?" Bickslow asked, looking over at his colleague who had started to walk away.

"I've heard of it happening to children." She replied, smirking beneath her mask. "You mentioned that she's sensitive to wandering souls. How ever she senses them probably just got overloaded, and she'll be fine."

Bickslow frowned, looking back down at his fiancé. She did have heightened senses, not just for wandering souls, so it was possible that those got 'overloaded' in the train, too. The souls were _supposed_ to be quiet when they did it, but sometimes they giggled or got bored and could get loud. Not to mention Fried had cast an extra enchantment around the mansion so that Claire wouldn't accidentally burn things with her magic, so the added drain may be contributing. Claire had been around poltergeists and his souls so often he never considered this would have been an issue. "Can you walk?" He asked after a while.

"I'll let the others know that it's over." His coworker spoke as she walked away, already getting her communication lacrima out again.

Claire shifted, slowly, and tried to uncurl herself. She was shaking, something that Bickslow wasn't accustomed to seeing her do, and she looked absolutely exhausted.

"How about you let me carry you home?" He asked, letting his tongue hang out. In all honestly he was pretty exhausted from his 10 hour shift, but it was his fault she got hurt, and it was pretty rare he got to play the 'knight in shining armor' card. Even when Claire was injured she was pretty self-sufficient, and he liked the idea of being all manly and carrying his girlfriend home. "I just need to stop by the observation room to get my cloak and a few other things, and then I can head out."

"I guess I'll wait here?"

"No way. You put up with the 'challenge' tour, so you get to see the behind the scenes." He said with a grin, and before she could try and stand, he hooked his arms under her back and knees, picking her up. Holding her against him, he dismissed any objections she had and took an alternate route out of the ballroom.

After showing her around the mansion a bit, and showing _her_ off by being less than subtle in his 'check out my hot girlfriend' attitude when they happened across his coworkers, they eventually made it to the observation room. It was connected to the break room, and next to that was the men's locker room, and on the other side of the room was the women's locker room. Bickslow set her down on an empty couch, got his cloak hanging from a coat rack to put around her shivering body, and then went to the locker room to change.

She helped herself to a cookie while she waited, and recognized Simon as he walked in. "Hey Simon." She greeted, and he smiled as well, still clad in his doctors outfit.

"Hey Claire, how's it going?"

"Not too bad. Bickslow just showed me around the building, and I'm waiting for him to change."

"Cool, how far did you get tonight? Did you get to the alligator room?"

"No, the soul train took me out."

"The soul train? I thought you were used to being around wandering souls?" He asked curiously, standing by the snack table and popping a few pieces of popcorn in his mouth.

"It didn't scare me, it just overloaded my senses. Hurt like a motherfucker."

"Really?" He asked, surprised.

"Yeah. It sucked." She said with a frown.

"Huh. Well, sorry to hear that- usually people just get weirded out by it and keep walking. Most people scream, and we normally use it on people that are hard to scare."

"How many seith mages work here?" She asked curiously, and he smiled.

"Too many." He chuckled. "There's about 10 that I know of, and the rest are non-seith mages, like me. This haunted house was founded by dark mages, but light mages came in and redid it. Now it's a way for seith mages around the country to gather for a common interest, along with other people interested in the dark arts that don't want to do it for real."

"That's really cool." She said with a grin. "Are the seith mages all specialists with human souls, or are there the animal ones, too?" As she asked the question, someone else came into the break room and headed to the snack table. The skeleton woman took her mask off and started filling up a paper plate with food, and Claire noticed that she had the same tattoo as Bickslow.

"The 10 I mentioned specialize in human souls, and there's a few animal soul specialists, but not that many. They're usually the ones to provide the animal carcasses."

"Which smell terrible." Claire added, and both of the snacking staff chuckled.

"We're around it so often that we've gotten used to it." Simon replied. Claire blinked and rubbed her eyes tiredly, wishing that her vision would go back to normal. Everything was blurry and glowy, and would shift back and forth between normal and weird every few minutes. Her ability to sense when wandering souls were nearby was completely shot, and even though she knew souls were nearby, she couldn't sense them.

It was frustrating, and 4 AM, and she was worried about Michael waking up in the middle of the night with no one to comfort him. "How long have you guys been working here?" Claire asked, looking back up at them. Conversation was a good distraction.

"I've been here for 3 years." Simon said.

"8 years." The seith mage replied, stuffing her face with food. Hearing her voice, she recognized her has the skeleton that pulled her from the soul train.

"YOU!" Someone yelled, entering the room and stopping to point at the sitting fire mage. She blinked up at the large skeleton man, who was still in costume.

"Oi, oi, don't block the doorway." Someone spoke behind him, and the large skeleton stepped out of the way for them to walk past.

"… me?" Claire asked, looking at the skeleton still pointing at her.

"He was the one you made laugh with the sex joke." A red headed woman stated as she pulled off her hood, and started filling up a plate with food.

"It was so freaking accurate!" The large man stated, bursting into laughter that she instantly recognized, and watched as he once again fell to the floor laughing. More and more people started filling the room, and Bickslow finally emerged from the locker room in his usual striped shirt and skirt.

"I see you met Greg." He said with a chuckle, seeing the large man still laughing on the floor.

"Kind of." She chuckled, and looked back up at her fiancé. "Ready to go?"

"Yep." He said, and he helped her stand, clad that she could walk on her own.

"Bye guys, happy Halloween." She waved, and some of them waved back while the others were too busy or just ignored her. Bickslow waved as well, and they made their way out of the mansion.

15.

October 27th, 9:00 AM (Tuesday)

Bickslow had been nice enough to walk Michael to school and let Claire sleep in a little bit, but her brother wasn't as nice. After the uncle and nephew left, Laxus banged on her bedroom door announcing that they would still train that day, and to 'get her ass out of bed'.

When he heard movement within the room, he smirked and went down to the kitchen for breakfast.

After she got showered and dressed, she met up with the lightning mage in the kitchen, surprised when her brother handed her a cup of coffee already made. "Hurry up." He said simply, and she grunted as she made her way to the dining room table, where a plate of pancakes was waiting for her. She couldn't remember her brother ever being so nice to her, although his constant glares and comments took away from the generosity of the action.

"I'm injured, dude, be nice."

"When has being injured _ever_ stopped you from training?" He glared, watching her bite into his pancakes. He'd already finished half of his meal, but he was still working on it. "Gajeel told me about those early morning jogs."

"Traitor." She grumbled, closing her eyes when it did the stupid shifting thing again. "My vision is off today, so let's stick to lighter jogging routes. I also can't use Riley, so no cliffs."

"What kind of training would it be without either of those things?" He asked with a smirk. "And what the hell is wrong with your vision?"

"I went through this stupid 'soul train' at the haunted house, and it hurt like hell. My vision and hearing have been off ever since, but my hearing isn't as bad."

"Should we visit Porlyusica later?"

"No, I think it'll wear off in a couple of days… did Michael wake up at all last night?"

"I woke up at one point hearing him crying, but he went back to sleep after a while."

16.

October 27th, 1:30 PM

Claire sat in the guild hall, headphones on, and purring softly as she got a nap in. Laxus hadn't been lenient in their morning workout despite her protests, and she'd fallen more than once that morning. The only good part was finishing up early, and since they started late, it had been a shortened but intense experience.

Laxus off-handedly pet her hair while reading a book, waiting for lunch to arrive. Bickslow told them that he would be sleeping in and to not wait up for him to get food, so the siblings had ordered upon their arrival. Ever sat nearby filing her nails, Natsu had (at some point) snuck over and hugged her, falling asleep on her shoulder. Fried and Carol were chatting across the room together. Gray, Erza, and Happy all sat at the table with Natsu discussing one thing or another.

"If Claire has a fiancé, why is she sleeping with that man over there?" Carol asked the green-haired mage, and he chuckled.

"It's a dragonslayer thing. The dragonslayers that grew up with dragon parents love the purring sound she makes, and both Natsu and Wendy will cuddle up to her when they can. The Exceeds will, as well."

"And Bickslow is okay with it?"

"No, he usually attacks Natsu when he tries it, and Laxus _usually_ electrocutes him, but he seems to be in a forgiving mood today."

"And Claire sees nothing wrong with letting a man cuddle up to her like that?"

"Claire is just a cuddly person, and she knows that Natsu doesn't have any ill-intentions. They have an… interesting friendship." Fried summarized.

"… huh. Claire used to be really awkward around strange men getting too close."

"She's not the same person she used to be." He said simply. It wasn't the first time he had had to tell her that, and he suspected that it wouldn't be the last. Carol loved telling stories about her childhood with Claire, but almost every time she made a comment about the woman's personality, someone would have to tell her that she wasn't like that anymore.

"I'm starting to get that…" Carol spoke sadly, and as the various mages would occasionally walk over and pet her sister's hair, she wondered if she should, too. A little girl in particular had wandered over, hugged the woman, and then took a seat across from her with a nostalgic smile on her face. Like the checker woman, she folded her arms on the table and took a nap. "So random people just… walk up and pet her like a cat?"

"Basically. The sound she makes really is relaxing, and Claire doesn't seem to mind it. She told me that it makes people less intimidated by her magic, so she goes with it. Do you make that sound when you listening to headphones?"

"No. I've made a lot of sounds, but that's not one of them." Carol replied, and the word mage blushed softly at the insinuation. The brunette watched her sister for a moment, debating whether to do as the other mages did, and with a decisive nod she decided she would. With an extra strong sip of her drink, she then stood and walked over to the table where 3 S-Class mages sat. She acted confident in her movements, walking as she always did and trying to act casual as she walked over, and no one looked up at her. Casual. Normal. Just as the other mages had done, she reached out to pet the part of her sister's hair that Laxus's hand wasn't occupying, and was surprised by how soft the short hairs were. "Ow!"

She recoiled her hand at the burning sensation, and everyone looked up at her. Her face heated up, color akin to a tomato, and she heard both Claire and Natsu snicker at her.

Without another word she went back to Fried, her face feeling like it was on fire, and quickly sat back down. "She burned me!" Carol complained, and the word mage couldn't help but chuckle, smiling at the angered expression of his friend.

"Let me look at it." He instructed, and she showed him her hand. The tips of her fingers were red, along with part of her palm. "You'll be fine." He said, and took his cold drink and pressed it against her hand.

Carol pouted, shooting glares at the smiles and chuckles from the table.

"How did the haunted house go last night?" Fried asked, changing the conversation.

She made a whining sound, very similar to the one he had heard Claire make several times, and visibly cringed at the memory. "It was the most terrifying experience of my life."

"You went with a date, right?"

"I nearly clawed his arm off." She continued pouting, and the word mage chuckled. "It's not funny."

"You probably shouldn't have mentioned to Bickslow when you were going. I wouldn't be surprised if he made it extra 'scary' just for you."

"Bastard." She whined, slouching at the memory of the previous night. "I won't be sleeping for weeks after that."

"I thought it was rather terrifying as well. I went as Bickslow's guest a few years ago, and never went back. The children's version is supposed to be very artistic and nice, though. I might be going with Michael tomorrow."

"Mind if I join you?"

"I wouldn't, but…" He trailed off, suddenly feeling awkward. "It's Bickslow and Claire's nephew, so you'll have to ask them."

"What if we just happened to be going at the same time?"

"I wouldn't feel right tricking them like that."

"Oh come on, it's just a haunted house." She said, and reached over to his hand that was still pressing hers against his cold glass. "Please?"

17.

October 28th, 7:30 PM

It made Bickslow extremely happy that Michael loved the haunted house so much. Even if Claire had been a bust, he could at least pride himself in making it an awesome holiday for his nephew. He only wished that he could take his nephew backstage to meet the other seith mages, but alas, he wasn't old enough and would get scared.

One of the nice things about the haunted house, particularly the 'kids version' was that they considered gifted people for the event. It wasn't uncommon for children to be able to see ghosts and lose the ability later, so all of the wandering souls present got to be part of it. Some of the more grotesque spirits would hide for it, so that they wouldn't scare the kids too much, and so Michael got to see happy souls.

Bickslow may have gushed about his nephew, just a little, to his coworkers when they were first setting up the kids haunted house, so some of them kept an eye out for the future seith mage. (Well, _maybe_ future seith mage, if interior decorating didn't work out)

When Michael first walked through it, the wandering souls would make silly faces at him and do silly things to the adults that couldn't see him, which had him giggling and laughing the entire time. It freaked the adults out to no end which added to the staff's amusement, and the other children were so preoccupied by the dancing skeletons that they didn't even notice.

His second run through, however, Bickslow was livid.

 _She_ was hanging off of Fried's arm, while Michael would sometimes talk to her and gush about the costumes and effects. Michael apparently took up to calling her 'auntie Carol'. His nephew had a habit of referring to people as 'Auntie' and 'Uncle', but when he called her that….

He was going to kill Fried.

On occasion when staff members saw people they knew walking through the house, they would 'kidnap' and sneak off with them, later returning them to the group they arrived with. It added to the event, and it was particularly fun when they played along.

Bickslow, dressed in his skeleton costume head-to-toe, snuck into the group and grabbed the water mage, hoisting her onto his shoulder. "I- hey!"

"Mwahahahaha!" He cackled, and the other dancing skeletons would join in clicking and clacking and theatrical 'evil' laughter, adding to the humor of it. The surrounding folks pretending to fear for her life, the kids yelled at him to return her, and he ran off and disappeared into a secret door.

"Ooh, I heard that you guys sometimes steal people. This is fun!" She giggled, and he abruptly shoved her off his shoulder, only helping her get on her feet.

"What the hell are you doing with my nephew?" He demanded, pulling his mask off to glare into her startled brown eyes. The secret hallway was currently empty, and was one of the many that ran through the entire mansion.

"I- we happened to get here at the same time, I just-"

"Stay the hell away from him."

"Oh come on, he's the son of my sister. You can't keep me away from him forever."

"Like hell I can't. You lost your chance to be that person when you dumped your sister for a dragon and said 'good luck'. _I_ was the one that took care of her, _I_ was the one that helped her get over your leaving, _I_ was the one that stayed by her side through everything while you were in the next down over boning every guy you could instead of helping her. Michael is my nephew, he is Claire and I's child, and I will not let someone that kills souls without a second thought anywhere near him."

"And what will you do if I don't back off? Kill me? I know I messed up in the past, but I'm here now and I'm trying to make up for-"

"I won't kill you but I can and will make your life a living hell if you don't stay away from us."

"Claire is my sister, and if she wants me around, I-"

"She doesn't."

"Do you let anyone finish a sentence?"

He glared at her, angered that she wasn't the least bit frightened of him anymore. He had thought that their last encounter would keep her intimidated by her, at least a little bit, but she seemed to have gotten over it. Considering how much she screamed last night he thought she would be easy to keep at bay.

Evidently not.

"Now, are you going to let me go back to Fried, or-"

"I'm taking you to the exit."

"I paid to be here."

"You're banned from the haunted house. No refunds." He said simply, and grabbed her arm with a steel tight grip, practically dragging her to the exit.

18.

October 28th, 7:30 PM (Wednesday)

Claire sat in the living room, in the same spot as when Nathan was there, leaning back in her pajamas with a drink in her hand.

Her pajama pants were loose, black, with little penguins printed on them. She wore a black tank top with it.

She liked their living room.

They had finished furnishing it over the weekend. They had one main couch which was black, a white and black love seat she currently sat in, and a beautiful black, white, and brown coffee table. White, black, brown, green, and purple made up most of their house. Their living room in particular was most modern, with styled bookshelves, a cool almost tribal looking clock on the wall, a desk in the corner, and other various artifacts. A lot of their hand crafted furniture came from the artist that Bickslow and Clare got their vessels.

It didn't take long for Claire to figure out why her vision was so wonky. The shifting never stopped, although when it changed to blurry, it had started getting clearer and clearer. Just like how going to Death Forest had made her more sensitive to wandering souls around her, the 'soul train' had made her more sensitive with her other senses.

She took another sip of her mixed drink.

Claire now had 'the gift', and as of yet, she didn't know for sure if it was permanent. She hoped not, but every time her vision shifted it would stay that way for longer and longer, and now it was becoming clearer. Her ability to sense wandering souls nearby stayed the same, although was still sore from the haunted house incident. It felt strange to say the least how a sensory organ she couldn't place or point to was injured, and she hated trying to explain it to Laxus, who rolled his eyes and called her a baby.

Hopefully this wasn't permanent.

19.

October 29th, 1:30 AM (Thursday)

A loud banging on her front door startled her from her sleep, along with the sounds of a drunken man yelling for his son. Claire quickly pulled herself out of bed, grabbing her bathrobe as she did so, and threw it on as she ran downstairs. By the time she got there he had caved in part of her door and it was beginning to split in half. If they hadn't reinforced the frame so well, it no doubt would have fallen off by now.

"Give me my grandson, you freak!"

"Mr. Yoshino, your son isn't here and neither is your grandson." She told him, but he simply continued banging on the door. Standing to the side of the door when she opened it, so that when he forced it open it wouldn't hit her, she glared up at the man. Unfortunately, her vision shifted in that moment, catching her off-guard.

20.

October 29th, 1:45 PM

"Stop staring." Claire seethed, hating all the eyes on her. Of course, her brother had to drag her to the guild hall despite her protests, and the make up she used to try and hide it didn't work.

"Who hit you?" Natsu asked.

"You're actually concerned, Natsu?" Lucy asked, surprised.

"He just wants to know so that he can do it, too." Gray told her, and a sweat drop appeared on their heads, knowing that he was right.

"He got a lucky shot. Shut up." She glared at Natsu, who was smirking at her. Bickslow's dad had landed a pretty solid hit to her face, so now her eye was slightly swollen and cheek was deeply bruised. It was extremely rare she got hit in the face, even when she'd first started fighting, and she could never recall a time she'd gotten punched so hard in the face.

"Was it because of the vision thing?" Laxus asked, not bothering to hide his smile. He'd spent the entire morning teasing her, and since he'd recently started babysitting Michael, he could get away with it.

"It was 2 in the goddamn morning and I was fucking tired and caught off guard. Shut up."

"What were you doing out at 2 in the morning?" Lucy asked.

"I wasn't. Someone came to my house pounding on the door, woke me up, and when I went to answer it he slugged me in the face." She said, and getting tired of Natsu sitting next to her and grinning, she punched him in the face, effectively knocking him out of his seat. "Like that."

"What vision thing?" Gray asked Laxus.

"She's getting old and her eyes have gone bad." He answered, and his sister punched his shoulder.

"Don't go telling people I'm old."

"Those wrinkles are pretty deep…."

"We're the same age, idiot. And you have more wrinkles than I do."

"Nuh-uh."

"Who beat you up, damn it!?" Natsu yelled as he got up from the floor.

"No one beat me up, they got a lucky shot and then I knocked him out before calling the cops to pick him up." She explained, annoyed when her vision shifted again. Everyone's souls glowed softly, and although it was kind of pretty, her vision was still blurry in this 'setting'.

"Hey Claire, what does this say?" Laxus asked, holding up the menu to her and pointing at something.

"It says 'go fuck yourself'." She replied, flipping him the bird.

"Claire is getting ooold~" Happy teased on the table.

"Claire is annoyed by her nosy friends picking on her. Don't you guys have work to do or something?"

"We just got back from a job, remember? Are you losing your memory, too?" Happy snickered.

"If you need glasses, Claire, I know a good place to go. I think you'd look cute in glasses." Ever told her with a genuine smile.

"I don't need glasses." She snapped.

"Then tell me what this says." Laxus said, still holding up the menu to her.

"This is stupid, you're stupid, and I don't need glasses."

"Then read the menu."

"Are you sure that _you_ don't need glasses? Read it yourself. Has anyone else been to the haunted house?" She asked, trying to change the conversation. Her sister, unfortunately, was the only one to help her. The water mage sat down next to Fried, and Claire was surprised to see someone next to her.

It was Puppu, and she only knew that because he was within sensory range. It was an older man, looking to be in his mid 50's and wearing a suit and tie. Claire had never really imagined what her babies looked like, but she never really expected them to be adults.

"Your fiancé kicked me out of the haunted house yesterday. It was such a drag." Carol complained, and ate one of the French fries on the table. Remembering that the others couldn't see Puppu, she returned her gaze to her sister, trying to ignore the wandering soul that was actively trying to freak out Carol.

"He kidnapped her towards the beginning, and I didn't see her again until Michael and I finished going through the entire mansion." Fried added.

"You two went to the haunted house together? With Michael?" Claire asked, turning to the word mage.

"Well, no, we saw each other in line and decided to go in together." Fried said awkwardly. The green-haired mage wasn't a good liar, and she knew how close the two were.

"I'm officially banned from the haunted house, even though I paid to go in and everything- just because I happened to get there at the same time Michael and Fried did." Carol further stated.

"You should have let other people go ahead of you, or waited to go another time." Claire told her, and the brunette glared.

"Who hit you?" Carol asked, smirking when the checker woman grunted and looked away, glad when Mirajane came over.

"Can I get lunch started for you guys?"

20.

October 29th, 3:30 PM

"Again? You've already gone twice." Claire asked, her shoulders slumping. They had just gotten home from his school, and the only thing he would talk about what Bickslow's haunted house. The decorations, the effects, the wandering souls that would make funny faces, and how his uncle was absolutely amazing for being part of it. He loved it, and Bickslow loved that he loved it.

She had a feeling that Michael would be dragging her to it every night until they closed. "It's so awesome! Please? Please, please, please?" He pleaded to her with his hands clasped together. Claire had taken a seat on the love seat, which was beginning to become 'her spot', and debated his plea.

 _It is only once a year…._ She reasoned in her mind, and if she hadn't had the recent vision issues, she would be more up for going. The idea of going to the haunted house, which was filled with wandering souls, and actually seeing all of them sounded not fun.

"Please?" He pleaded again, and added a pout.

The goddamn pout.

He was way too good at that.

"Pretty please?"

"Fine, get your homework done and we'll go." She caved, and the little boy jumped on her to give her a hug and kiss on the cheek, and then ran over to the desk in the corner of the room.

Two hours later, Claire found herself walking through the mansion for the fourth time, although this time she forgo the costume. She wore Fairy Tail sweatpants and a black tanktop, and she got a lot of compliments for her unique hair. Since it glowed when they walked through the black light sections, she was extra popular for that day. Michael wore his disco costume, set with a massive afro.

Michael kept his hand held in hers, squeezing it and giggling for most of the walk. She had never seen him so delighted before, and when her vision shifted about a fifth of the way through, she could see why. Bickslow wasn't kidding when he said that they considered 'gifted' people for the walk.

As she walked through the mansion with the others, she realized that it was almost an entirely different experience. The wandering souls were extremely active, and although she could sense them walking around before, now she could actually see what they were doing and why Michael giggled and laughed when he saw them.

They were rather playful.

Wandering souls of all ages wandered around, occasionally possessing objects for show, but mostly entertaining the children or rare adult that could see them. This was the one time of year when they could be celebrated instead of feared and hated, and they seemed to love the attention.

She managed to keep her laughs to herself, but she openly looked at the wandering souls, since both Michael and Bickslow knew that she could sense them. Bickslow had told her that he would sometimes forget that she couldn't hear/see them, since she was so good at acting like she could.

When they finished walking through, he begged her to go a second time that night, and to her amusement she heard other children making the same pleas. Some of the parents had already gone through it 3 times that day, and while most of them refused and went home with a crying child wanting to stay, the others ended up going through again with Claire and Michael. When the fire mage realized that they were kids from Michael's school, she got to chat and talk with the parents while their kids all gushed and talked about how awesome the haunted house was.

21.

October 30th, 3:30 PM (Friday)

Bickslow hadn't left for work yet, so he hung out in the living room with his fiancé and nephew, slowly drinking his coffee (which, he'd somehow gotten addicted to after only a few sips from Claire's cups). Michael was playing on the floor with toothpicks and glue working on a history project, and he would occasionally ask Claire for helpful suggestions. Sometimes he was just fishing for compliments, to which both Bickslow and Claire had plenty to give.

When he wasn't working on his project, he was talking animatedly about the haunted house and how he wished that it wasn't just once a year. He talked about his favorite costumes, wandering souls, and generally how amazing his uncle was.

Bickslow almost wished that he didn't have to work just so that he could spend more time with him, or that he could go with him through the haunted house and hear all his comments and critiques. Alas, when you sign up for the job, they don't let you take long breaks like that.

He kind of wished that Claire was a little more excited about it, but after going through the haunted house four times, he could see how it would start to lose its edge. She also got hurt one of those times, even though he didn't really understand how, and he had no doubt that it colored her view of it. Not to mention her new injury… which, he'd ignored or forgotten about in his tiredness until now.

"Who'd you get in a fight with?" Bickslow asked her, and she made a face and looked away.

"Grandpa Arnie was here the other night." Michael answered for her, and Bickslow stiffened.

"My dad hit you?" He clarified, looking over at his fiancé who was avoiding his gaze. She was sitting in her usual spot, staring at the clock, and at the angle he couldn't see the bruising very well.

"He came here raging drunk in the middle of the night and got a lucky shot at me." Claire explained, and the seith mage got up from his spot on the couch and knelt in front of her, gently turning her face to get a good look at it. Most of it had healed, but it was still there. "I called the cops and they took him to jail for the night. I told them that if he came here again like that I would file charges."

"Why didn't you file charges this time?"

"Because it's your dad, and since we're trying to get through to Sam and Nathan I figure the less bad blood the better."

"Is it too late to file charges?"

"Technically no."

"Go to the police station today and tell them you changed your mind."

"Do you have any idea how much paperwork that'll be?"

"It'll get him off the streets at least for a few weeks, and maybe when he's rotting in jail he'll have an epiphany and become a better person. Or maybe child services will look into Nathan and Sam for us when they hear about it. Either way, I don't like the idea of worrying about you two all night because of you're letting your pride get the better of you." He spoke, and narrowed his eyes at her towards the end. Whether it was a 'lucky shot' or not, Claire had gotten hurt as a result of his dad being irresponsible, and if she could get hit by that bastard it meant that Michael was in danger.

"Fine, I'll do it tomorrow when Michael's trick-or-treating with Ever."

"Why not today?"

"It could take hours to get the paperwork done, not to mention the long wait since it's almost Halloween, and they're no doubt busy as hell. I don't want to take Michael with me."

"Don't worry about Michael. I'll take him to the haunted house with me, he'll go through as many times as he wants, and I'll have Pappa stay with him for it. It'll be even worse if you wait until Halloween to do this." He told her, and even though he was still angry that this happened, he hated that look in her eye just as much. It was a mix of anger, annoyance, frustration- she was pissed off too, and she was trying to be good by not showing it. "Hey, I love you and I'm sorry you got hurt." He added softly, and reached up to pull her down for a short kiss.

"Thank you. You know, you're the first person to actually give me sympathy for getting punched in the face. Everyone else just laughed."

"He's not exactly a trained fighter… well, no, he technically is. He was in the military for most of his young adult life."

"That makes me feel a little better."

"You've escaped dark guilds drugged before without a scratch… how'd you get hit by an old drunk?" He asked curiously, and again she looked away, annoyed at him.

"He was scary." Michael spoke for the first time in a while, and Bickslow looked over, realizing that the young boy had been watching their interaction. Sometimes he got so quiet that the mage forgot he was there. _I'm supposed to be the man of the house, and I let my old man hit my girlfriend and scare the hell out of my nephew… I suck._

"I'll ask Fried to come by later and put an enchantment around the house so that he can't bother you again. I promise you, he's never going to hurt you."

22.

October 30th, 6:30 PM (Friday)

It ended up being a lot faster than she thought, and as she left the building, two officers were leaving to go pick up Mr. Yoshino. They told her that he would be held in jail for 5 weeks and since she was the second person that week he had attacked, he would be forced to take an anger management seminar to work through his issues.

When she brought up Sam and Nathan, they said that they would make a request for child services to look at the Yoshino residence to check on them. Unofficially they said that it was unlikely for them to check, and even if they did it was less likely that they would deem the house unfit even if the children were being hurt. The agency was under-staffed and under paid, and really, so long as kids had food and a place to sleep they weren't that concerned.

So her options were limited, but if Nathan stepped up and told the police he wanted to be with Bickslow and Claire, there was a chance that they could get custody. Fiore Law was weird in how it ran things, so Claire would have to do some more homework on it before coming back.

In the mean time: Mr. Yoshino would be behind bars, unable to hurt anyone, and that was good.

She made her way over to the haunted house and waited by the exit until Michael emerged, and smiled at how excited the young man was. He was holding hands with Pappa and talking animatedly about everything he'd seen.

23.

October 31st, 11:30 AM (Saturday, Halloween)

"A sampler pack? Seriously?" Claire asked, and heard Michael yell in frustration upstairs. _I feel your pain, kid._

"The guy at the glasses shop owes me a favor, and when I told him how stubborn you were, he leant me this. Now just try the goddamn things on." He ordered, and without waiting for her to comply, put one of the glasses on her face. "Can you see?"

"No." She replied, and he put another pair on her. "A little better. I told you, my vision will be healed after another week, so there's really no point to this."

"If you're getting punched by drunks because you can't see for shit, then obviously you need glasses even if it's short term. How about now?" He asked, putting another pair on her face.

"Slightly better, still blurry."

"Geez, your sight is shit."

"It's not shit _all_ the time… it goes in and out of focus." _Of seeing souls._

"How about now?"

"Better, but still a little blurry." She answered. Even though her sight was terrible at the moment, her hearing and sense of smell were still good enough to get her by. Granted she could now hear 'extra' sounds, but it was still high quality hearing. "Do you have a date for the Halloween party tonight?"

"No. I figure I'll hook up with someone there." He answered, sorting through the box of glasses. They were out of order and the numbers marking their strength were in different places on the glasses, making it difficult to find the right pair. "Should be fun. I heard they're going to have a DJ and everything."

"Evergreen is practically forcing me to go. She's coming over at 2 to pick Nathan up, and will babysitting him for the day."

"That's nice of her. Will Bickslow be there?"

"Nah, he's working late. He's going to try and catch the tail end of the party, but he told me to not get my hopes up. Even if he does get off early he'll be exhausted from working all day. They opened up the haunted house at 1 today."

"Okay, if these don't work, I'm giving up." Laxus spoke, and put a pair of simple black glasses on her face. She blinked, staring at him, and was temporarily amazed. It was like suddenly being able to see his soul in hi-definition, and the beauty of it was remarkable. "Do they work? Can you see?"

"… yeah." She muttered, and tore her eyes away. Finding a magazine on the coffee table, she reached over to grab it and read some letters. "I can read again. Cool."

"Those are the strongest glasses in here."

"How do I look?" She asked curiously, having no idea what she looked like. Both of her parents had fairly poor eyesight, so she knew it was inevitable that she'd eventually lose her sight, and even though the circumstances were weird it was going to happen sooner or later.

"You look like a nerd." He smiled. "It'll go good with your slutty nurse costume."

"What are you going as tonight? Do you have a costume?"

"Of course I have a costume." He said, and rolled his eyes, grabbing her glasses and putting them back in the box. A frown tugged at her features as she was met by blurry blobs again. "I'll be back in a half hour."

"Where are you going?" She asked, confused. "You just got here." And he had- he literally showed up, shoved some glasses in her face, and now he was leaving again.

"I'm going to get you glasses." He stated.

"… why?" She asked, still confused. It seemed like he was being nice, but… it was Laxus. His version of being helpful usually meant shoving her around and telling her to 'not be stupid', especially when it came to such simple things like this.

"Because I know you're too stubborn to do it yourself. Now shut up and say 'thank you'."

"… thank you?" She said, more as a question, but the blond seemed to accept it as he promptly got up and walked away, leaving the house. Michael was still making aggravated sounds upstairs, probably having trouble altering his costume for that night. It had ripped the previous day and even though Claire had offered to help him, he told her that she 'sucked at stuff like that', so she left and hung out downstairs.

She was feeling inadequate in a lot of ways that morning.

Laxus, along with most of the guild for that matter, had been acting… weird, the past couple of weeks.

She could exactly place it, and it was especially hard to tell since the guild had just been started up again. Everyone was extra attentive to each other and happy to be around each other again, but for some reason they'd become particularly honed in on Claire the past couple of weeks. It could be that she was simply extra self-conscious, or perhaps a bit conceded for thinking the guild was giving her extra attention….

Maybe her brother was just being nice in his own annoying way.

No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't explain everyone's fascination with her injury. I mean sure, it was rare for S-Class mages to get hurt, but not _that_ rare. Erza came in with her fair share of bruises and it happened on rare occasions with Laxus when he got hurt during their training. Yet, everyone focused on her one injury.

Maybe it wasn't the entire guild, and she just thought it was because she was self-conscious about it.

Maybe she just wanted them to be the ones acting weird because she wanted to focus on something else. Having 'the gift' was kind of cool in its own way, but it was also incredibly annoying and stressful. It left her unable to see half the time and it was difficult to not be distracted by people's damn souls. She was having normal sight less and less often, or so it felt.

Feeling yet another headache come on, she sighed, reaching for her soothing mug of tea on the coffee table.

24.

October 31st, 9:30 PM

Claire blew a pillar of fire into the air, and the fire mage next to her laughed joyously.

It announced the beginning of the official Fairy Tail Halloween party, and a round of cheers rang out through the building. For most it was an excuse to drink, and for others an excuse to dress up. In either case everyone was determined to have a good time.

Evergreen had volunteered to both go trick-or-treating with Michael and attend the haunted house with him, since she hadn't been yet. The fairy woman encouraged Claire to attend the party at the guild and that she would take care of the disco boy for the night.

Sometimes she loved her friends.

Natsu was dressed as a vampire, and Lucy was in a cat costume. Although they weren't a couple, they did look adorable together, and more than a few people told them that throughout the night.

Halloween themed drinks were plentiful, as was the guest list. She didn't even recognize half the people that showed up and with her rather exposing costume, she didn't need to pay for any of her drinks.

To her utter and complete surprise, Laxus showed up in a doctor costume.

When he got close enough, she hit his arm.

"A doctor costume? Seriously?"

He shrugged, smirking.

"Why the hell are you dressed as a doctor?"

"I thought it would be funny." He admitted, smiling. He then grabbed her shoulders to pull her closer, turned her to the camera, and smiled. Instinctually she did the same, and when the camera person went away, she turned and glared at her brother. "See? Hilarious."

"How is it funny? These are couple costumes."

"It's funny because we're twins." He said with a grin, and reached behind her to the bar. His hand reemerged with her drink, and he took a sip of the 'bloody' concoction.

"The twin thing would only work if you were in a slutty nurse costume, too."

"Who said I'm not slutting it up tonight?" He asked, and when she looked closer at the shirt under his white coat, realized that he was wearing a fishnet shirt and tight black booty shorts. "Speaking of which…" He said, handed back her drink, and then disappeared into the crowd.

"… did he get possessed by Bacchus?" She asked, completely dumbfounded out by how uncharacteristic her brother had been. But, she guessed that just like how girls wore slutty outfits on Halloween, it made sense that some guys were doing it, too…. And he was still getting over Gajeel, so it was good that he was seeing other people.

And he wouldn't be able to mock her for her costume anymore. So that was a plus.

About an hour into the party, she found herself chatting with Kana, who was in a sexy pirate costume. She was enjoying her fair share of drinks, and had been eyeing a male pirate across the bar for several minutes, when she'd asked Claire to join her.

"Ya know, your sister isn't that bad. I mean, she's slutty, and your boyfriend hates her, and so does Erza for some reason, but she's not that bad." Kana spoke told her, swaying slightly. It was rare to see Kana past buzzed, so the fire mage smiled when she realized just how far gone the brunette was.

"How would you feel if your sister ditched you to bone a dragon?"

"Depends on how hot the dragon was."

"He murdered your parents."

"… okay, maybe that's a deal breaker." The brunette shrugged. "She definitely knows how to party, though." She said, looking up. Claire hesitated to look, having a good idea of the drunk was looking at. Cheers were ringing out, and just like Blue Pegasus, she turned to see her sister dancing topless on the bar.

 _I wonder what gramps and Laxus will think of that…._ She thought with a chuckle, and it wasn't long before her question was answered. Makarov turned giant and grabbed her around the waist, picked her up, and carried her across the room before beginning a stern lecture on what was 'appropriate and not appropriate behavior in public'.

"What's up the guild master's ass?" Kana asked, and took another drink.

Claire simply laughed.

25.

October 31st, Midnight

She wasn't sure how she managed to get roped into going to the haunted house again.

Probably because they asked her just after her tenth shot, and at that point, she was pretty easily influenced. Kana brought a bottle of booze with them, not surprisingly, and shared with Claire on the way there to keep their buzz.

Natsu, Lucy, Kana, Laxus, and Happy had decided to drag Claire with them to the haunted house, for whatever reason. She greeted the ticket woman, since she had been there enough times to be on a first name basis with her, and with enough alcohol their systems the half hour wait passed by quickly. The other people in line were immensely grateful when someone else let the group go ahead, in fact they got to cut in line quite a bit just because people didn't want to wait in line with them.

As they entered the mansion, the dragonslayers heard the ticket woman announce through the communications lacrima that an 'annoying group of Fairy Tail wizards' were going in. Claire was actually surprised that they didn't have to wait longer to get in.

It was a bit more difficult to act like she couldn't see dead people when she was intoxicated. She had gone through with Michael the other day and could see the souls, but now that she had glasses, she could see them clearly. Some of them looked cool, some of them looked creepy as hell, and some of them she couldn't tell if they were actual people in costumes or souls. She had more respect and sympathy for Michael, since he'd had that problem in the past: distinguishing the living from the dead.

"Wh-wh-why d-d-d-did the lights g-go out?!" Lucy stuttered in the first room.

"I wonder if Greg is working this room again." Claire mused outloud, and she frowned when she didn't hear the familiar laugh. "Guess not."

"Is Lucy scared?" Happy snickered, to which the blond simply groaned in response.

"This is a lot more fun with more people." Claire commented.

"You've been through this already?" Kana asked.

"Yeah. I made the guy in this room crack up laughing- it was pretty awesome."

"So we just stand in the dark waiting for something to happen?" Laxus asked, bored. Unlike last time, Claire was able to see the souls in the room, which was a pretty awesome advantage. She could see the man in the suit of armor get closer to Lucy, and a few seconds later, the blond was screaming her head off while the lights ominously turned on, and scared the rest of the group.

Claire laughed boisterously, thoroughly entertained by their reactions. Even Laxus had jumped back in surprise.

Kana hit the laughing woman's shoulder, and continued with the group to the next room. "Oh! I wonder if my babies are still in the next room!" Claire spoke happily, following after them.

Natsu, to Lucy's hatred, shoved her towards the next room. "Come on, Lucy. Go into the room or I'll suck your blood!" He threatened, to which she glared and continued walking. The pair were the first to go into the dentist office, and before the rest of the group could go in, the door slammed closed.

"Wh-what!? Why'd it separate us!?" Lucy stammered.

"I wonder what this- OH SHIT!" Natsu yelled, likely finding Claire's babies.

Laxus crossed his arms, bored, and looked around the room. When they heard both Natsu and Lucy banging on the door and pleading for it to let them out, a small smirk graced his lips. "Never thought I'd hear Natsu scream like a girl." He commented.

"Man, listen to them scream." Kana chuckled, trying to mask her own unease. A wandering soul was currently standing right next to her, leaning over her and staring her down, and Claire had no doubt that it was having an effect on her.

Suddenly, the door burst open and both Natsu and Lucy fell through, landing on top of each other and clamoring into the room.

"You guys are wimps." Kana stated.

"Mommy!" The 'dental patient' yelled, and the drunk brunette when the creature launched itself at Claire, wrapping its arms around her in a hug. Laxus had jumped in surprise and yelped at the surprise hug, but recovered quickly and coughed, acting like he didn't.

"Babies!" She giggled, holding them close.

In the observation room, Bickslow laughed merrily at the situation. Seeing Kana and Laxus jump like that totally made his night, and he was going to keep it for their stock footage of 'best reactions from customers'.

"Th-those are your babies!?" Lucy shrieked, sitting on her knees and shaking.

"They're not so cute right now." Happy said, hiding behind her.

"We're scary!" The babies cheered in unison.

"Yeah you are!" Claire agreed with a wide grin, hugging them close. The door to the next room clicked, and slowly creaked open, getting their attention. The fire mage walked in the back of the group, and dropped off her babies back on the dentist chair on her way to the next room.

It was a waiting room, which led to the creepy crawly room. As expected, Lucy was the one to react the most, although Happy screamed quite a bit when Natsu put a spider on his head.

Most of the night continued in this fashion. Lucy and Happy would scream, Natsu would laugh or more often join them, and the other three enjoyed watching their reactions while drinking. The wandering souls gave Laxus and Kana quite a bit of attention, making them on edge and Claire heard her brother scream more than once.

When they made it to the ballroom, she was absolutely amazed.

The lights were dim and to the others it just looked like a regular ballroom, but it was filled with dancing wandering souls. "This doesn't look so bad." Natsu stated bravely, and strutted into the room with his chest puffed out, right into a dancing couple. They acted like they didn't even notice him, but Natsu shuddered and jumped back in terror. "Something touched me!"

"Are there wandering souls in here?" Laxus asked, turning to his sister.

"A lot of them." She said, smiling. Given her ability to sense souls, it wasn't a strange question to ask, and he had even asked her a few other times on this trip.

Now, though, she could see a beautiful rainbow of dancers floating across the dancefloor they had to cross in order to reach the other side. No doubt her group would be screaming and running, but she couldn't help but stare at how beautiful it was.

Laxus bravely strode forward, ignoring the extremely unpleasant feeling of walking through a floor of dead souls.

Claire followed, although at a much more leisurely pace, and was a bit disappointed when she felt Lucy and Natsu latch onto her arms. "They're just souls." Claire said with a roll of her eyes, continuing to look at the beautiful arrangement of colors. She wished that Michael was there to witness it, but as she saw a particularly grotesque soul dance by, realized why Bickslow hadn't brought him there.

Still, though. It was amazing to see.

26.

November 2nd, 11:00 AM (Monday)

"You're totally not into this." Bickslow told her, rather than asked. He was full to the hilt inside her, and although she had started out aroused… well, she lost it, and she was bad at faking it. Not that he wanted her to at all, and he was actually glad that she could be so obvious about when she did or didn't like something. It was fairly rare that this happened, since usually when one of them 'lost it' it was him, and she had always been loving and supportive when he couldn't get it up.

"Sorry." She apologized, unsure of what else to say.

Her eyes hadn't shifted back ever since she got the glasses, and it was distracting to say the least to see her fiancé's soul for the first time during sex. It was beautiful and she loved staring up at him, reaching up and feeling everywhere she could touch, but…

"You can, you know… finish without me. I won't mind."

"I would." He said, and leaned down to give her a short kiss. "I'm going to go shower, and maybe we can do an early lunch afterwards?"

"Sure." She smiled, and he kissed her again before pulling out.

27.

November 2nd, 4:00 PM

After picking up Michael from school, they headed to the guild hall to visit their friends. Michael was still talking about how awesome the haunted house was, and they all wondered if he would still be talking about it until next Halloween.

He was so thrilled about it that he wanted his birthday party to be Halloween themed. Makarov and the others tried to convince him that it wasn't a good theme, but he was set on it, and he was especially set on everyone wearing costumes. He also wanted the entire guild to be there, but Claire and Bickslow limited it to 10 people from the guild, and as many people as he wanted from school.

"You okay?" Ever asked her, and Claire paused before answering. _Was I staring again?_

"Yeah, just a little spacey today."

"Maybe that mystery person hit you a little too hard? Have you seen Porlyusica about it?"

"… no, I'm fine. Thanks for the concern."

"How are those glasses working out for you? Laxus said that it's a really strong prescription."

"… they work well." Claire answered, looking at her suspiciously. _Since when does Ever care about my well being? Maybe my friends are acting weird…._ "Why the sudden concern for my wellbeing?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm just making conversation."

 _She also offered to babysit Michael all of Halloween, and insisted that I go to the Halloween party…._

"Oh, how'd the Halloween party go, by the way? I heard that you ended up going to the haunted house?"

"… why are you being so nice?"

"Ugh, you're hopeless." She finally huffed, and walked away to the other side of the room to chat with Fried and Carol. Claire watched her curiously, and took a sip of her water.

"Nice glasses." Erza complimented as she approached her.

"Thanks."

"When I saw you wearing them on Halloween, I thought that they were part of your costume. You pull them off well."

"Thanks."

"Do you mind if I ask what happened to your eyes? I heard Laxus mention it had something to do with the haunted house?"

"Yeah, went through this 'soul train' thing, and since I'm sensitive to wandering souls it overloading my senses. My eyes haven't been the same, but they're slowly getting better." _Kind of not really_.

"I never realized the haunted house could be so dangerous."

"It's not, I'm just a danger magnet." She replied, and the red head chuckled. "Did you visit the haunted house this year?"

"No, but I've gone on previous years…. I was banned from ever returning." Erza sulked.

"It seems like a lot of people from our guild are on the 'banned' list." Claire chuckled.

"I heard your sister was banned." She said with a smile, cheering up slightly. The checker woman chuckled.

"Bickslow was pretty mad when he saw her with his nephew. I don't know what she was thinking."

"I think she just wants to be close to you guys. I've seen her trying to talk with Laxus quite a few times with limited success. She probably thinks that befriending Michael will help better her chances with you."

"Because sneaking around with my son without permission will get me to like her." Claire said with a roll of her eyes. "She is so immature."

"I think that's the first time I've heard you refer to Michael as your son." Erza commented, and the checker woman blushed.

"… it's hard not to when Michael, the babies, and Bickslow keep calling me 'mom'."

"I think it's cute."

28.

November 2nd, 8:30 PM

Claire was beginning to hate answering the door.

When she opened it, she was met by the angry face of none other than Mrs. Yoshino. The fire mage could smell wine on her breath. "Drop the charges."

"Excuse me?" Claire asked, standing in the doorway. She was in her pajamas and had been looking forward to a nice glass of non-caffeinated tea with a good book.

"Drop the charges against my husband." She clarified.

"… why?"

Her mouth turned into a thin line, her lips pursed in annoyance.

"Bickslow is upstairs reading to Michael. Should I go get him?"

"I'm not talking to that filth. I want you to drop the charges against my husband."

"Are you willing to talk to me about Sam and Nathan?"

"They are _my_ children. Don't you dare try to tell me how to raise _my_ children when you've only had that piece of crap for a few weeks." She spat, her words practically dripping with venom.

"Your husband is a raging alcoholic that caused damage to my property-"

"Oh please, I've seen Fairy Tail wizards cause worse damage in common day bar fights."

"Your husband is not part of a guild and _this_ was no accident." Claire seethed, pointing at her still damaged door that was barely staying together. "He lost control of his anger and hit me unprovoked-"

"You stole our grandchild!"

"He ran away from home and if your house is as dysfunctional as I think it is, I can see why he would. I have no idea where he is right now, and if he's hurt, that will be your fault."

"Don't act all innocent. I know you have my grandson, and I want him back along with the charges against my husband dropped."

"No." Claire said simply, and flashed a fake smile at her. A cop car pulled up to her house, and the grandmother smiled, waving them over. "You're officially accusing Bickslow and I of kidnapping your grandson?" She asked, and the blue-haired woman simply smiled as she waited for the two police officers to make their way over. "Hello Officer Carmichael. How's the kids?"

"They're good, thanks." He nodded. "Mrs. Yoshino has requested that we look around your house for her grandson, Nathan."

"You two are more than welcome to look around, but she is not. If she steps into my home I will use necessary force to protect myself and my _legally_ adopted son." She spoke, glaring at the mutually angered woman.

"Downy, you stay with Mrs. Yoshino and make sure she stays put, while I look around the house."


End file.
